The thrust of Doocy’s brief segment on the study was that Romney is getting clobbered by the networks, but he bragged “Meanwhile, the most balanced coverage, Fox. 52% positive. 48% negative. So fair and balanced not only a slogan, we actually live by it.”

He was referring to the results for the entire Republican field, not Romney specifically. While Gov. Romney did best on Fox News, the network still gave him 63% negative vs. 37% positive, hardly anything to write home about. According to the study, Rick Santorum is Fox’s guy, at 63% positive to 37% negative.

While Fox News’ coverage of the overall Republican field was balanced, “NBC was the most negative overall with 27% positive vs. 73% negative coverage, followed closely by ABC with 32% positive vs. 68% negative coverage. Both NBC and ABC featured 85% negative comments on Romney,” according to the survey.

Even higher on the Republican field than Fox News, though, was CBS News, whose overall coverage of the GOP race was 57% positive, to 43% negative. That stat, however, is skewed by the fact that CBS featured 89% positive coverage of Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas Congressman with that ultra-loyal following and disproportionate knack for fundraising.

There is a catch, of course. The study looked at coverage of the Republican primary from Jan. 1 through Jan. 10, the night of the New Hampshire primary, where Ron Paul finished second. That accounts for the fact that Rep. Paul was getting so much attention, but still, that 89% positive figure is stunning, especially given the media’s well-documented habit of ignoring or marginalizing the candidate.

It’s also worth noting that in the same timeframe, current national frontrunner Newt Gingrich got 52% positive to 48% negative coverage from the broadcast networks, but was not even included in the Fox News results because he didn’t receive enough evaluations on FOX for meaningful analysis.

Here’s the clip, from Fox News: (you can view the full survey here)

She ventured a guess as to why people have tried to paint her as “angry” or even, perhaps stereotypically and overly broadly, as “a strong woman.”

“I guess it’s more interesting,” she said, “to imagine this conflicted situation here and a strong woman and a, you know… But that’s been an image that people have tried to paint of me since, you know, the day Barack announced; that I’m some angry black woman.”

She deals with that, she added, by simply trying to be herself and holding out hope that people will take the time to know her before jumping to conclusions.

Obama, who told King she hadn’t read The Obamas, also took a moment to address allegations that White House adviser Robert Gibbs had “cursed her:”

That was one of the things from the book that I heard. Robert Gibbs is a trusted adviser. He’s been a good friend and remains so. And I’m sure that we can go day to day and find things people wish they they didn’t do to one another other or said. [...]

That’s why I don’t read these books. Because it’s, you know, it’s a game in so many ways that doesn’t really get, you know… I mean, who can write about how I feel? Who? What third person can tell me how I feel? Or anybody, for that matter.

RELATED: Matt Lauer Grills Controversial Obama Book Author Over White House Pushback

Have a look at what the First Lady had to say, via CBS:

(Ed. note: We tweaked the original headline and language in the story, after some readers pointed out that the Michelle Obama quote implied that her husband had announced she’s “an angry black woman.” Listening to the interview again, we added a semicolon to better show the true intent — that after her husband had announced he was running for President, people started seeing her as an angry black woman. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.)

Last week, I explained some of the reasons Politifact was off-base in even considering the Democrats’ claim a “lie,” let alone the “Lie of the Year.” The Paul Ryan budget plan, as Politifact happily acknowledges, changes Medicare from a defined benefit plan into a voucher program. With or without the qualifier “as we know it,” it is a subjective judgment whether it is entirely fair to call such a change the “end” of Medicare. As many others have also noted, Politifact doesn’t come close to meeting the burden of calling it a “lie.”

RELATED: Thom Hartmann Torches Politifact For Nominating ‘Mediscare’ As ‘Lie Of The Year’

The fact that the Ryan plan doubles the amount seniors will pay for health care is almost beside the point. Once you uncouple Medicare recipients from their benefits, you have ended Medicare, and placed them at the whim of insurance companies. No matter how good the vouchers are (which is not very), you have declared open season on the benefits those dollars will buy, and the services insurance companies will choose to approve or deny.

Even if you grant all of Politifact’s subjective judgments about this claim, even they acknowledge that “at times, Democrats and liberal groups were careful to characterize the Republican plan more accurately,” which calls into question whether they should have zeroed in on the ads they found so troublesome. If most Democrats were careful to qualify their statements, why not fact-check those claims? Without any evidence to support this, Politifact alleges that “more often, Democrats and liberals overreached.”

That’s not how I remember it. I could be wrong, but every Democrat I saw on TV talking about the Ryan plan did say “ends Medicare as we know it,” or some variation. I don’t expect anyone to take my word for it, but then, neither should we take Politifact’s word for it that ”more often, Democrats and liberals overreached.”

