CNN’s SVP of Programming Bart Feder announced Krakauer’s promotion in an email to CNN staff:

I’m pleased to announce that we’ve created the position of Senior Digital Producer for CNN/US and that we’ve asked Steve Krakauer to fill that role, effective immediately. Steve has been the Digital Producer for Piers Morgan Tonight since the show’s launch and has done a superb job in maximizing digital and social media opportunities to drive audience and engagement for the show.

Now we’d like Steve to work with and coordinate Digital Producers throughout the network to establish best practices and take full advantage of our strengths on air, on line and in social media. In addition to helping lead social media activity across shows and dayparts, Steve will also now manage the @CNN account.

Steve will report to me but also work very closely with Christa Robinson and the PR team, and Janet Rollé and the marketing team, to be sure we’re focusing our collective efforts and resources to achieve the greatest possible impact.

Please join me in congratulating Steve on his promotion and expect that he’ll be reaching out to many of you in the days ahead.

Thanks!

B.

There is no question that Krakauer has a keen understanding of how best to employ Twitter to bring attention and viewers to the Piers Morgan show. Perhaps one of the more noteworthy moments in the very short relationship between Twitter and television programming came earlier this year when Piers Morgan Tonight booked the then white-hot and insanely mercurial Charlie Sheen at the apex of his then manic turn in the spotlight. The last second booking (and the potentially unreliable Sheen) did not allow for standard on-air promotion of the interview, so it was left to an equally manic Twitter blast led by Krakauer — as well as show runner Jonathan Wald who enjoys his own impressive Twitterography — to bring attention to the interview, which in turn earned some of the show’s best ratings of the year.

We caught up with our former colleague via email, and learned some specifics about Steve’s new responsibilities, and the wisdom he’s derived from the past year’s experience. Here’s the full exchange with Krakauer:

Mediaite: How will your responsibilities as Senior Digital Producer differ from that which you’ve been doing as Digital Producer for Piers?

Krakauer: While giving up the day-to-day responsibilities of what we did at Piers Morgan Tonight, the goals in the new job will remain the same – we want to maximize our digital efforts to drive tune-in to, and highlight, the great journalism and newsmaking moments happening on CNN. At Piers Morgan Tonight we use our website and social media to push out content as well as formulate web-only material and build a community that will give added value to the TV product. As Senior Digital Producer we want to do this for all the shows at CNN, and I’ll look at short and long term ways of achieving this.

Mediaite: Do you see the need to create an overarching strategy for all show Twitter accounts or will each CNN show be treated on a case by case basis?

Krakauer: Every CNN show, especially in prime time, has their own personality while maintaining the common thread of unparalleled journalism. Each digital strategy should be different. Luckily CNN has assembled an incredible team of digital producers (including another former Mediaite-er Mark Joyella (ed. note: holla!) at Erin Burnett OutFront) and they will lead the way for their respective programs. I’ll look at certain best practices that will bolster all shows and digital plans, as well as some individual ways to maximize efforts and drive viewers to the network.

Mediaite: How have Twitter and other social media platforms specifically helped launch Piers Morgan Tonight? How would you define/prioritize your specific goals? Meaning – is it to increase viewers/ratings, or is it improving the social media footprint of each show and the network at large?

Krakauer: Twitter (and Facebook) has been huge for Piers Morgan Tonight. It starts from the top – simply put, we would not have achieved what we did on the digital side were it not for Piers Morgan himself jumping full force into the Twitter world. Piers was resistant to Twitter before we launched the show, but instantly recognized the value, and he has become the gold standard for what can be done on the platform as a journalist. Social media as a whole is important for two reasons – it drives tune-in and engagement when done right, and it establishes a community for your show to live when it isn’t on air. Jonathan Wald, our executive producer and prolific tweeter in his own right, described it as a place for Piers Morgan Tonight to live the 23 hours it isn’t live on the air. For CNN as a whole, we want to bring that sensibility to all the programs.

Mediaite: Charlie Sheen’s late booking on Piers rated incredibly well, though it seemed to be almost solely promoted via Twitter due to his unreliability. How did that inform what you have done on Twitter moving forward, and what are some other insights you’ve learned in the last year on the job? What are other highlights from your job in the last year?

Krakauer: Charlie arrived five minutes before we were set to go live – promotion was held until we knew for sure that he’d be there. Piers put out his tweet, we followed suit, viewers engaged and viewership increased tremendously by the end of the show. But social media was just one part of the success – CNN.com (one of the most visited websites) was ready to promote the interview once Piers tweeted it, and was hugely valuable in driving tune in as well. CNN’s PR team alerted other media and that played a role in spreading the word. It was a team effort that showed the value of digital, but also the value of having a set plan in place.

Working on the show has been an amazing experience – Oprah on day one, the various republican presidential candidates passing through the studio, the famous “Walk Off” and Michael Moore with a live studio audience town hall last night.

Mark has also written for the New York Post, and writes for his blog LocalNewser, which covers the local news industry. His greatest achievement, however, may have been when he became the subject of a blog written by his wife, Tiffanie, My Husband is Annoying. Annoying husband Mark also regularly appears as a New York based contributing correspondent for Australia’s 7 Network; appearing on morning shows including Sunrise and the top-rated The Morning Show.

Most recently Mark joined the nonprofit website The Coaching Commons as its first Community Supported Journalist, producing multimedia content as part of an experiment in developing new, sustainable news models in association with Kennesaw State University’s Center for Sustainable Journalism. Mark will now be the point person for Mediaite’s TV coverage reporting to Managing Editor Colby Hall.

