Addressing the Super Committee’s inability to come to a consensus regarding much-needed budget cuts, Tuesday’s Morning Joe panel mulled over what role President Barack Obama played in the talks demise, or what role he should have played.

Early on in the show, host Mika Brzezinski, noted that, for all the attention Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist has been given in the press, “both sides failed.” Host Joe Scarborough called into the show and offered his perspective.

On Monday’s Morning Joe, panelist Tavis Smiley caused a minor uproar when he pointed out that a key difference between Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush is that “one of those guys lied to the American people.” Host Joe Scarborough, guest Jon Meacham, and even Mika Brzezinski pushed back on the idea that Bush “lied,” laying the blame for bad WMD intel at the feet of CIA Director George Tenet, and Smiley eventually got lost in the semantic weeds.

During a lengthy conversation on Morning Joe regarding the worldwide economic turmoil, Joe Scarborough may have caught some viewers by surprise when a typical discussion about financial markets and politics turned into a unique moment where Scarborough revealed an honest, sobering and completely devastating assessment of President Obama and the times we are living in today.

The story of How Bill Clinton Got His Groove Back continued today on Morning Joe, where Joe Scarborough took offense to what he sees as media bias for the former Democratic president. Mika Brzezinski characterized Judge Henry Hudson as a “George W. Bush appointee,” and it was that qualifier that so irked Scarborough. “They never say Clinton appointee” when one is implicated in an unpopular event, he said. But whenever there’s controversy, there are Bush appointees and Reagan appointees all over the place—including MSNBC, he noted.

Howard Fineman is the latest big name to depart Newsweek since the Washington Post Company sold it and editor Jon Meacham departed. Brian Stelter at the NYT broke the news this afternoon.

Though Jon Meacham stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of Newsweek this summer, his successor has not yet been named. Before leaving, however, he reportedly told Tom Ascheim, Newsweek‘s CEO, that veteran magazine editor Tina Brown might be the best woman for the job. Brown, of course, is currently running The Daily Beast—and she’s said that she has no intention of leaving that post.

But what if she didn’t have to?

Earlier today, word broke that Sidney Harman is buying Newsweek from the Washington Post Company. Now, several outlets — including Politico’s Mike Allen and the New York Post’s Keith J. Kelly — are reporting that the magazine’s editor, Jon Meacham, will be leaving after the sale, presumably freeing up the most influential magazine editor and best-selling author to focus on his new PBS program, Need To Know.

Who’d have guessed. Apparently some PBS watchers are also Sarah Palin supporters. Or at least Sarah Palin sympathizers. Comedian Andy Borowitz, in his short, funny segment that appears at the end of Jon Meacham‘s ‘Need to Know’ PBS news show, this week made fun of Sarah Palin. Specifically he mocked her ‘Palinese’ and speculated what the country would look like when she became president in 2012, per the ‘Mayan Prophecy Weekly’.

On a beach? Relaxing at home? Wondering how to spend your post-BBQ stupor? Here is some patriotic Fourth of July weekend reading from Mediaite’s staff, columnists and contributors. Enjoy!

Last night’s episode of Real Time was the last of the season, and Bill Maher brought out the big guns for his weekly panel: Rachel Maddow, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, and brave former Republican Senate Majority leader Bill Frist facing the trio. They talked filibusters, estate taxes, and Maher even allowed himself to talk about the horrors of the oil disaster in the Gulf, the one story that’s too depressing for him to regularly face.

The new PBS show hosted by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and NPR’s Allison Stewart, Need To Know, debuted last week, and even PBS’ ombudsman had to admit the reviews were mixed. But no one was as vicious in their critique as Tom Shales of the Washington Post.

Stewart responded today – calling one comment “crude, crass and sexist.”

It’s fair to say that Jon Meacham currently has a LOT on his plate. As you probably have already heard, Newsweek (the magazine that he oversees) was effectively put on the block by its parent, the Washington Post Company last week. Today he published a letter for from the editor outlining the urgent task ahead (though oddly failing to explain exactly what that task was.) Oh, and last week PBS aired the first episode of Need to Know, his new news magazine on PBS. Perhaps its time for Mr. Meacham to focus on just one project at a time?