I can’t read minds, but if I had to guess, I’d say that this selection provided Politifact with an irresistible opportunity to prove its own “fairness” by “balancing” the site’s two previous Lies of the Year, both of which were Republican lies about health care. It’s a great narrative for a site whose credibility depends on the illusion that they’re impartial arbiters of truth, especially with “fact-checking” losing much of its luster over dubious rulings. That is not to say that “fact-checking” doesn’t have its place, but even Pulitzer-winning fact-checkers need to be evaluated on the merits.

RELATED: Rachel Maddow and Politifact Are Giving Me a Frakking Headache

In explaining his site’s ruling on this morning’s The Early Show, Politifact editor Bill Adair engaged in some pretty sick propagandizing for the Ryan plan, repeatedly insisting that it “protected” Medicare for those now 55 and older. Only in Bill Adair’s mind and on The Sopranos do you get credit for “protecting” something from your own assault on it.

But right in the midst of his backstopping of Politifact’s awful decision, Adair told an unmitigated, verifiable lie. He said the Ryan plan was trying to “change the plan and save money for people who were younger,” an assertion that’s belied by…Politifact.com:

Another problem with the ad is that it claims that participants would have to find $12,500 to pay for Medicare. That number is based on statistics compiled by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The ad doesn’t mention, though, that the number includes money that would go to Medicare in any case. The CBO estimates beneficiaries would contribute about $6,150 in premiums in 2022 if the program isn’t changed at all. So the extra money seniors need to pay under the Republican proposal is more like $6,350.

I’m no mathematician, but making people pay double isn’t the same as “saving money” for them, is it? Maybe we can put that in the running for next year’s “Lie Of The Year,” but in the meantime, somebody get that man a trouser extinguisher.

Here’s Adair’s Early Show appearance, from CBS News:

RELATED: Of Course! Vladimir Putin’s Campaign Ad Features Sex, Techno Music

While United Russia’s loss of its longtime majority in the legislature was seen as a blow to the party of current president Dmitry Medvedev, their victory, the AP reports, was still seen as fraudulent by many, as many cited reports of widespread violations in electoral law. The AP report notes that the Moscow protest hosted anywhere between 25,000 to 40,000 people, many of whom were both upset about the elections as much as the state of the nation. Authorities permitted a protest as large as 30,000 people, and arrest numbers were low.

The AP report notes that Moscow was not the only places in Russia seeing large protests, but 15 other cities, including ones on the Pacific coast, hosted protests. The government, the report explains, is not only permitting protests (though made Saturday a “mandatory extra school day,” preventing many students from attending) but admitting that there might be something to protest about:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev conceded this week that election law may have been violated and Putin suggested “dialogue with the opposition-minded” – breaking from his usual authoritarian image. The Kremlin has come under strong international pressure, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling the vote unfair and urging an investigation into fraud. Putin in turn criticized Clinton and the United States for allegedly instigating protests and trying to undermine Russia.

RELATED: Russian Women Urged To ‘Strip’ To Show Support For Vladimir Putin: ‘I Will Tear My Clothes Off For Putin’

The Telegraph live-blogged the protests from Moscow overnight as well, and captured some stirring images. Also notable in this protest movement is the voice of former leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who has expressed concern about the legitimacy of the election results and called for annulling these elections and redoing the endeavor, to restore public trust. Whether these protests will continue to gain momentum remains to be seen, but their widespread nature suggests potential longevity.

Colbert then pointed out how Bachmann and her campaign advisers turned this outrage into an “outrage-portunity,” sending out an email to her supporters asking them to show support by tweeting outrage to CBS News, before asking for a donation to Bachmann’s campaign to fight against the media’s liberal bias. Colbert then analyzed the effort by saying “folks, it’s true…Michele Bachmann needs your donations because not only does the media have a liberal bias, but evidently so does money.”

Watch the clip below, courtesy of Comedy Central:

Kurtz said the network’s decision was less to do with politics and more about giving more questions to the candidates doing better in the polls. CBS, like other networks, wanted to ask more questions of the candidates currently dominating the news cycle. Kurtz did note at the end of the segment, though, that Bachmann did end up getting almost as many questions as the frontrunners.

The Daily Caller‘s Matt Lewis agreed with Kurtz, and while admitting it was “unfortunate” for the e-mail to have gotten out, all the news networks make decisions based on poll numbers. That’s why you never see Gary Johnson (with one or two exceptions), Buddy Roemer, or Fred Karger in these debates. Whether you agree with these decisions or not, the networks do set standards for these debates and, all things being unequal, the more popular candidates will get more questions.