Mark has big shoes to fill since at the end of this week he will be replacing our friend and one of the original Mediaites, Steve Krakauer, who has accepted a job with CNN to become the Digital Producer for the new Piers Morgan show. Steve’s smart and incisive coverage made him one of the best and most influential TV writers in the country. While we are sad to see him go this is a great opportunity for Steve (read the CNN press release below.)

We are excited for Mark to start today and wish Steve all the best of luck in his new endeavor.

Official CNN Announcement:

STEVE KRAKAUER JOINS CNN’S “PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT” AS DIGITAL PRODUCER

Steve Krakauer, senior editor of Mediaite.com has been named digital producer of CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight,” set to debut in January 2011 it was announced today by the show’s executive producer Jonathan Wald.

“Steve has been a leading voice in the digital world, reporting on cable news, politics and pop culture. He’ll be a great addition to the CNN team and will be instrumental in driving “Piers Morgan Tonight” beyond its one hour of television and into a more active online experience,” said Wald.

Most recently, Krakauer was senior editor of Mediaite.com, the media news, opinion and rankings website where he covered media and television, conducting interviews with industry leaders, launching multimedia web shows and breaking news. He helped launch the site in July 2009, which is now ranked in Technorati’s Top 10 blogs. He was previously an editor at TVNewser.com, and was part of the NBC page program. Krakauer has appeared as a guest on NBC, Fox News and MSNBC. He was named a “rising star” by the New York Times in April 2010. He graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School in 2006.

Network sources tell Playbook that Keith Olbermann was suspended because he refused to deliver an on-camera mea culpa, which would have allowed him to continue anchoring “Countdown.” Olbermann told his bosses he didn’t know he was barred from making campaign contributions, although he is resisting saying that publicly. Olbermann may not hold as many cards as he thinks. He makes $7 million a year and MSNBC’s prime time is not as dependent on him as it was before the addition of Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell, who make considerably less.

MSNBC’s ratings certainly back up the last line about Olbermann not holding as many cards as he thinks, something Steve Krakauer pointed out on Friday: “Rachel Maddow is getting better ratings than Olbermann in the key A25-54 demographic, and Lawrence O’Donnell isn’t far behind. Olbermann is no longer the center of the strategy either – as the network has unveiled a vibrant, massive new campaign “Lean Forward” which focuses on half a dozen members of the MSNBC talent pool.”

As for whether a public apology would solved all of Olbermann’s problems at the network? History suggests otherwise. Back in 2008 David Shuster apologized on air for his “pimped out” remarks and still faced a two week suspension. So perhaps the likelier scenario is that Olbermann was offered a reduced suspension for an on air apology and turned it down. That said, Olbermann is no David Shuster and his absence on the network, despite any inner strife at MSNBC is huge.

On a lighter note, and while cable fans wait to see where Keith lands, enjoy some of Olbermann’s, er, greatest hits courtesy of 23/6.

First up, Andrew Breitbart jumped to Olbermann’s tongue in cheek defense:

Dave Weigel connected the story to the recent revelations about Fox News’ donations to Republican groups:

Our own Steve Krakauer refuted that argument:

The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea offered up some history:

Mother Jones’ Clara Jeffery is unimpressed with the news:

Same with Red Eye’s Andy Levy:

A few people, including RedState’s Caleb Howe made a connection, to Monday’s “Worst Persons” announcement:

Our own Frances Martel sees a conspiracy!:

While our own Tommy Christopher guesses at MSNBC’s motives:

Foster Kamer and Chris Lehmann looked to the future:

And finally, a guy who knows what it’s like to be taken off the air:

Meanwhile, Olbermann’s usually busy Twitter is still silent.

Ratigan is MSNBC’s 4pmET host, and also has started a podcast on his website, DylanRatigan.com. We’ll talk midterms and a lot more – expect some NSFW content. Speaking of, Ashley Madison president and CEO Biderman is a regular on Howard Stern and has been compared to Hitler by Joy Behar on The View. If you’re not familiar with the site…check it out. And Fost is the author of the very timely book Giants Past & Present (follow him on Twitter here).

Also, it’s Glynnis’ last show, and we’ve got a special surprise…

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show.

Watch us live here on this page at 3:15pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 2:30pmET!

With Crowley, we’ll talk about the various midterm races that are winding down, as well as CNN’s coverage (and “Matrix”) on Election Night. Rovell will talk about the new LeBron ad, World Series and more. Follow Crowley on Twitter here, and Rovell here.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show.

Watch us live here on this page at 3:15pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3:15pmET!

While the video of morning news programs is not yet available, there seemed to be consistent narrative across many of the morning news shows: that President Obama was sorta dull, and that Jon Stewart is/was the star of the interview. Fox & Friends predictably called it “not very funny because he got a little wonkish defending his record.” Morning Joe‘s Joe Scarborough felt “there were a couple moments, but the moments were Jon Stewart’s moments.”

While it’s true that the President was less funny than Stewart, these critiques fail to mention that Stewart is a battle-tested comedian who’s at the top of the entertainment game. While Obama may be seen by some as a “great communicator” (or not so much by others), his role in this format is to stick to his political guns, even at the risk of being boring.

Some criticism of the President goes beyond simply not being entertaining to say that the appearance is indicative of ubiquity. Case in point: Josh Greenman at the NY Daily News though the whole enterprise was “dumb.” In a post titled “Barack Obama’s dumb ‘Daily Show’ Jon Stewart appearance and the President’s diminishing brand,” Greenman posits that last night was further evidence of Obama’s over-saturation, somehow blaming the President and not that media nor consumer who want the 24/7 coverage.

