Actor Samuel L. Jackson has become the latest Hollywood figure to call the Tea Party racist, and also briefly weighed in on the Rick Perry “N*ggerhead” controversy, when New York Magazine‘s Dan Amira and Catherine Coreno caught up with him at a benefit for the Children Of Bellevue’s Reach Out And Read program Monday night. Jackson also said he didn’t think the controversy surrounding Perry’s hunting camp would hurt the candidate, saying, “He’ll actually gain respect from a lot of people that he didn’t have respect from before.”

In New York magazine this week, John Heilemann contends that President Obama is the “best thing Israel has going for it right now” and despite some setbacks he remains a president “every bit as pro-Israel as the country’s own prime minister — and, if you look from the proper angle, maybe even more so.” The [...]

When the new weekend show hosted by Chris Hayes debuts on MSNBC September 17, expect a “cast of characters” but none of the usual suspects. Hayes tells New York his goal is to feature a regular panel of younger, more diverse group of contributors than other cable news shows. “I don’t want hacky partisans,” he says.

The explosive New York magazine profile of Roger Ailes that we covered extensively, was the subject for discussion on Morning Joe with the article’s author, Gabriel Sherman. Joe Scarborough was most intrigued by the relationship and discussions between Ailes and Glenn Beck and was pleased to conclude “Ailes was dripping with contempt for Beck’s craziness long before we heard about it.”

In the political debates regularly covered here at Mediaite, this New York Magazine story would fairly be described as “the other story.” Not the explosive one on Roger Ailes and Fox News, but the one on Media Matters founder David Brock. His story as a conservative turncoat is a fascinating one, replete with apologies for his errant ways and his new commitment to taking down the group he once represented. But much of the piece focuses on his near obsession with Fox News which he says has transformed “into something that isn’t even recognizable as a form of media.”

As the New York magazine profile of Fox News chief Roger Ailes continues to send shockwaves through the cable news universe, officials at Fox News are quick to clear up at least one inaccuracy while fair-minded readers of the article are left wondering about another question. Why did the piece feature a disparaging image of Ailes with a cigar blowing up in his face, while a similarly extensive profile of Media Matters founder David Brock, which appeared in the same issue of the magazine, showcased a flattering portrait of the Fox News nemesis?

A featurelength article in this week’sNew York Magazine aims to confirm what many media critics have asserted for the last few years: NBC News anchor Brian Williams is a funny, funny man. The essay collects a number of anecdotes and video clips of Williams’ numerous appearances on late night talk shows (either as an entertaining guest or comedic cameo), in addition to numerous appearances playing himself on NBC sitcoms like 30 Rock. While we admire Williams’ willingness to show his range, and perhaps more importantly, not take himself too seriously, maybe it’s time for someone to come out and say it: he really isn’t that funny.

Conservative lightning rod Michelle Malkin took to the Twitter Tuesday morning to lash out at fellow conservatives Karl Rove and Tucker Carlson over their “misogynist mockery” of Sarah Palin, and to throw in a jab at “lib pantywaists” for good measure. After consulting my 1930s dictionary, I was properly offended, but Malkin’s tirade seems to have had at least some effect, extracting a Charlie Sheen-blaming apology from Carlson. But isn’t there a word for using feminine traits as insults?

A huge hire for New York Magazine, and a big shake-up in the media world: Frank Rich, who has been writing for The New York Times since 1980, is leaving the paper for NY Mag.

Beginning in June, Rich will not only contribute essays for the magazine, he’ll also act as its editor at large, overseeing a “special monthly section anchored by his essay,” and posting regularly to nymag.com.

Karl Rove and Sarah Palin don’t exactly have a reputation for being best buddies within the Republican Party, and Rove is doing little to damper than image in his latest interview with New York Magazine, debuting his Palin impression and mocking her reality TV career. Lawrence O’Donnell invited NY Mag‘s Joe Hagan on the show today to talk about Rove’s impressions, his 2012 picks, and what this rift means for the Republican Party.

Will he or won’t he? New York magazine suggests seven reasons why GOP early poll frontrunner Mike Huckabee will not run for president in 2012, including this: “Lacks necessary messianic self-delusions.”

The story, in the magazine’s Daily Intel column, points out that Huckabee has a job he enjoys–and that pays him well–at the Fox News Channel.

New York magazine wanted to get to know the relatively-new New Yorker Ed Shultz, host of MSNBC’s The Ed Show. The host answered a long list of questions for the magazine’s Daily Intel column, including “what’s your drink?” Shultz says “Gin and tonic in the summer, whiskey in the winter.”

