You can't spell "NPR" without "PR," as in "disaster," as in what that particular media organization had more than its share of in 2011. Former CEO Vivian Schiller resigned last March in the wake of the Juan Williams firing and James O'Keefe undercover video fiascos. Now that position has been filled by Gary Knell, a Sesame Street producer and CEO of Sesame Workshop, who'll use his hands-on experience in cookie budgeting and grouch negotiations to move NPR past the bumpiest period in its history to where the air is sweet.

When tech titans meet, sparks fly! Sparks from a blazing bonfire of social missteps. This weekend, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told NPR the excruciating tale of the time he met Mark Zuckerberg.

In your breezy Thursday media column: the Today Show wins television forever, the NYT hopes its paywall rises higher than its ad revenue falls, Vivian Schiller warns NPR, Time puts random media people on a list, and Mediaite rules.

In your wet Wednesday media column: Newsweek's suddenly cloudy future, CNN would like some black viewers, Univision eyes cable news, the AP's union negotiations drag on, and a sad NPR Twitter addict.

NPR—and the entire public broadcasting apparatus in general—has had a bad year. The botched Juan Williams firing, followed by the botched fallout from the Juan Williams firing, followed by the dumb James O'Keefe prank pseudocontroversy, followed by the resignation of NPR's CEO, mixed with constant calls from Republicans to defund NPR, which even convinced some pinko liberals that NPR should just get off the government payroll once and for all.

In your persnickety Thursday media column: Katharine Weymouth has a sweet gig, NPR fights back on "liberal bias," dark predictions for HuffPo, Steven Brill sells out, and Jay-Z mysteriously controls The Atlantic, apparently.

Conservative prankster James O'Keefe, the artless cad behind heavily edited video "stings" on NPR, ACORN, and other enemies of the state, has been paying for all of his work on his and his buddies' credit cards. Apparently it costs a lot of money to carry a camera and act like a jackass — $50,000, as it happens! So won't you be a peach and give him $50,000, or perhaps even $1 million? This is James O'Keefe's plea in an email to supporters.

The House Republicans' vote to strip NPR of federal funding yesterday was great news for funnyman Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner! It gave him the opportunity to rant sarcastically, again, with a monologue he probably spent all night working on. Since House votes are automatic party-line approvals for whatever Republicans want nowadays, these bitter Weiner rants are pretty much the only reason for Democrats to pay attention to the chamber at all.

Branded as a revelatory scoop uncovering previously unknown donations from George Soros to NPR, James O'Keefe's latest sting on NPR was debunked as a non-story within hours of its release.

House Republicans have called an emergency meeting of the Rules Committee tomorrow to take up legislation stripping NPR of federal funds. Please, do it tonight! NPR doesn't seem interested in defending itself, so get it over with. [TPM]

In your transitional Monday media column: the State of the Media is okay, James O'Keefe may not be a totally trustworthy journalist, hiring at HuffPo, Lou Dobbs is back, Larry King may join The Daily Show, and Mental Floss has a mental owner.

Responding to a report that NPR was closer to accepting a $5 million donation from a phony Muslim group than previously acknowledged, NPR released e-mails to TPM backing up their claim that they had refused the money.

PBS has confirmed that one of its executives, like NPR's Ron Schiller, met with James O'Keefe's fictional Muslim Education Action Center Trust in February. The network doesn't know if it was recorded. (Psst, PBS: It was recorded.)

Staid NPR is really far too dramatic these days. They just announced the resignation of CEO Vivian Schiller:

Confessed trespasser and hidden-camera operator James O'Keefe, has released a new deceptively edited video that shockingly documents the fact that at least one NPR executive who has absolutely no newsgathering role is a mainline liberal and refuses to accept money from shadowy Muslim organizations. Let the word go forth that today, March 8, 2011, is the day America was forced to face up to the fact that some NPR executives are liberal elitists.

Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint have introduced a bill to cut that program that they always want to cut: subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, overlord of PBS and NPR. We already know why Republicans want to cut NPR funding so badly, because the liberal snob station fired a reporter last fall over his patriotic belief that Muslims are terrifying. And PBS! They're downright socialist, and Jim Lehrer is a Muslim spy.

In your Wednesday media column: Bill Keller's debut column, the NYT paywall approaches, NewsBeast shows staffers the new Newsweek, NPR listeners are unbearable, and Jeanne Moos wants a gold watch, goddamn it.

In your essential Tuesday media column: ESPN anchors in shameless sellout agreement, NPR is not going to die, Lawrence O'Donnell howls at the moon, Here Media loses in court, Mothering magazine folds its print edition, and we help The Daily.

In your undesirable Wednesday media column: NPR needs another Ellen Weiss, blogs are dead or possibly thriving, the Newsweek-Daily Beast merger is going about as well as expected, and Fox News establishes its priorities.

In October, NPR fired Juan Williams. For three months NPR conducted a "review," and Ellen Weiss, the SVP who fired Williams, was forced out earlier this month. Finally, the details of her dismissal are coming out. They're troubling.