For many of the younger folk who have not experienced television as diverse as it is today or cannot recall what it was like to not have the option to consume any culture at any time via the internet, comprehending the entire concept behind Don Cornelius‘s success may prove difficult. In fact, fully comprehending how a concept like Soul Train– a show devoted to delivering to the mainstream a culture for so long marginalized– could succeed requires the ability to adopt the anachronistic mentality of the time, to see the world as it was and find the niche market that Cornelius saw and made mainstream. With the news of his death today, we can only look at the world as it when he arrived to change it, and compare it to what he leaves behind. With those markers, it is clear that his influence expanded well beyond the worlds of disco and soul music.

New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane got some unexpected public criticism when he wrote a column asking if journalists should be “truth vigilantes,” calling out politicians who make blatant distortions. Since many people think this is the dictionary definition of journalism, Brisbane was roundly mocked for even asking the question. On CNN’s Reliable Sources, Brisbane defended his piece to Howard Kurtz and why he even questioned the responsibility of the press.

Bernard Goldberg‘s semi-weekly segment on The O’Reilly Factor today focused on the New York Times calling Mitt Romney one of the “whitest” candidates to ever run. Bill O’Reilly began the segment with a joking tease that Goldberg was, in fact, the whitest guy he knew– one that Goldberg took as a challenge, and disputed by brandishing a photo of himself with rapper Ice Cube. “See, here I am with Ice T,” he said, unfortunately. Happy Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

The SuperPAC-produced film “King of Bain: When Mitt Romney Came To Town” is coming under fire for being somewhat inaccurate, receiving cries to be removed from the airwaves and edited for accuracy should it have to return. The twist in this story is that the one calling for the extended documentary ad to be removed is its intended beneficiary, Newt Gingrich, who demanded that “every single mistake” be edited out yesterday.

With an already messy primary season underway, many reporters have been bombarded with statements and messages that accuse other public figures of half-truths and outright lies. Politicians, in particular, are constantly bringing up things the other one said or did in the past, some which hold no truth at all. If you’ve heard Newt Gingrich throw around the number of Pinocchios other candidates have been given, you likely understand that these quasi-fibs are everywhere.

Seth Rogen may have been the bigger name of the two men interviewed on the stage, but Will Reiser was the one with the story to tell. Moderator Dave Itzkoff made the right call by beginning the discussion about last year’s “cancer comedy” 50/50 with Reiser, who documents parts of his own cancer experience in the screenplay he drafted for the film. Reiser insisted, however, that while themes, situations, and some relationships were lifted from real life for his script, most of the film’s events are not part of his recovery story.

Kristen Wiig and Paul Feig say they’ve been surprised at how last year’s comedy hit Bridesmaids has been received by some critics. They are pleased by the overall reception of their film, but wonder why so many people wrongly called it a “female comedy,” when it’s “a comedy with women in it,” as Wiig characterized it. No matter, the film, which is now getting some Oscar buzz, may have paved the way for similar projects to get greenlit in the future.

The future of Pat Buchanan at MSNBC is hanging in the balance, after a controversial book in which the conservative commentator made statements that were considered discriminatory by several groups. Over the weekend, MSNBC President Phil Griffin said that Buchanan was not allowed on the air indefinitely after the release of his latest book, and has not decided whether to allow the commentator to return.

The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter has been at the tip of the spear in covering the mysterious rift between Countdown host Keith Olbermann and Current TV. Yesterday, the website WhatsTrending.com reported “Keith Olbermann And Brian Stelter Duke It Out On Twitter,” but what really happened was Olbermann pushed back at Stelter’s latest reporting, and Stelter ignored him. Among the charges leveled by Olbermann is that Stelter “threatened” him.

When asked to pick his favorite means of artistic expression, David Cross selected stand-up comedy. As opposed to other comedy, he said that stand-up comedy was his own true voice without his ideas having to be filtered through anything. That’s what the assembled crowd was privy to in his talk with New York Times reporter (and, clearly, big fan) Dave Itzkoff. Cross, while taking the audience on a tour of his career, was affable and hilarious, answering each question with a joke before actually addressing it.

Bernie Goldberg and Bill O’Reilly are longtime critics of the New York Times for much of their coverage of politics, and for what they perceive to be an unacceptable left-wing slant. On tonight’s Factor, Goldberg noted that a number of conservative attacks on President Obama have been deemed “racist” by the left– when, in his perception, the left gets no such scrutiny when they attack black Republicans.

