It’s been quite the week or so for journalistic ethics given the end of News of the World and the continuing corruption scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp/News International enterprise. The Watergate references running fast and loose, Lawrence O’Donnell brought on an expert tonight to explain just how the two scandals compare– legendary former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein. In doing so, however, O’Donnell brought down some ethical judgment on himself as Bernstein, now a Newsweek writer, stood up for his magazine.

Fox News often objects to criticism of their coverage as excessively fear-inducing towards certain groups of people. And then there are segments like this: Fox News “man on the street” interviewer Jesse Watters hit the pavement around Columbia University for The O’Reilly Factor to ask those rascally college kids about their views on Islam. Unsurprisingly, the montage paints a picture of America’s brightest youth as naive, sheltered, and dangerously liberal.

A star-studded cast is starring in a revival of Jason Miller’s 1972 play That Championship Season on Broadway this spring. While the play is of a personal nature that the cast and crew hopes will resonate with a modern audience, it’s especially familiar for actor Jason Patric, who is both a star of the show and Miller’s son. Earlier this week, the star-studded ensemble discussed the play at the Times Center.

President Obama‘s handling of the BP Oil spill seems to simultaneously be providing the public with a quick review of 20th Century history. Initially, the BP Oil spill was Obama’s Katrina. More recently Obama’s response inspired some not-so-flattering WWII comparisons from David Gergen. Yesterday, Shepard Smith said the spill could end up being worse than 9/11. And today it’s apparently Obama’s Watergate.

Tiger Woods press conference wasn’t the only province of awkwardness – the run-up to his public apology also brought some odd moments. Namely, Fox News James Rosen made a strange analogy when he compared the Thanksgiving night incident in which Tiger’s secret life began to unravel with the Watergate break-in that lead to the resignation of then President Richard Nixon. Huh?

It’s not often that somebody dying makes me feel young. But the death of Walter Cronkite has inspired me with an overwhelming feeling of youthfulness. You see, I really know next to nothing about Walter Cronkite.  He means nothing at all to me. Hearing that he’s dead was like a looking at a well-painted apartment [...]

For anyone whose political identity was formed during the poison years bracketed by Walter Cronkite‘s tenure as CBS evening anchor, the avuncular newsman was like the kindly, reassuring narrator of a political horror story.

If, as CBS News president Sean McManus mourns, that Cronkite’s status “will never be duplicated again,” it’s not only due to the modern fragmentation of the news audience — it’s also because, ideally, the country will never again go through such an extended trainwreck.