Obama’s handlers were supposed to be smarter than this. They were supposed to use his celebrity strategically to advance his agenda. Instead, they’ve been indiscriminate, carpet-bombing Americans with the man they elected rather than launching communications smart weapons.

To be fair, not all of the reviews were negative or tough on the President. For example, NPR’s JJ Sutherland was surprised at how relaxed the interview was, but credited Mr. Stewart’s growing influence over the President’s cool demeanor:

What was perhaps the most surprising part of President Obama’s appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night, was how comfortable it all seemed. The interview was fairly standard, polite, a couple of jokes. Obama seemed more relaxed than Stewart at times, but there was no sense of anyone being that surprised that a President would appear on a comedy show. It’s a tribute to how our times have changed, and a tribute to the growing influence on Mr. Stewart himself.

Bottom line is that Obama’s appearance on The Daily Show failed to meet the hype, but that is more the fault of false expectations than it is of the appearance. (Perhaps, not unlike the Obama presidency to date?)

The media was rightly criticized for presenting Obama with idolatry and messianic tones two years ago, but it appears that the pendulum has swung too far the other way in correction. The president should not be a rock star, entertainer, nor comedian, and so he should not be criticized when he fails to deliver entertaining content. Leading the country with effective public policy is his job, and he clearly has his hands full with that.

Read Steve Krakauer‘s take, and watch Obama’s appearance in its entirety, here.

Krakauer agreed with Kelly that Behar can say things that Angle can’t because she is a comedian, not a political candidate, and therefore has more leeway. He also made the point of comparing her to Dennis Miller, who frequently gets away with saying some edgy things on Fox (perhaps a better example would have been the folks over at Red Eye).

I spent most of the segment being fascinated by the other guest on the panel, Sonja Eddings Brown of the conservative women’s group The Kitchen Cabinet. While Eddings Brown did make some wise points about Behar helping Angle’s cause (she called the View host “the best player on our team”), she also tried her best to politicize the topic at hand (at one point, Kelly had to point out that liberal women are, in fact, women too) and discuss the rise of conservative woman as a political force. She also took a weird potshot at the National Organization of Women, whom she apparently likes to call the “National Organization of a Few Women.”

Whatever the panel’s disagreements, they all came together in support of Krakauer’s final point; that after Angle wins her race, she should totally go on The View. Absolutely.

Check out the clip from Fox News below.

Kotb has a new book out, How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee, so get ready for a discussion of all of that. Also, for those who are fans of a certain late night cable news show, there’s a surprise coming. Pope is the author of The Deeds Of My Fathers – his father started the National Enquirer. Simian is a reporter/producer at NY1 Noticias, and we’ll talk to him about the Chilean miners and more.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pmET – the order will be Pope, Kotb then Simian

Back Stage is the trade paper for aspiring actors in New York, and it would be disturbing, indeed, if MTV sought to pack the audience with thespians, adding a turbo boost of artifice to an already-stagey political process. The problem is that neither MTV, nor any casting or talent agency, placed that notice. A source at the paper tells Mediaite that the editorial staff frequently seeks out opportunities for Backstage readers to log some screen time, and posts the notices themselves. In this case, the source for the “casting call” was a notice on MTV’s website.

Kelly and her panel also give the impression that the audience is to be culled exclusively from Backstage applicants, when in reality, the same submission request was included in the event’s press release,invitations to colleges, and on the network websites. Last week, we reported the same omission in a National Review Online article on the same subject.

On a less serious note, Harpootlian takes some damage to his pop-culture street cred when he attributes the shows Flavor of Love and Rock of Love to MTV. Both programs aired on VH1. Cue Media Matters.

Update: Back Stage National Casting Editor Luke Crowe provides additional information in a statement to Mediaite: (via email)

We publish upwards of 20,000 casting notices every year, but I don’t recall any of our articles ever receiving this much individual media attention. So I was stunned when we started to see a huge surge in traffic because of all the sites writing about this casting call. When the “Obama Town Hall” info first crossed my desk, I thought it was a unique opportunity. It seemed like a clever way to engage people in politics, and an interesting way for people to get seen on a major cable TV network. But I certainly didn’t think it was controversial, and would never have expected the attention it’s receiving.

I should note that although Back Stage reports on all sorts of casting and performance opportunities – the full gamut of the entertainment industry, from theater, film, TV, commercials, infomercials, music videos, and PSAs to reality TV series, game shows, talk shows, talent shows, comedy clubs, etc. – we rarely report on casting calls for audience members, political or apolitical. Because being an audience member doesn’t usually involve real “casting,” it’s filling a seat; it’s about being entertained instead of being on-air talent. But the “Obama Town Hall” casting call seemed like more than just a standard call for audience members – it’s a chance to possibly interact with the President on MTV.

I think it’s very cool that MTV opened up this opportunity to the general public via their casting call, instead of quietly selecting participants behind closed doors. It’d be great to see more stuff like this from politicians of all stripes. Back Stage is happy to publish casting notices for political commercials and media events for any respectable political party.

Here’s a link to the full casting notice.

Please note that this casting notice was written by a Back Stage Casting Department editor, using our traditional three-paragraph article-style format to summarize the casting details that were available to us at the time of publication. This casting notice is an article, not an advertisement. It was not paid for or reviewed by MTV or the White House. It’s simply a write-up of the casting information we had available, and it may be updated later if more relevant details emerge.

Van Susteren will be Skype’ing in from D.C., where we’ll talk to her about her showdowns with Gloria Allred, the midterm elections and more. Geist has a new book out next week, American Freak Show, which includes a lot of media what-ifs to talk about. And Poniewozik, who writes the Tuned In blog on Time.com, will talk Mad Men, Parker Spitzer and more. Also, we’ve got a new game to debut!