Watch the video below, courtesy of CNN:

Alice Stewart, the congresswoman’s spokeswoman, let CBS News know Bachmann would be available for a post-debate interview with CBS on a live webcast, and a CBS employee e-mailed CBS News political director John Dickerson to let him know. The employee cc’ed Stewart on the e-mail, but when Dickerson replied, he was quite possibly unaware of this fact. He e-mailed back the following message that Stewart found in her inbox:

“Okay let’s keep it loose though since she’s not going to get many questions and she’s nearly off the charts in the hopes that we can get someone else.”

After the campaign found out, Bachmann’s campaign manager Keith Nahigian reportedly said, “John Dickerson should be fired. He is a piece of shit. He is a fraud and should be fired.”

CBS News defended the e-mail, explaining it was nothing more than “a candid exchange about the reality of the circumstances.” Dickerson said it was a decision he made based on Bachmann’s placement in the GOP polls, and that’s what his e-mail was based on.

Debate moderator and CBS News anchor Scott Pelley was reached for comment, but he denied any prior knowledge of the e-mail chain and pointed out he and co-moderator Major Garrett did their best to give equal time to all the candidates.

A screenshot of the e-mail has been posted to Bachmann’s Facebook page by Nahigian with the following caption:

While Michele has been onstage at tonight’s debate demonstrating strong leadership on foreign policy and national security, we received concrete evidence confirming what every conservative already knows – the liberal mainstream media elites are manipulating the Republican debates by purposely suppressing our conservative message and limiting Michele’s questions.

View the attached email by CBS News’ political director from earlier today–we need to show the liberal media elite that we won’t stand for this outrageous manipulation. Help us fight this affront by sharing this with your friends.

h/t CNN

Rooney recently retired from 60 Minutes earlier this month after presenting his 1,097th essay for the program.

“I wish I could do this forever. I can’t, though,” Rooney wistfully lamented in his final broadcast.

Watch ABC World News Now’s Report on his condition below:

There is little question of legacy of Steve Job on the still very nascent digital age, but his passing saw near universal recognition that he was a visionary the likes of which the world has not seen since Edison, Curie and Ford. So hearing the voice of Jobs in broadcast television so soon after he had passed was both moving and eerie, but mostly enlightening and oddly consistent with Jobs vision. It seemed almost by design that Jobs would have the last word, via the open and candid interviews with Isaacson.

Part 1:

Part 2:

It’s a candid moment of joy for a senior administration official celebrating some good news. Gaddafi had been considered a despotic dictator by both parties, despite recent diplomatic efforts to normalize relations between the U.S. and Libya, nearly everyone has agreed that the world would be a better place without Gaddafi at the helm of the oil-rich and terrorist supporting nation. Further, the administration’s policy in Libya had been under attack by its detractors, though even its staunchest critics have nobly congratulated President Obama.

Some may look to deconstruct the meaning of “we came, we saw, he died” as some sort of candid admission of U.S. foreign policy and boots in the ground in Libya. But for the handful people that may not get the reference, Clinton appears to be making a play on Julius Ceasar’s famous quote of “veni, vidi, vici” which translates from Latin to “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Watch the clip from CBS News (via The Blaze):

Attkisson herself reassured her Twitter followers, following Weekly Standard‘s report, that “Nobody is being silenced. Thanks for the interest in the reporting on Gunwalker.”

That response, however, hasn’t penetrated the breathless conservative blogosphere, for the most part.

Attkisson described to Laura Ingraham how a DOJ spokesperson had “yelled” at her, and White House spokesman Eric Schultz “screamed and cussed” over her reporting on Operation Fast and Furious, a botched federal gunrunning sting. Reporting about reporting is somewhat unusual (not unheard of), but in this case, the attention being paid to it obscures the fact that Attkisson actually did a pretty fair job of conveying the administration’s objections in her interview with Ingraham.

The “why is this a story?” refrain should be familiar to any reporter who has ever talked to a press aide. “They will tell you that I’m the only reporter, as they told me, that is not reasonable,” Attkisson told Ingraham. “They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.”

Press Secretary Jay Carney wouldn’t comment on the specifics of Attkisson’s conversation with Schultz, but when Ed Henry asked him about it, reporter to former reporter, Carney pointed out that a certain amount of give-and-take comes with the job. “I have no insight into the conversation she may, or may not, have had,” Carney said.  ”I know that you guys are all hard-bitten veteran journalists, and probably don’t complain when you have tough conversations with sources sometimes.”