Reality television in America is often taken for granted and derided as corrosive to the fabric of society. In China, however, it appears that the emergence of reality television in the form of dating shows has only prompted the same response from the communist government, as the single most popular show on Chinese television, “If You Were The One,” breaks down cultural mores and exposes a side of the nation’s youth that yearns to speak freely about sex, money, fame, and family.

Keith Olbermann has been manning the fort over at Current TV as its chief news officer since his departure from MSNBC last year, and yet at least one New York Times reporter noticed that, for his prominent position, he appears noticeably absent during the network’s campaign coverage. Brian Stelter went on a quest to find Olbermann outside of his time slot and found little answers, other than off-the-record tensions between Olbermann and the network’s administration.

On Wednesday, an estimated 8.6 million people received an email from the New York Times that offered an enticing deal to renew home delivery at half price for 16 weeks. Many of those emailed weren’t subscribers in the first place — the Times later said that only 300 people were supposed to get the letter. What happened in between the first email being sent out and the “oops” statement, however, is what caused FoxNews.com to bring up an Anthony Weiner comparison:

A photo displaying Kim Jong-Il‘s funeral procession distributed by North Korea’s state news agency has been discovered to be doctored.

The headline quote is not actually part of the text of Brian Stelter‘s eye-opening report on Fox News’ surprise hit The Five, but a description of the atmosphere from the inimitable Bob Beckel. He, along with producers and other co-hosts, spoke to Stelter in this week’s New York Times report that exposes several surprises about the show– the hosts were told they were trying out for a weekend hosting gig, for one– and tries to get to the bottom of its success.

The New York Times has a new profile out today about Attorney General Eric Holder, detailing how he has become a “partisan lightning rod” and frequent target of conservatives over his pursuance of issues like illegal immigration and gay rights. In the piece, Holder claims that many of his critics are playing “Washington ‘gotcha games,’” viewing him as someone who takes “consistently progressive stands” instead of examining his record and seeing that he takes a more realistic view of law enforcement.

On Wednesday night’s The Young Turks (on Current TV), host Cenk Uygur took The New York Times to the woodshed for that most irritating of mainstream media foibles: “some say”-variety false objectivity. Uygur took apart the Times’ Charlie Savage for his coverage of Attorney General Eric Holder‘s Tuesday speech on voting rights in Austin, Texas, and even went so far as to accuse the Gray Lady of conservative bias. Uygur is 99.64% right, 0% wrong.

On Friday, the New York Post‘s Page Six column suggested that Christiane Amanpour was about to step down as host of This Week. The column reported that Amanpour would return to CNN, the network she left last year to join ABC.

“Widely viewed as the most golden of Roger Ailes’s protégées” is how the New York Times described daytime Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in a Style Section profile this weekend, though Kelly herself prefers to remain a “small-town girl” with a passion for her job and her family, two facets of her life she was advised she would have to choose between in the journalism industry. Needless to say, that advice went wisely unheeded.

The New York Times sat down with Sandusky for four hours over two days at the home of his lawyer, Joe Amendola. During the interview, one moment in particular highlighted the precariousness of putting a guy (who doesn’t have much of a filter and is facing a litany of sex abuse allegations) in a room with a camera and a journalist.

Major changes at the top of Gawker’s masthead are afoot for the next year, as Editor in Chief Remy Stern announced today that he would be leaving the site. Stepping into his shoes will be longtime Deadspin editor in chief AJ Daulerio. The New York Times reports that changes take place at the end of the year, though Stern called today his last day on the job.

Jake Tapper‘s tweet of bizarre “no comment” boilerplate had all the makings of an Onion parody: “”…a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, declined to comment on the candidate’s hairstyle, or to make Mr. Romney available to discuss it.”

It was no joke, but rather, a quote from The New York Times‘ straight-faced report on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney‘s fantastic hair.

“Some News Leaves People Knowing Less,” blares a headline from the political science department of Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey today. The University conducted a survey of several hundred New Jersey residents and found some numbers that are very convenient for the enemies of a certain news organization– Fox News viewers were 18% more likely to be either misinformed or uninformed about certain current events.

After keeping mum throughout her husband’s sexual harassment scandal and, even before then, refusing to be a presence on the campaign trail, Gloria Cain appears ready to speak. The New York Times reported yesterday that the wife of former Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain has agreed to sit down for an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren this weekend “for a segment that could air Monday.”