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pmET – the order will be Van Susteren, Geist and Poniewozik.

Here it is now: the story of how his “fifth and final” wife first found out about who he was.

“That’s where my wife became aware of me,” said Geraldo. “She was 12.” Also – how much he got paid to do the special:

Click here to embed a smaller version.

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The conversation ranged from Piers Morgan and CNN’s prime time ratings troubles to Rupert Murdoch, Howard Stern, David Westin and Glenn Beck. Check it out:

To embed a smaller version click here.

[Doma is located on 17 Perry St. It is a new and exciting restaurant set within the confines of the coffee shop/cafe that villagers have loved for the past eight years. The cuisine is driven by the seasons and relationships with local purveyors.]

[This video was produced and edited by Ashwin Chaudhary and Ben Kahn of Juice Groove Films]

TRANSCRIPT:
SK: Is the future moving away from the NBC, ABC, CBS sit-at-a-desk-read-from-a-teleprompter?

GR: I think that, with Westin’s departure from ABC News, that may be the end of an era there. I’m not suggesting necessarily it is, but a lot of people believe that there’s one too many national network news programs at 6:00 or 6:30.

PK [TO GR]: I think you were a pioneer in something that may not even realize you were pioneering at the time, this idea of a personal brand for a journalist. Because you’ve taken that brand with you from one place to another. And it hasn’t been an ABC brand or an NBC brand or a Fox brand so much as it’s your brand. And that’s something that I think is becoming way more important.

GR: The last big star that was created, I think, was Glenn Beck. He was big at HLN — or then, Headline News — but not nearly as big [as now] because he has a bigger platform. But I think what Glenn Beck did in D.C. and what he does on his radio show is an example of that. It’s the Glenn Beck brand more than the Fox brand.

SK: Do you think that Glenn Beck is this generation’s Geraldo Rivera?

GR: You could make that argument. You certainly could, in terms of his impact. But he would have a bigger argument with the person Steven Colbert calls “Big Papa” — or “Big Daddy” — Bill O’Reilly. He’s still the number-one rated and number one in the demo.

SK: How about a time when NY1.com or FoxNews.com has a bigger appeal than NY1 and Fox News? Can you see that happening?

GR: It’s already happening at CNN. CNN has a much bigger audience on CNN.com than on CNN. And when you look at CNN now, with all due respect, to what was the pioneering network. It seems kind of dull to me. A lot of it.

PK: Yes, I see that happening, where the web audiences are bigger than the traditional broadcast audiences. It scares the hell out of me, because you look at CNN.com and there’s no substantial anchor presence on there.

GR: Maybe the new schedule will liven things up.

SK: Piers Morgan?

GR: I mean, I don’t know, not a choice I would’ve made. If they keep getting the marquee interviews, and he does a reasonable job — as Larry [King] did — just allowing the marquee players to say whatever’s on their mind. Seems pretty gray to me…

PK: This is the death of the mainstream media. Howard Stern’s problem is that he went from a show that millions of people could access everyday to a show that was in subscription obscurity. And suddenly, people stopped talking about Howard Stern. The buzz wasn’t there anymore.

GR: I see what Rupert Murdoch is doing for the Wall Street Journal and I think that that might be the Howard Stern of the Internet. If they can — if the Wall Street Journal is successfully charging for content. If you read any of the coalition of products from people doing any original reporting, there’s one reporter and a thousand repeaters.

PK: Whenever I see a story about the decline on the newspaper business, I’m thinking, “Don’t take my newspapers away!”

GR: They can read the blogs. Or Mediaite!

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For the rest of us, these last two years have been anything but. It’s not any one photo that gets me — journos still have to go places and cover things — it’s more the sense that all the people in these photos were living the last days of the old media world. The free-flowing food at the CNN Grill, the big budgets to bring networks and correspondents and support staff and everyone you could get a lanyard on out on location. This was barely 2 weeks before the economy bottomed out in mid-September 2008 — and everything changed from there on in, economically and for the media world, as well as in the world being covered with the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president and the smooth, seamless presidency he’s had since then. Oh wait, I mean the opposite. Anyhow, that time was really exciting and fun and it was a nice little trip down memory lane to look through these photos, even though I can’t imagine how different it will be in 2012. Which seemed so far away back then, and now, well, doesn’t. So, go crazy! Here is the link. I recommend clicking the “slideshow” function and putting on trippy music in the background, wooo!

Google alert bait: These photos include any and all of the following— in no particular order:  Joe Scarborough, Joe Klein, Mika Brzezinski, Arianna Huffington, Jake Weisberg, Dana Milbank, Luke Russert, Kevin Madden, Mark Salter, Ana Marie Cox, Jon Klein, Anderson Cooper, Rick Stengel, Mary Katherine Ham, Chuck Todd, Betsy Fischer, Trent Lott, John Roberts, Laura Ingraham, Jonah Goldberg, Patrick Gavin, Rick Klein, Tucker Carlson, Amy Argetsinger, Norah O’Donnell, Pat Buchanan, Ryan Lizza, Joel Stein, Walter Isaacson, Courtney Hazlett, Keli Goff, Chris Cillizza, Mike Isikoff, Alan Cumming, Jason Jones, Samantha Power, Cass Sunstein, Carly Fiorina, Larry Page, Henry Kissinger, Dan Abrams, Jane Hamsher, Chad Hurley, Jon Hamm, John Dickerson, Obama Girl, Chris Licht, Ray Roker, Ari Melber, Josh Green, Joan Walsh, Ron Brownstein, Matt Cooper, Fred Armisen, will.i.am, Markos Moulitsas, Chevy Chase, Tammy Haddad, Lynn Sweet, Karen Tumulty, Ben Smith, John Oliver, Karl Rove, David Carr, Kathleen Sebelius, Eugene Mirman, Sammy Hagar, Rahm Emanuel, John Koblin, Danny Shea, Michael Calderone, Ana Marie Cox, Carly Fiorina, Katie Couric, Peggy Noonan and various people eating free food at the CNN Grill. Oh, CNN Grill. I think I’ll miss you the most of all.