It is, at least in my experience, unusual to be cursed at by a press aide, but that part of the story speaks more to Schultz’s temperament than it does to the merits of Attkisson’s reporting, which is one of the reasons that this kind of meta-story can be so distracting.

Now, The Weekly Standard is making the lack of a story (about the story about the story) into a story:

Today, I called CBS News in an attempt to interview Attkisson. I was told by CBS News senior vice president of communications Sonya McNair that Attkisson would be unavailable for interviews all week. When I asked why Attkisson would be unavailable, McNair would not say.

I’ve also heard from a producer at another media outlet that has previously booked Attkisson that they tried to book her since she made news with the Laura Ingraham interview yesterday. They were also told that she would be unavailable.

Fair enough, but the interpretation in the headline, and the implication of this item, are unfair, and unfounded. There’s no indication whatsoever that Attkisson wants to comment on her reporting, but is being prevented from doing so. Given the attention that this peripheral aspect of the Fast and Furious story is being given, it would be just as fair to assume that Attkisson didn’t want to be drawn into this, as it distracts from the reporting, on the actual story, that she continues to do.  Such an attitude is very much in character for a nose-to-grindstone reporter. Let the shoe leather do the talking.

Furthermore, it has been my experience that CBS News, in particular, is very good about letting their reporters speak to the media (other organizations are not). I’ve never had a problem contacting CBS talent directly, or getting a response from anyone who wanted to respond. If Sharyl Attkisson had anything more to add to this story, I’m confident she would do so. Ditto Jay Carney and Eric Schultz, who are also not talking.

Writing for CBS News, Brian Montopoli reports:

As Williams tried to continue asking his question, the crowd broke into applause, prompting Williams to pause.

The moderator then continued: “Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent?”

Perry responded, “no, sir.”

“I’ve never struggled with that at all,” he said. “The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which — when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that’s required.”

Regardless of one’s beliefs on capital punishment, many pundits rightly lauded the political savvy of Perry’s unapologetic answer, in particular judging by the crowd’s reaction. Red meat to his loyal followers. It was yet another moment that seems to illustrate the polarized nature of today’s political landscape as many left-leaning Twitter commenters saw this moment the very same moment as hypocritical, not consistency as has been put forth by conservattive commentators.

Watch the segment below, courtesy of MSNBC:

Back in the day, Michael Rosenblum toiled as a producer at CBS News, before leaving the network and making a name for himself as a pioneer in transforming news operations. He helped launch Current TV and New York’s local NY1, and has trained journalists to shoot their own video at The New York Times, the BBC, and networks in Germany, Holland and elsewhere. But he wonders why the recently-revamped CBS Evening News still looks so, you know, unchanged. Comparing the newscast now anchored by Scott Pelley, which included a freshened up set and the return of a world map made famous as part of the set used by CBS legend Walter Cronkite, Rosenblum argues on his blog today that Pelley’s newscast looks nearly identical to the newscast put on by NBC’s John Cameron Swayze–in 1949. “Does it look pretty much the same after 62 years? Isn’t this astonishing? Isn’t this astonishing for a medium that supposedly is on the cutting edge of technology?”

“In the real world there is not a dime’s worth of difference between Scott Pelley, Diane Sawyer, Brian Williams or Walter Cronkite. Snore,” he writes. And obviously, the networks–engaged in a fierce battle for viewers–would heartily disagree.

Rosenblum, who’s argued that local news as we’ve known it is dead–compares broadcast news to computers. In the 1940s, a computer would fill a room. Today, it’s an iPad:

Why have computers matured so much over the past 62 years while TV news has remained pretty much unchanged? Unevolved?

Part of the reason is inherent in the industry. It is an industry driven not by risk, but rather by fear.

When I was at CBS News we used to call the place Cubicles of Fear.

The reason was that the risks for any innovation were so high (if you tried something and it failed, they fired you), and the rewards so scanty.

Unlike online start-ups, no one at CBS News got equity in CBS, so what was the reward for big growth? Nothing.

Come on, take a risk – a real risk – before it’s too late. As Dan Rather used to say–looking and sounding like everyone else–“Courage”

Americans aren’t happy with anybody in Washington, from President Obama to Congress, but Republicans have the highest disapproval, hitting 71 percent, according to a CBS News poll released today. As CBSNews.com’s Tucker Reals writes, “Americans are unimpressed with their political leaders’ handling of the debt ceiling crisis, with a new CBS News poll showing a majority disapprove of all the involved parties’ conduct, but Republicans in Congress fare the worst, with just 21 percent backing their intransigent resistance to raising taxes.”

