MSNBC Live host Cenk Uygur (can we get his show a name, please?) expended nearly half of Tuesday’s show on the subject of wildcard GOP hopeful Donald Trump, which is somewhat in line with the attention the rest of the media has been giving Trump. But just when you’re ready to throw up your hands and exclaim “Enough,” Trump justifies the coverage by doing something impossible to ignore.

It may or may not come to pass that 2009 was the year “real” journalism died (at least as we’ve come to understand the definition). Despite the plethora of hard news stories in 2009: the inauguration of our first black President, the economic collapse, health care reform, the Iran election, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., it does feel like all the big news stories we actually recall in our year-end lists have been a bit…hollow.

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Business Insider announced Friday that they had “alleged proof” that the Balloon Boy story was a hoax after being contacted by a “Denver-area student who claims to have worked with Falcon’s father.” The student wanted to sell his story for $5-8000. Apparently Gawker jumped at the offer, because yesterday they published their own exclusive. So how much did Gawker pay for the exclusive?