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham was on the Daily Show last night – his first big TV interview about the fate of his magazine, put on the block by parent Washington Post company yesterday morning. By the time Meacham’s TDS interview aired, the Observer had already reported that he was looking into rounding up investors to take over the magazine himself.

A little over a week ago Rupert Murdoch’s Wall St. Journal launched its new local New York City section to great fanfare. It’s since been one hell of a week for local news, and if there was ever a time for the Journal to shine and impress the past five days were a better opportunity than anyone could reasonably expect. Alas, as far as I can tell they’ve made nary a blip. Here’s some suggestions on how to change this.

WHCD weekend may be over, but the photo evidence lingers on – and man, do we have photo evidence. Take a tour with Mediaite through the pre-parties, post-parties hobnobbing, handshaking and jockeying on Washington’s biggest night. Warning: Some of the photos are of Scott Brown. Your heart may palpitate.

he announcement today that the Washington Post Co. intended to put Newsweek up for sale initially appeared to take the media world by surprise and, according to Howie Kurtz, stunned the newsroom into silence. For those who have been following the travails on the magazine in recent years, however, the news should probably have not come as much of a surprise

If anyone is interested in purchasing a news weekly, now is your chance. Parent Washington Post company announced today that Newsweek is on the market, and have retained Allen & Company to explore the possible sale of the weekly title. While many will see this as chance to dance on the weekly magazine grave, there are some good reasons to think that now is a great time for WaPo to make this move.

Newsweek editor and New York Times contributor Jon Meacham is partaking in the celebration of Confederate History Month by teaching Confederate history. In an extensive review of the repeated resurgence of Confederate pride, Meacham’s Times column argues that the Confederate flag has always been a symbol of white supremacy that only appears in the face of progressing civil rights, but that only the “right”– all of it– benefits from its use.

A serious journalistic query should an intrepid reporter want to follow this lead: has anyone seen Newsweek editor Jon Meacham and WNBC investigative journalist Jonathan Dienst in the same room? Sure, they come from completely different media backgrounds and, save for both making appearances on MSNBC occassionally, have little professional overlap, but we can’t help but look at the photo evidence and wonder whether something is up.

In his once relevant Media Ink column, Keith Kelly provides a rather dismal report on the overall health of Newsweek column in today’s NY Post. And while its true that the weekly news magazine suffered some pretty significant losses over the last year, Kelly’s report ignores both important context and, more importantly, the quarterly trend of profits and losses. Sure, some have predicted their imminent demise, however a complete look at how the last year has gone for Newsweek reveals that rumors of their death are greatly exaggerated.

I think this can be considered the magazine coup of the decade — thus far. Newsweek has announced that President Obama will pen next week’s cover story on Haiti for the magazine. Without question this is a huge score for Newsweek, which has spent a great deal of time and money overhauling itself in the last six months. According to a report in the WSJ all Newsweek editor Jon Meacham had to do was ask.

Think those things have nothing in common? Well, then you haven’t seen Newsweek‘s “Interview Issue.” Featuring the sort of cover that you — or nerds like me — want to pick up. Editor Jon Meacham‘s editor’s letter tried to explain why:

The year 2009 was a remarkably troubled year for magazine publishing — filled with lay-offs, declining ad revenue, and serious questions about the viability of the medium as a whole. Yet, in this sea of bad news, a few titles were able to eke out some positive attention and influence over the field — thanks, in part, to the vision and leadership of their editors. Who among them did we find to do his or her job the best? Jon Meacham, Editor-in-chief for Newsweek. His runner-up and reader poll winner after the jump.

The year 2009 had many media bright spots, break-out stars, dominating networks and game-changing technologies. The Mediaite 50 collects the finest, most exemplary innovators and influencers of the year, defining a media moment in time and setting the agenda as we move forward. See the full list after the jump:

2009 was a remarkably troubled year for magazine publishing. But a few titles were able to eke out some positive attention and influence over the field — thanks, in part, to the vision and leadership of their editors. In our first end-of-year media poll, we ask our loyal, smart, and attractive users to share their thoughts on who had the biggest year in various media categories. Our first category: Magazine Editors.