President Obama had the highest approval ratings in the poll (43 percent), but still had more people disapproving (48 percent). As the poll discovered, regardless of party affiliation, there’s disapproval for everyone:

Even half of the Republican respondents (51 percent) voiced disapproval of how members of their own party in Congress are handling the talks. Far fewer Democrats expressed disapproval of their own party’s handling (32 percent) or President Obama’s (22 percent) of the urgent quest to raise the nation’s debt limit ahead of a looming default on Aug. 2 if action isn’t taken.

CBS will have extensive coverage on the new poll results on the CBS Evening News tonight.

CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty‘s halfway through a long day. Up early for an appearance on CBS’ Early Show, she may not wrap her day until well after tonight’s 48 Hours Mystery, which airs at 10 p.m. ET. Sure, the show’s on tape, but Moriarty isn’t, and she’ll be watching–and chatting–right along with viewers. “48 Hours is pretty idea for social networking,” Moriarty told Mediaite. “I like the connection with viewers.”

And tonight, via Facebook, she’ll lead a live discussion of the show along with family members of victims of the Long Island serial killer who’s the subject of tonight’s report. The goal is two-fold: not only to create a deeper connection between the show and its viewers, but also, perhaps, to harness the audience in the hopes of finding a clue that will lead to the killer who investigators fear will strike again. “A serial killer, by nature, they continue killing. And that’s the concern. That’s why there’s pressure on the police department to solve this case,” said Suffolk County (New York) Police commissioner Richard Dormer.

Moriarty, who’s led live Facebook chats with viewers before, loves the way social media connects her directly with the folks who watch her work–viewers who get deeply involved in the stories. “People will say ‘did you think about this, what about this evidence, did anyone take fingerprints, did anyone take DNA?’”

Tonight, there will be plenty to talk about. The family of Shannan Gilbert, who vanished near Gilgo Beach, New York, will be joining the Facebook chat. The search for Shannan led to the discovery of four women, each wrapped in burlap and buried near the same Long Island beach. Moriarty will reveal new information in the case on 48 Hours, and discuss details on Facebook. 48 Hours executive producer Susan Zirinsky, meanwhile, will lead an hourlong conversation on Twitter.

“Not only is it good for us, but people have an investment in the story,” said Moriarty. “I find that people feel more connected to the show when they can voice what they think of it–any way they want–and they’re talking to you directly.”

In an exclusive interview set to air tonight on the CBS Evening News, President Obama tells Scott Pelley he “cannot guarantee” that $20 billion worth of Social Security checks will be sent out on August 3–the day after the government could be in default. “This is not a matter of Social Security checks, these are veterans’ checks, these are folks on disability–their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out every month.” Except maybe not next month, Mr. Obama said.

“I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3 if we have not resolved this issue, because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.”

Watch it here, from CBS News:

Harry Smith, who was replaced in January as co-host of CBS’ Early Show in the struggling morning show’s most recent makeover, will leave the network and join NBC News, where TV Guide reports he will be a part of the upcoming primetime news hour hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, set to debut this fall.

Smith joined CBS News in 1986 as a Dallas-based reporter and was named a correspondent in March 1987, reporting primarily for the CBS Evening News. Prior to that, he was a reporter and anchor for KMGH-TV, the CBS affiliate in Denver. He also worked in radio in Denver and Cincinnati. In his years at CBS, Smith has served as a fill-in anchor on nearly every news show, and won numerous awards including several Emmys, an Edward R. Murrow award, and he’s won recognition from the American Women in Radio and Television and the National Association of Black Journalists. Smith was also given the Silver Anniversary Award by the NCAA for former varsity athletes who have gone on to a career of distinction.

Goldberg noted that CBS News head Jeff Fager held a meeting about the direction of the network’s news, telling those gathered that “if you have an agenda, find another place to work.” Thus, Goldberg guesses, Fager may have had some sort of discussion with O’Donnell, advising her to “keep your Liberal opinions to yourself when you’re at the White House.”

Update: O’Donnell reached out to us to note that she had a thirty minute discussion with Noel Sheppard about the poll regarding voters’ attitudes toward Mormons / Fox News commentators that O’Reilly mentioned during the segment. O’Donnell says she explained to Sheppard “how the bipartisan NBC/WSJ poll is conducted with the utmost integrity.”

Here is Sheppard’s Tweet about O’Donnell’s remarks. Here he is his updated post on it, from Newsbusters.

Watch the segment, courtesy of Fox News:

In a major move, MSNBC’s chief Washington correspondent, Norah O’Donnell has decided to jump networks, signing with CBS News as White House correspondent. As Politico’s Mike Allen writes, “it’s a stunning shakeup for both the front row of the White House briefing room and for Washington’s intensely competitive network news bureaus.”