PHOTOGALLERY: 2008 CONVENTIONS

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

UPDATE: Now that the event has concluded, check out the two major speeches of the day– Beck’s and Sarah Palin’s– here and here, respectively.

But now the background of one of the two bylined co-authors, William Arkin, has come into question.

Dana Priest, the other co-author, has a long background in investigative journalism, but Arkin wrote a blog for the Washington Post which looked into the intelligence community. He’s been described as an “activist” and not a “journalist” and in 2002 made comments that made it sound like he was blaming America for 9/11. More recently in 2007, he was the star of an O’Reilly Factor ambush after he described American soldiers as “mercenaries” and spoke out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (watch it here).

But – here’s the big question: does it really matter? Arkin has never hidden his opinions, but at the same time, he knows the material extremely well. Plus, he is just one of the more than dozen contributors to this massive two-year project – one that even its critics believe is more hype than scandal.

This was the topic of a panel discussion I was part of during Megyn Kelly‘s America Live today. I believe the Washington Post reporting is fair and Arkin’s well-known political beliefs don’t change that. Also, the Post has been clear that government agencies saw the reports before they were published, and parts they objected to were removed, eliminating any security threats as well.

What do you think?

Here’s the panel today:

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This reaction is exactly what this story is designed for, and is the culmination of a two-plus year campaign to, in my opinion, unfairly conflate the New Black Panther Party with President Obama, and raise the specter of a nation in the grip of black militancy.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, opponents of then-Senator Barack Obama repeatedly tried to conflate him with the NBPP by virtue of a web page in an open Barack Obama forum, one that was subsequently removed. On Election Day, the McCain campaign tried to exploit what everyone agrees was an isolated incident, while the polls were still open. The story cooled quickly, and rightly so. These were the actions of a single individual, and were considered nothing more than a nuisance by the Philadelphia police, who simply asked him to leave.

Contrary to what some are reporting, the Department of Justice provided detailed legal explanations for dropping the judgments against the New Black Panther Party, its Chairman, and the unarmed poll-watcher, but it’s really common sense. There is no evidence to support those charges. I spoke to NBPP Chairman Malik Shabazz days after the incident, and he fully admitted to having sent party members to over 300 polling places throughout the country, all in predominantly black districts, with strict instructions to act within the law. If his mission was in fact to intimidate voters, that makes about 299 disobedient New Black Panthers.

That is not to say that media outlets shouldn’t be covering this story. As has been pointed out on this site that the injection of race makes this a third-rail story, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be handled responsibly. As is often the case, the focus here is on whether the story should be covered, and not how it is covered.

This week marks the one year anniversary of the launch of Mediaite, and what a year it has been. As Dan Abrams notes, predictions of Mediaite’s doom were greatly exaggerated, and as Mediaite columnist and White House reporter from Day One, I have viewed the site’s successful first year from a unique perch. When Rachel Sklar pitched the site to me, I have to confess I was a little bit skeptical, but it didn’t take long for me to see that she and Dan were on to something.

Among other early worries about the site, Rachel and I wondered, at the beginning, what a media blog needed with a White House reporter. By the same token, in hiring me, Mediaite found itself with one, so they needed to find a use for me.

My previous work covering the White House tended to be much heavier on policy and politics than on the media, so it was a challenge, at first, to adapt my style to the new site. In fact, my first-ever question as Mediaite’s White House reporter didn’t even make it onto the blog. For posterity’s sake, here it is:

Luckily, I adapted to covering the media, and the media obligingly adapted to me. The Summer of Health Care provided lots of fodder that was in my wheelhouse, and gave way to an ever-shrinking news cycle that thrust the media into the center of almost every story. It also didn’t hurt that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was rarely shy about pushing back against all manner of media outlets (including Mediaite) and memes. There were also ample opportunities to cover the view from behind the scenes, as with the Inside the White House Press Corps interview series.

When I returned to the White House as a Mediaite scribe, I noticed one difference right away. When I was with AOL, I used to always get this reaction: “AOL does news?”

With Mediaite, though, there was instant recognition, despite people’s trouble with the name (Media-lite? Media-ate?). Early on, this was due mainly to the participation of Dan Abrams and Rachel Sklar, and more importantly, to the ingenious Power Grid.

Pretty quickly, though, I began to hear less about the Grid, and more about our site as a whole. We developed a reputation for fair, even-handed reporting and commentary, and the people I spoke to in Washington took notice. After a few months, it became common for someone to walk up to me at the White House and say, “You’re Tommy Christopher, right? From Mediaite?” This was a pleasant shock to me. When I was with Politics Daily, people would recognize me despite my outlet, not because of it.

While some people still have trouble with our name, the people we cover in politics and the media sure don’t anymore.