We learn that Schultz prefers the new Times Square to the old, porn-y Times Square, but he hedges by saying he’s only really lived in New York for a matter of months. He also says his favorite New Yorker–alive or dead–is Hillary Clinton.

New York magazine writer Gabriel Sherman has signed with Random House to write a book about Fox News. The book, The Loudest Voice in the Room: An Inside Account of the Rise of Fox News will expand on Sherman’s New York cover story on cable news, “Chasing Fox,” which appeared in magazine last fall.

As Michael Calderone reports, Sherman’s book will feature extensive reporting on Fox News boss and founder Roger Ailes:

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has taken its share of criticism and ridicule as its suffered from several setbacks and pushed back its opening several times. The play got some good news this week with some high-profile endorsements as the show continues its previews, and word of a new finale. All of these delays have left reporters, who are seeing the show between now and the scheduled March 15 opening, in a strange spot. What can they reveal about the much-anticipated, extremely expensive production? Here, a rundown of how some writers are handling the long wait for opening night, and how delays are making them part of the story:

Almost exactly ten years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that George W. Bush would be the 43rd president of the United States. To commemorate that landmark decision, New York Magazine asked five writers to each compose a short piece detailing what might have happened if Al Gore had instead unequivocally won in 2000. Those authors include Kurt Andersen, Kevin Baker, Jane Smiley, Walter Kirn—and, most surprisingly of all, Glenn Beck.

Yahoo is making major moves to ramp up itsoriginal content: this morning, Yahoo launched three new blogs to spin off of  The Upshot. It’s a big move for the Upshot, which is only seven months old and helmed by Andrew Golis, formerly the deputy publisher of Talking Points Memo. The three new blogs include The Cutline, [...]

Readers of both NYMag.com and the Wall Street Journal‘s website may have noticed that in the wee small hours of the morning, both publications posted similar but competing articles about author James Frey and Full Fathom Five, the book-packaging company he launched to churn out young adult fiction. As it turns out, New York’s version was rushed online only after the magazine learned that the WSJ was about to scoop them on a story they’d had in the works for weeks.

In a lengthy, wide-ranging article out today, Gabriel Sherman of New York magazine explores a variety of cable news storylines over the past six years.

While CNN and Fox News are involved, the juiciest tidbits come from where he got the most access – MSNBC. Here’s a roundup of some of the revelations:

In a lengthy, revealing and wide-ranging profile of The Daily Show host Jon Stewart in this week’s New York magazine, Chris Smith got an inside look at the frenetic process of putting together a 30-minute episode of the comedy/politics show.

He also heard from some in the media Stewart covers, including Brian Williams and Glenn Beck

Last week Chris Lehmann, Bookforum editor and Managing Editor of Yahoo’s News Blog, announced the launch of his new book, Rich People Things. The book was born out of his long-running column of the same name for The Awl. Nisha Chittal speaks to Lehmann about the book, the column, and the events that led him to write about so-called “Rich People Things”

New York Magazine’s “Daily Intel” blog is reporting that CBS and CNN are cooking up what could be a game changer for the cable news landscape: a partnership where both networks would share talent and airtime, with the possibility of seeing CBS’ Katie Couric taking over the CNN 9PM spot currently inhabited by Larry King.

The stars were out in full force for last night’s Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute Gala (Styleite has more on best dressed and worst dressed on the red carpet).

But one tipster pointed us to New York Mag’s slideshow, and their caption for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg…and the incorrect description of his “date.”

As Joe Coscarelli pointed out yesterday at the Village Voice, “It’s a boy’s world, still: of the 53 entrepreneurs photographed, only 6 are women.” Sigh. Those odds not only suck, they don’t reflect what’s really going on in the New York tech industry. Where there are, in fact, women — and you don’t even have to look that hard for them!

19-year-old Sarah Killen has become America’s most beloved celebrity-for-no-reason since Levi Johnston and this time, the love isn’t ironic. Killen, whose life changed dramatically when a bored, unemployed Conan O’Brien decided to follow her on Twitter at random, has been making the internet media rounds since last Friday, and today she made the jump from the internet to national television, sitting down with CNN to try to explain why tens of thousands of people now want to be in the know about her life.

Not a year after wrapping up one of the more sanguinary house-cleanings in recent memory (even the cleaning-lady got sacked), The NYO has been reduced to running slavish retreads of articles penned months earlier by writers they once employed. And not just that: The NYO is affording these retreads marquee placement on their website.