O’Donnell’s been with NBC since 1999, and before that reported for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper. In her role at MSNBC, O’Donnell’s reported on politics, served as a contributing correspondent for NBC’s top-rated TODAY, and anchored Weekend TODAY. She’s also been a regular on The Chris Matthews Show, the Sunday public affairs program.

In a statement announcing the hire, CBS News says Chip Reid, the current CBS chief White House correspondent, will become a national correspondent based in Washington, ‘with greater editorial range,’ CBS said.” O’Donnell will also become the principal substitute anchor of Face the Nation. In the statement from CBS, O’Donnell says “this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m thrilled to cover the White House for CBS News. It is an honor and a privilege to join the great journalists at this legendary network.”

Here’s the full announcement, from CBS News:

NORAH O’DONNELL NAMED CBS NEWS’ CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT

Emmy award-winning reporter Norah O’Donnell has been named CBS News’ Chief White House Correspondent, it was announced today by CBS News Chairman and 60 MINUTES Executive Producer Jeff Fager and David Rhodes, President, CBS News.

O’Donnell will also become the principal substitute anchor for FACE THE NATION, the growing Sunday morning public affairs broadcast anchored by CBS News’ Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer, and will report for all CBS News broadcasts, including occasionally for 60 MINUTES.

“It’s very exciting for all of us at CBS News to have Norah on our team,” said Fager. “She’s an accomplished reporter with extensive experience and she will be terrific as our Chief White House Correspondent.”

“Norah’s experience on Washington’s top beats—at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and at the Pentagon—will make her a great addition to our growing Washington bureau,” said Rhodes. “At the White House, on the campaign trail with the President, at the Conventions and into Election Night, we will be even more competitive in our reporting with Norah on board.”

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said O’Donnell. “I’m thrilled to cover the White House for CBS News. It is an honor and a privilege to join the great journalists at this legendary network.”

O’Donnell has been the Chief Washington Correspondent for MSNBC and a contributing correspondent for “TODAY” and “Weekend TODAY.” She also appears regularly on “The Chris Matthews Show” and has co-anchored the 9:00 AM hour of “TODAY.”

O’Donnell provided in-depth coverage of the 2008 presidential election, during which she anchored throughout the primaries and reported on the exit polls. She was one of the main anchors for MSNBC’s primetime coverage of both the Democratic and Republican conventions, and moderated a panel of MSNBC’s chief political analysts. She won an Emmy as part of NBC News’ election night coverage.

O’Donnell joined NBC News in 1999. Prior to that, she was a staff reporter for the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, and worked as a contributor and analyst for MSNBC.

During her 12-year tenure at NBC, O’Donnell’s assignments have taken her around the country and the globe. They include coverage of the 2004 presidential campaign of President George W. Bush, as well as the 2000 presidential campaigns of John McCain and George W. Bush. She provided analysis of the debates, the Republican and Democratic conventions, Election Night, as well as the 2000 Florida recount.

For her “Dateline NBC” story, “D.C. In Crisis,” which aired on September 11, 2001, O’Donnell was honored with the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage. In the months following the attacks, she traveled extensively with then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, reporting on the war in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, O’Donnell is a graduate of Georgetown University and received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. She also holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University. She is married to Geoff Tracy, a restaurateur in Washington, D.C, where they live with their three children.

CBS News wants you to know that reporters at The New York Times, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and Entertainment Weekly all got it wrong in comparing Scott Pelley‘s first week as anchor of The CBS Evening News to the final weeks of Katie Couric‘s time in the chair. As we put it yesterday, “it’s too early to fairly judge the CBS Evening News‘ transition from Katie Couric to Scott Pelley in terms of ratings, but in his first week on the job, Pelley largely held on to the viewers Couric had, but seems to have lost some of the viewers who tuned in for the post-Couric newscasts with interim anchor Harry Smith.”

James Hibberd at EW.com had pretty much the same take:

News ratings are a marathon, not a sprint, as any network publicist will tell you (especially if their show is struggling), but it would have been nice to see at least a little spark when Scott Pelley took over at CBS Evening News last week.

Though Pelley received a slight bump his first night, he averaged 5.7 million viewers for the week — matching what Katie Couric delivered last month. The figures were also slightly lower than what substitute anchor Harry Smith averaged.

But CBS argues the comparison isn’t fair–that the only true comparison is to look at Pelley’s first week in comparison to the same week a year ago. By that yardstick, as Bill Carter writes in The Times:

On that score, Mr. Pelley did improve CBS’s numbers, by about 300,000 viewers. In that week last year, Ms. Couric had 5.44 million viewers. This year, Mr. Pelley had 5.74 million.