It’s a poorly-kept secret that I can be a little bit temperamental, and coupled with gun-shyness at my well publicized firing from my last job (I note, with satisfaction, our decent lead over my old employer on the Technorati 100, with no help from a parent network), it’s not always great fun being my editor. At the beginning, I was very suspicious of even the most mundane editorial note, certain that there were hints of my doom in every one. Mediaite allows me a great deal of freedom, but as a writer, I have a tendency to be protective of my words, as though each Road House reference were a brush stroke on the Sistine Chapel.

My temperament required such special handling that Managing Editor Colby Hall and I even have a running joke that I’m Hannibal Lecter, and he’s Agent Starling, and I should be handed nothing but soft paper. There’s also the knee-slapper “You’re fired,” to which I sometimes reply “Too soon!” Over the course of the past year, Colby and I have traded many an earful, and in the process, he’s earned my trust, and hopefully, I’ve earned his.

Personally, this has been an incredible year. Much of my first 6 months with Mediaite are detailed in my 2009 Year in Review, but here are some highlights that, if you had told me about them last June, I would have thought you were nuts:

Getting Blacklisted by the Senate Finance Committee: This was one of the most frustrating, yet proudest, moments of the year for me. I had become such a pain in the ass to them in trying to get to the bottom of the lousy PHRMA deal, they just dropped all pretense and admitted they were just lying to me. Proud, because it meant I was doing my job well, and frustrating because I would much rather have gotten answers to my questions.

The Public Option: To the extent that a public health insurance option ever had a chance, I did everything I  could to get the White House to clarify its equivocal, and eventually fruitless, support for it.

Shooting the Shit With Dan Rather: For some reason, we held a launch party 5 months after our launch, and while there were lots of luminaries there, I was blown away by the time and attention given to me by broadcasting legend Dan Rather. It was just another surreal experience for a guy not 2 years removed from being a cubicle drone.

CPAC 2010: What an intense couple of days that was. Aside from getting to see my good friend Ed Morrissey, I also met Rachel Maddow for the first time, had an infamous run-in with Andrew Breitbart, a surreal confrontation with James O’Keefe pal Christian Hartsock, and got to do karaoke with about 10 Redstaters.

Briefing in the Rose Garden: Sometimes, it’s the simple pleasures. I sure am glad Gibbs isn’t doing that now, though.

Meeting Alan Colmes: For some reason, my job usually ends up putting me together with conservatives, so it was nice to be able to sit down and talk to a guy I agreed with for a change.

Chuck Todd’s Star Wars Impressions: Of all the interviews I did with White House reporters this year, Chuck’s still makes me laugh out loud.

Nancy Pelosi Protest Video: This might be my favorite piece of video this year. Aside from being funny, infuriating, and poignant all at once, I felt it really captured some essential truths about our politics, and how poorly served we can be by a two party monopoly.

Helen Thomas: I couldn’t call Helen’s sudden retirement a “highlight” of this past year, but working with her certainly was. The lightning speed of that story’s arc was perfectly illustrative of the shrinking of the news cycle this past year.

Hollering at Colby Hall in the White House Rose Garden: As I said before, it’s not always great fun being my editor. Never was this more the case than on a hot day last November when, as I waited with the assembled press for the President to make remarks in the Rose Garden, I got into a heated shouting match with Mediaite’s managing editor, Colby Hall. I walked about a hundred feet away from the media, but apparently, not far enough. You know how everyone suddenly gets quiet while you’re yelling something embarrassing? Yeah, that happened just as I was yelling my loudest, and cursiest. I turned, and every eye was on me.

It wouldn’t be the last time Colby would have to talk me down, but it was the first time I considered that, maybe, he was in my corner after all.

Meeting Hillary Clinton: This is a story that I haven’t told in print before, and I won’t tell the whole story now, either. Let’s just say that a series of events occurred that ended with me unexpectedly passing Hillary Clinton on a staircase that I wasn’t supposed to be on. As I approached her, I ran through several greetings in my head, and though I decided on “Hello, Madam Secretary,” what actually came out of my face (along with my best officious nod) was “Hi, Secretary!”

I don’t mortify easily, but I still bury my face in my hands at the thought of it.

Getting in Tony Hayward’s Grill: While Jake Tapper‘s zinger at the end makes this clip awesome, it was the sight of my camera, inches from Hayward’s face in a wire service photo, that really took this thing to 11 for me. At first, I was just pissed off that Hayward had fled without answering any questions, but later, I realized that his silence spoke volumes, as did our lack thereof.

The Kevin Jennings Story: Of all the stories I wrote this year, this is probably my favorite. Debunking the barrage of smears against Kevin Jennings was such a heavy lift, many in the mainstream media didn’t bother to try.

I don’t know what this next year holds, but it’s off to a bang-up start. Meet you back here next July.

Do you have a question, comment or complaint about anything concerning Mediaite? Well if you do, today is a real chance to make your voice heard. We will be holding our Mediaite Office Hours at 3pmET.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be calling in from the Gulf Coast, where he is anchoring this week. Next week he’s returning to Haiti with several other CNN correspondents. Gavin will be talking about the D.C. goings on, and Rovell will discuss the big event of the day (or week) – LeBron and the ESPN special tonight. Twitter follows: Gupta, Gavin, Rovell.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show, and others in the Mediaite team, like, Colby Hall and our fantastic interns, will appear periodically, as well as special guests.

Our call-in number is (347) 632-8956. Also, we’re using Skype now, so you can video chat in to our username – Mediaite. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pm – the order will be Gavin, Gupta, Rovell.

Alas, it’s hardly surprising that we were met with a tepid reception. We are, at times, reviewing the reviewers and, well, let’s just say that — shockingly! — some in media don’t appreciate being reviewed. Fortunately for us, despite those early pokes, most leaders in media have come to embrace us. We truly appreciate that so many of you have made Mediaite a regular part of your daily web diet.

