TV Newser reports today that, for the first time since the 2001-2002 season, nightly newscast viewership is up for all three major networks; ABC, CBS, and NBC gaining a combined 637,000 total viewers in the 2010-11 season. With news breaking fast and furious on 24hour cable news networks and the internet, viewers have recently trended [...]

According to two people with knowledge of the situation, SportsNewser, Mediabistro’s sports media site, will cease to exist after next Thursday. MB will continue to have sports-related posts, but those will be rolled into the TVNewser blog. There will no longer be a standalone sports site.

Matthew Hiltzik, who represents Glenn Beck, Katie Couric and Don Imus, among others, talked to PRNewser’s Joe Ciarallo for mediabistro.com’s series Media Beat. And responding to his pal Ken Sunshine, who told the Washington Post in a Hiltzik profile he “wouldn’t be caught dead representing Glenn Beck,” Hiltzik joked back using Beck frenemy Van Jones.

Laurel Touby founded mediabistro.com in 1996, sold it in 2007 (for $23 million) and began her first real vacation in October of last year – a six-month sabbatical around the world.

We caught up with Touby today by phone in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to find out what she’s been up to, her thoughts on Foursquare and Chatroulette, what her plans are next and more.

Today marks the launch of what the right wing internet has been anxiously awaiting: Tucker Carlson‘s The Daily Caller a.k.a. the conservative answer to The Huffington Post. The D.C. (coincidence?) looks sharp and leads with a marquee story probably hoping to set the tone for the site. In a large, two-tone font: “The Gate Crasher: The Mysteries of Carlos Allen.” But how’s the online peanut gallery reacting?

This isn’t any great surprise, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out: advertisements featuring Tiger Woods have stopped appearing on major television channels, according to CNNMoney. The last Tiger Woods ad was a Gillette ad which aired on November 29th, two days after his mysterious car crash, but before allegations of his affairs dominated the national media.

Last week WebMediaBrands CEO Alan Meckler had media tongues wagging when he twittered out that his company (formerly Jupiter Media) was “on the prowl for acquisitions” igniting rumors that it might be interested in purchasing PaidContent. But is all as it seems? Nasdaq doesn’t seem to think so.

A friend waits in a doctor’s office and notices that everyone around him is tap-tap-tapping away at their iPhone and completely ignoring the table full of magazines. This scene is a nightmare for magazine editors who are ever-worried about remaining relevant and somehow carving out a digital presence for themselves online and increasingly in our pockets. But unfortunately for them iPhone apps do not relevance (nor money!) make. At least not yet.

Looks like yet another site has gotten into the list and rankings biz. Meet the Flavorpill 50.