In the audience that the news divisions sell to advertisers, viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, the two newscasts had the same rating, a 1.3, both this year and last year.

It’s too early to fairly judge the CBS Evening News‘ transition from Katie Couric to Scott Pelley in terms of ratings, but in his first week on the job, Pelley largely held on to the viewers Couric had, but seems to have lost some of the viewers who tuned in for the post-Couric newscasts with interim anchor Harry Smith.

Pelley’s much-anticipated first night, Monday June 6, included a hard-news focus on Afghanistan, and saw a slight jump in ratings compared to the average for Couric’s last month. The Evening News remained in third place, however, and ended the week with an average rating of 1.32 million viewers 25-54, well behind ABC World News (which had Diane Sawyer reporting from Afghanistan early in the week, and then was pre-empted for many viewers Tuesday and Thursday for the NBA Finals) and top-rated NBC Nightly News, which was without main anchor Brian Williams for most of the week.

Harry Smith, by comparison, who anchored the Evening News from May 20 through June 3, held on to Couric’s average ratings among viewers 25-54, but built a small lead over Couric’s average in terms of total viewers (5,784,000 to 5,713,000). Pelley’s first week saw the average among total viewers return to Couric levels of 5,718,000.

Couric, who was unable to turn around the CBS newscast, announced ABC as her next home, where she will produce a talk show and begin appearing on ABC News programs as early as this summer.

The amazing story of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords‘ recovery from the shooting in Tucson has progressed to the point where Giffords is “struggling to talk,” according to an interview published in the Arizona Republic. Giffords, who celebrated her 41st birthday yesterday, is making “amazing progress” said C.J. Karamargin, Giffords’ spokesman. But another staffer, Pia Carusone, the Congresswoman’s chief of staff, described the recovery–especially Giffords’ efforts to speak–as frustrating and difficult, with Giffords unable to form complete sentences.

“We do a lot of inferring with her because her communication skills have been impacted the most,” Carusone told the newspaper. “She is borrowing upon other ways of communicating. Her words are back more and more now, but she’s still using facial expressions as a way to express. Pointing. Gesturing. Add it all together, and she’s able to express the basics of what she wants or needs. But, when it comes to a bigger and more complex thought that requires words, that’s where she’s had the trouble.”

As CBS News reports, Giffords continues to undergo rehabilitation at a facility in Houston. She’s been there more than four months now, since just weeks after the shooting.

The entire story, including Carusone’s answer about whether Giffords can stay in office, can be found here.

In an interview Wednesday with CBS News, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain described homosexuality as “a sin” and “a choice.” Appearing on the CBS News web program Washington Unplugged, Cain told CBSNews.com senior political reporter Brian Montopoli “I believe homosexuality is a sin because I’m a Bible-believing Christian, I believe it’s a sin,” he said. “But I know that some people make that choice. That’s their choice.”

Montopoli followed up, asking Cain if he thought gays and lesbians were making “a choice” to be homosexual:

Cain was asked: “So you believe it’s a choice?”

“I believe it is a choice,” he responded.

Watch it here, from CBS News:

You remember Ted Haggard. He’s the former leader of the New Life Church who was forced from the pulpit amid charges he used drugs and paid a masseuse for gay sex. Haggard’s hardly running from the limelight, however, telling GQ earlier this year he’s bisexual and now, doing a cameo in a preview for a yet-to-be-filmed “Christian sex comedy” called “The Waiting Game.” Yes, really.

As TPM’s Jullian Rayfield explains the plot, ” the movie follows a schlub named Jack who’s super excited about finally losing his virginity on his wedding night, but is foiled when his fiancee leaves him at the altar. He then goes on a quest to meet a replacement wife, while contemplating whether or not to remain abstinent.” And in a cafe, while suggesting that anything he might do would never end up in the newspaper, Haggard, at the next table, leans back and interrupts. “Hey buddy, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Watch it here, from YouTube:

(h/t TPM)

According to the Times‘ Brian Stelter, the hiring of Licht is intended to be a boost to a news division that trails its competition:

Mr. Licht’s hiring will be announced by CBS News on Thursday. At CBS, he will try to inject new energy into the network’s long-troubled morning show, “The Early Show,” and develop other programs and projects. Though the morning show will be his “first focus,” Mr. Licht said in an interview, “I will be doing whatever I can to help.”

Mr. Licht is part of a reboot by CBS News — the third-place network news division — at a time when Katie Couric is leaving and Scott Pelley, a “60 Minutes” correspondent, is replacing her on the “CBS Evening News.” Along with a new anchor, the news division has a new chairman, a new president and a hard news mandate.