Mediaite is now welcoming between 1.3 to 1.5 million unique visitors per month to the site. That already puts us ahead of the name-brand media industry websites, significantly ahead of most of the best-known political blogs, and obviously far above what I could have anticipated when we launched. Even more important, the quality of the news we report has quickly made Mediaite a significant player in the national debate. Mediaite is cited regularly in many of the most prestigious traditional publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, Forbes, NPR, USA Today, The Atlantic, The Week, and the National Review, as well as routinely being cited by the outlets leading the digital revolution, including Yahoo! and AOL as well as leading political sites like Huffington Post, Drudge, Hot Air, Raw Story, Salon, and others (“others” includes regularly and proudly getting blasted by media watchdogs Media Matters from the left and Newsbusters from the right).

Our team has also broken many of the major media stories of the past year, ranging from the launch of new websites to the sale of existing ones, from television shows coming and going (including CNN’s Campbell Brown leaving) to mass layoffs at networks. Plus, we have been at the forefront of web video as this medium reaches new levels of popularity. That includes our exclusive series of interviews with members of the White House Press Corps, as well as curating news clips from the most exciting moments on cable news.

Despite our tiny staff, we have more than achieved the goal I set forth in my original note one year ago, when I hoped it would become “a unique property that will quickly become a must-read for anyone interested in media, the business of it and the personalities behind it.”

Mediaite is also now the proud parent of three other thriving sites, Geekosystem.com, Styleite.com (which launched in March) and Sportsgrid.com (launched in May). Geekosystem, which examines the online world through the “geek prism,” is rapidly approaching the one million uniques per month mark after just six months in business. Including sister site Gossipcop.com (which has also vastly exceeded expectations in less than a year) and our syndicated content, our sales team is selling over five million unique visitors per month. After all, what is a content site these days without that ultimate proof of viability: advertisers? Last month alone, Mediaite had, among others, Yahoo, Bing, Mercedes, Vespa, Showtime, Syfy, and Bravo as sponsors. In the months to come we will be announcing a variety of additional revenue generating endeavors, as well as additional sites. Even so, this is is still a work in progress, and we look forward to trying to take it to new heights in year two.

So here is to the Mediaite team. They deserve all the credit for nimbly avoiding “doom,” for somehow making even certain skeptics care about “the business and personalities behind the media,” and for admitting they work for a site that was once compared to a diarrhea remedy — even before it was cool. And of course, a big thank you to all of you who have read us, written for us, and advertised with us.

In the meantime, here is a little video look-back at the year that was. (Special thanks to Kevin Gotkin and Video Jon for their terrific work on the video below!)

Do you have a question, comment or complaint about anything concerning Mediaite? Well if you do, today is a real chance to make your voice heard. We will be holding our Mediaite Office Hours at 3pmET.

Velshi will call in from the Gulf region where he’s been reporting all week. Follow him on Twitter here. Check out Gapper’s blog on FT.com. We’ll also have Philip Bump in studio.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show, and others in the Mediaite team, like, Colby Hall and our fantastic interns, will appear periodically, as well as special guests.

Our call-in number is (347) 632-8956. Also, we’re using Skype now, so you can video chat in to our username – Mediaite. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pm!

On Fox & Friends this morning, several people did…including me.

Here’s the segment:

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» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

Do you have a question, comment or complaint about anything concerning Mediaite? Well if you do, today is a real chance to make your voice heard. We will be holding our Mediaite Office Hours at 3pmET.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show, and others in the Mediaite team, like, Colby Hall and our fantastic interns, will appear periodically, as well as special guests.

Our call-in number is (347) 632-8956. Also, we’re using Skype now, so you can video chat in to our username – Mediaite. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pm!

Today on America Live, we were there for a discussion about the coverage.

Using this Michael Triplett Mediaite column, “Givhan Denies Sexism in Scolding Kagan for Not Sitting Like a Lady,” as a jumping off point, Megyn Kelly and Steve Krakauer debated the issue.

What do you think – was Givhan fair or out of bounds? Leave your thoughts in the comments…

Do you have a question, comment or complaint about anything concerning Mediaite? Well if you do, today is a real chance to make your voice heard. We will be holding our Mediaite Office Hours at 3pmET.

Today on the show, we have Leitch in studio, author of the new book Are We Winning?. Follow him on Twitter here. We’ll talk to Gay about all of this week’s Upfronts, Campbell Brown‘s exit and more. Follow him here. Also, Rachel is Skyping in from Toronto.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show, and others in the Mediaite team, like, Colby Hall and our fantastic interns, will appear periodically, as well as special guests.

Our call-in number is (347) 632-8956. Also, we’re using Skype now, so you can video chat in to our username – Mediaite. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pm!

Do you have a question, comment or complaint about anything concerning Mediaite? Well if you do, today is a real chance to make your voice heard. We will be holding our Mediaite Office Hours at 3pmET.

Sax is in studio. Check out his book “Save The Deli“. Maynard will talk about her book “The Selling Of The American Economy” and Rosman will discuss “If You Knew Suzy“.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show, and others in the Mediaite team, like, Colby Hall and our fantastic interns, will appear periodically, as well as special guests.

Our call-in number is (347) 632-8956. Also, we’re using Skype now, so you can video chat in to our username – Mediaite. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pm!

Do you have a question, comment or complaint about anything concerning Mediaite? Well if you do, today is a real chance to make your voice heard. We will be holding our Mediaite Office Hours at 3pmET.

We’ve got a great show today, with O’Donnell on to talk about D.C. politics and Rovell to talk sports and business. Follow Rovell on Twitter here.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show, and others in the Mediaite team, like, Colby Hall and our fantastic interns, will appear periodically, as well as special guests.

Our call-in number is (347) 632-8956. Also, we’re using Skype now, so you can video chat in to our username – Mediaite. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pm!

Do you have a question, comment or complaint about anything concerning Mediaite? Well if you do, today is a real chance to make your voice heard. We will be holding our Mediaite Office Hours at 3pmET.

Today we’ll talk to Klein about the D.C. political happenings – from Charlie Crist to Nerd Prom. Follow him on Twitter here. We’ll talk with Poniewozik about CNN, Glee and more. Follow him here.

Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and Rachel Sklar host the live-streamed call-in show, and others in the Mediaite team, like, Colby Hall and our fantastic interns, will appear periodically, as well as special guests.

Our call-in number is (347) 632-8956. Also, we’re using Skype now, so you can video chat in to our username – Mediaite. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Watch us live here on this page at 3pmET, or check it out at www.livestream.com/mediaite.

See you at 3pm!

What will you find that’s different? Well the biggest universal change is a more image-friendly home page. The stories across the the top of the pages – what we call the “Top Shelf” – are significantly bigger, and so to our those images that our in the media specific categories found below the lead story. We’ve also added two more stories to these sections, which has given us the room to add thumbnail images to the stories on the right hand column. We feel strongly that this will allow users to more easily access a lot more of the great content our writers publish each and every day.

The other big layout change? We no longer are differentiating between Online and Print categories in our homepage. Yes, those categories still exist – you can find all of your online and print specific stories by clicking the respective icons on the navigation bar atop the page. But we couldn’t help but notice that now nearly every print story is now an online story, so we’ve simply doubled that space and have effectively made two closely related categories into one.

While it would be great to claim the the graphic refresh was a collaborative effort, but that wouldn’t entirely be true. The redesign was led (and implemented) by Mediaite’s own Scott Smitelli. For more insight into the tortured mind that informed our redesign, I encourage you to read his exegesis on the KFC Double Down™ (in which he lovingly re-brands the sandwich a “meat heap”). Yes, Scott is a triple threat: web developer, blogger AND consumer of mass-marketed artery cloggers.

Internet publishing is, among many things, an iterative process – so there will likely be some minor tweaks and changes in the coming weeks and months as well. We still dream of adding an auto-tune plug-in to all of our videos, – how great would it be to hear Chris Matthews or Greta Van Susteren sing the news? But we will now wait to work on that feature when auto-tune comes back in ironically detached vogue (yeah, it’s played out.) Until then, enjoy the site and please feel free to share your thoughts on the redesign in the comments section below.

Congratulations to Mediaite TV Editor Steve Krakauer on being profiled in this week’s New York Times Thursday Styles section as a rising blogger, even though we raised a wee brow at the notion that Steve’s reporting on ratings, personalities, trends and news on the TV beat counted as “gossip” any more than, say, MediaDecoder does. Steve was featured along with the Village Voice’s Foster Kamer, Media Takeout’s Fred Mwangaguhunga, Crushable’s Erin Carlson, Gawker’s Maureen O’Connor (whose shoes beat out Foster’s jaunty bag, it must be said), Fashionologie’s Tommye Fitzpatrick, The Gloss’ Lilit Marcus, Curbed’s Sara Polsky and Dealbreaker’s Bess Levin.

Read all about Steve here — but we’ve got some exclusive material you didn’t see in the article. Featured bloggers were sent a questionnaire by reporter Alex Williams, and we have exclusively obtained part of Steve’s to share with you here.

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Age: 25

Hometown: Westfield, NJ

Educational background (including major): Syracuse University, Broadcast Journalism major

Personal journalistic hero/model/inspiration: Woodward and Bernstein? But really, Cal Ripken Jr.

Current blog traffic (and, rate of traffic increase, if it applies): Approximately one million unique visitors and more than four million page views per month. (Ed: Steve cited Feb numbers here; our March numbers improved on this rather significantly.)

Number of posts a week: 35-40

Biggest scoop/hit (describe, including measure of impact): We were the first blog to notice and write about the NBC Cafeteria Black History Month “fried chicken” menu. The post translated to a lot of page views, but bigger was the impact – that night Wanda Sykes was joking about it on Jay Leno, and it was covered throughout TV news. (See here.)

Personal favorite line/phrase in any recent post of yours: Headline to the John Mayer/Playboy interview post: “John Mayer’s Penis Is A Racist Wonderland”

Biggest rival in blog world: Oh we’re all about the love at Mediaite! Well we enjoy some friendly competition with Gawker, the Huffington Post and more.

First blog other than your own you check every morning (feel free to elaborate): Well of course there’s the rest of the Abrams Media family – Geekosystem, Styleite (launching Monday!) – and right now, keeping an eye on Twitter is the best way to stay up on the day’s biggest stories.

Favorite sparring partner (subject you’ve written about and gotten into a tangle with; please describe): For whatever reason, MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann has taken to bashing Mediaite a few times on his prime time show. We can take it though. (See here and here.)

How do you stay sane/decompress after 12/16/whatever-hour days (or whatever) staring at a computer: Although I write about TV for a living, I wish I could say I did something other than watch TV to decompress. Instead, there’s a lot of bad TV I watch (and occasionally write about) like Jersey Shore and Real World, go to the gym, and grab the occasional drink or six.

Ultimate career goal: To be the next Conan O’Brien (so…unemployed?). No, I would love to have a role in getting young people excited about news, politics and current events.