Stelter quotes Licht saying the decision to leave MSNBC is “unequivocally the hardest decision I’ve ever made.” But he has harbored an interest for years in having a broader executive role at a network, and NBC, the leading network news division, did not need the help the way CBS does. “That’s whats exciting about this job,” he said. “It’s not ‘Hey, come protect the status quo.’ It’s ‘Hey, come here and let’s try new things.’ And you have the freedom to do that.”

Expect more media stories to follow in the coming days and weeks as “sovereign citizens” becomes a hot buzzword synonymous with angry and disenfranchised citizens who are portrayed in the following segment as open to violence towards politicians and policeman alike.

Watch the clip below, courtesy of CBS:

Officials reviewing those videos are still reconstructing a more accurate version of what happened. We now know that the only firefight took place in the guest house, where one of bin Laden’s couriers opened fire and was quickly gunned down. No one in the main building got off a shot or was even armed, although there were weapons nearby.

The SEALs first saw bin Laden when he came out on the third floor landing. They fired, but missed. He retreated to his bedroom, and the first SEAL through the door grabbed bin Laden’s daughters and pulled them aside.

When the second SEAL entered, bin Laden’s wife rushed forward at him — or perhaps was pushed by bin Laden. The SEAL shoved her aside and shot bin Laden in the chest. A third seal shot him in the head.

CBS News produced an animated simulation of the raid, based on these reports, and while it is obviously only intended to deliver a rough idea of these events, there is one conspicuous omission. The figure representing Osama bin Laden is only ever shown from the chest down, while depictions of the SEALs, bin Laden’s daughters, and his wife are all shown from head-to-toe. Bin Laden’s wife is shown from behind, but the others all feature facial depictions.

Here’s the report, featuring the simulation: (from CBS News)

Mediaite has learned that Rick Kaplan, executive producer of the CBS Evening News, is leaving his post. Kaplan announced his departure in a meeting with staffers of the Katie Couric broadcast. “You have all made my life for the past almost five years fabulous,” Kaplan said, according to people close to Kaplan.

Kaplan, who previously served as president of both MSNBC and CNN and a longtime executive at ABC News, joined Couric at CBS in 2007. He was described as emotional in his meeting with CBS News staff, and saved his final words for the departing anchor. “I have never worked with a better anchor, a finer person, a stronger journalist. She has my utmost love, affection, gratitude, and respect. I could not think of a better partner.” Couric is being replaced on the newscast by 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who takes over June 6. Pelley has promised his Evening News will have a renewed emphasis on hard news.

Couric thanks Kaplan for his work, saying the broadcast needed direction when he arrived, and he brought it. “He did a fabulous job of making our award-winning broadcast the best, smartest, edgiest, hard-hitting news broadcast out there.”

In an interview with Katie Couric published in Glamour, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow says some may see her as the “face of the network” in the aftermath of Keith Olbermann‘s departure, but she has no real idea what that means. “I still think of myself as the new kid, even though I’ve been on the air for two and a half years. But my job is the same as it ever was, which is to make 9:00 P.M. as good as I can.”

Maddow tells Couric their experiences in television have probably been similar, that people tend to engage with news hosts “as brands,” while Maddow’s been very resistant, she says, to veering too far from the story:

I don’t want to insert myself into the story. I just want to give a useful analysis of it to help people come to their own conclusions. It’s why I have a conveyor belt of gray blazers—I try to look exactly the same every day. Don’t focus on what I’m wearing. Focus on what’s coming out of my face. [Laughs.] Besides, I knew that I was never going to compete on the pretty-girl-on-cable front.

What drives Maddow? “Fear of failure. It’s not that I believe a segment will be better because I read those extra 20 pages. It’s because I’m worried that if I don’t, I’ll say something wrong. It’s negative motivation, which makes for a high-stress atmosphere.”

CBS News reports:

About bin Laden’s burial at sea executed within 24 hours of his death as prescribed by Muslim law, the president said, “Frankly, we took more care on this than, obviously, bin Laden took when he killed 3,000 people. He didn’t have much regard for how they were treated and desecrated. But that, again, is something that makes us different. And I think we handled it appropriately.”

Kroft asks President Obama if it was his decision to bury the al Qaeda leader at sea. “It was a joint decision. We thought it was important to think through ahead of time how we would dispose of the body if he were killed in the compound,” says the president. “And I think that what we tried to do was – consulting with experts in Islamic law and ritual – to find something that was appropriate, that was, respectful of the body.”

Watch the clip below, courtesy of CBS News: