After James Frey's bodyguards escorted him on stage Tuesday night for a Bright Shiny Morning reading, the author sat down with CNN's Lola Ogunnaike, who asked him difficult questions like, "You could've easily written a memoir, a post-scandal memoir, but instead you chose to write a novel. Why?"

Um, because "nobody would believe me."

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Just as Al Gore harps on the media for giving celebrities too much coverage (and ruining political discourse) comes Lola Ogunnaike's big intro at CNN's American Morning:

KIRAN CHETRY: Britney Spears, she’s blogging — that’s what they do these days, the celebrities — about her trip to rehab, about hitting rock bottom, and about what she really thinks her troubles are. … And joining us to talk more about that this morning is Lola Ogunnaike. … You’re going to be covering things like Britney, as well as the Michael Jackson memorabilia.

OGUNNAIKE: Yes, I’ve got the Britney, Lindsay, Michael Jackson memorabilia beat.

And Gore's wrath.

"I spent a lot of time, for those few days speaking to a number of television people about my future in that industry, so it ended up a blessing in disguise," says Lola Ogunnaike of her temporary New York Times suspension after appearing on The View. And while that "colossal misunderstanding" is now "water under the bridge," it's also evidence that Lola was actively pursuing her TV opportunities while maintaining her cushy byline at the Times. Which, to be fair, wasn't that big a secret.

Now, of course, Lola is at CNN, with a role on American Morning. There, Lola hopes to "bring what I do at the Times to CNN — pop culture, entertainment, trends, fashion" … to "all" 372,000 viewers.

• Us Weekly chieftain Janice Min's contract may be up, but some say her big ticket contract is heading down.

• Facebook gets facelift, exciting new interactive features.

• Radio station 92.3 (K-Rock) abandons its "low-rated all-talk format," ushers in new era with Nirvana's "All Apologies."

• Meanwhile, in a proud moment for Sirius Satellite Radio, CEO Mel Karmazin declared ""we suck less" than rival XM.

• 'JT Leroy' creator Laua Albert may not have been an abused transsexual. But she still had a trying upper middle-class childhood, dammit!

• 'Business journals should be more like Page Six,' says Orange County Register's Scott Flanders, by which he presumably means "more anonymous sources, Christmas 'bonuses' and all-expense paid trips to New Orleans."

• NYT's Lola Ogunnaike gives up her lifelong dream of being on The View, instead joins CNN's American Morning.

• The Donald loves disgraced Miss USA Tara Connor for one reason alone: the press.

• Denver Nugget Carmelo Anthony and six others suspended for multiple games after creating this brilliant display of sportsmanship.

• The YouTube guys sold their company to Google and all they got was this lousy article in Time.

• Judith Regan's camp promises an all out "war" on everything you hold sacred. Like News Corp.

• Copyright infringement is less fun when computers are doing all the work.

• Joy Behar, that silly liberal.

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More than one of you pointed out that View hopeful and New York Times suspendee Lola Ogunnaike turned up in the Sunday Styles page with a piece on the Retro Boys. The context of the article isn't important (if only because it's not about any show on ABC); it's that Lola's byline appeared at all. Because, last we heard, she was indefinitely suspended for being so noncommunicative with her bosses. So we tried poking around to find out whether Lola has been brought back from the brinks of West 43rd or just had this item sitting on the shelf for a bit, but couldn't dig up much. (That, and we've got a strong hankering that email we send to @nytimes.com accounts, and email sent from @nytimes.com accounts to us, has been blocked.) Perhaps you know more?

On Friday we broke news about Times Style reporter Lola Ogunnaike's in-limbo-indefinitely status, after her requests to know when her suspension for appearing on The View would come to an end. (Her Times bosses didn't give her much of an answer.) Now Page Six chimes in with its own Lola news: She's been reprimanded before — when she wrote a Rolling Stone article, and was told it would be her last.

But now we hear Ogunnaike was warned several months ago for another perceived infraction - when she wrote the cover story for the February issue of Rolling Stone on Kanye West. "She was told she could not write for any other publications after that," said our source. Funny - her colleague Maureen Dowd (who regularly appears on Bill Maher's show and other programs) wrote the Rolling Stone cover story this month on Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. We bet Dowd isn't going to get spanked for that.

If Lola does stick around at the times, certainly we can expect all sorts of new rules put in place for her. Like no book proposals; wouldn't want the chance at making any money as a journalist to get in the way of the Times slavetrade. (Oops, did we just go there? Yes, yes we did.)

Exclusive

Lola Ogunnaike, meet your competition. Sure, The View has welcomed a string of black women to fill in for Star Jones' as-yet-unfilled seat. Like One Life To Live's Renee Goldsberry, whose June appearance was among the first auditions in the producers' quest to find "the new black lady." But this week – including right now, in fact; turn on your TVs – The View is welcoming Arthel Neville of Geraldo At Large. (And, in case you're wondering, yes: She's the daughter of Arthur Neville.) She guest co-hosted yesterday's show as well.

Unlike the currently suspended New York Times Style reporter Ogunnaike, we're told Neville's bosses at the Fox News Channel gave her permission – even encouragement – to try out for the show. An ABC insider, meanwhile, tattles to us that although View producers (which include exec producer and co-host Barbara Walters) were pleased with Ogunnaike's performance, they're quite enamored with Neville. We're told her prior TV experience gives her a huge leg up: She launched Extra, has served as a producer and talent on E!, and has a string of sitcom appearances padding her IMDb profile. She joined FNC in March as Geraldo's West Coast chief and, from what we understand, is well liked around Rupert Murdoch's camp. Continues our ABC source: "Perhaps most importantly, she's getting along with Rosie [O'Donnell]. Not sure how Elisabeth [Hasselbeck] feels about her, but if Rosie likes her, then Barbara likes her, and that's all that matters."

With Ogunnaike on indefinite suspension from the Times, we can only imagine she's spending her afternoons dialing View producers, wondering when they're having her on again. Her evenings, meanwhile, are devoted to sticking pins in her Neville voodoo doll.

Exclusive

The saga of New York Times Style reporter Lola Ogunnaike hangs .. in limbo.

If you're just joining us, at the end of last month we exclusively reported Ogunnaike was suspended from her Times gig after she guest co-hosted The View (in an apparent audition) without permission from the Grey Lady. Depending on who you ask, Ogunnaike either: 1) Never asked for permission from the Times, and her View appearance came as a surprise to the higher ups; 2) She asked for permission, was told no, but went on The View anyway; or 3) Asked for permission, was told neither yes or no (but probably not), and did The View without a firm permission slip. (From what we understand, Option 3 is likely the most accurate version of events.) In the end, the Times didn't see her View gig like a standard TV appearance, but as a job interview — which, to be fair, it most likely was: Ogunnaike sent View producers a tape months ago with hopes of replacing Star Jones.

So where does Ogunnaike stand now? With an unclear future. We hear she has asked her Times bosses when they were going to lift her suspension — and was summarily told that if she wasn't going to communicate with them (i.e. tell them about her extracurricular gigs), they're not going to communicate with her. An insider tells us the NYT has refused to give her any more information — and plans to keep her on suspenion. Indefinitely.

Today's item about Lola Ogunnaike – the New York Times culture reporter suspended after her guest host gig on The View – has our inbox bulging. Friends, colleagues, ex-friends, ex-colleagues — all their notes are pouring in. Some to confirm our story, others to counter it. (If you're just joining us, read our original report.)

So here are the more significant of the reports we've received:

• Multiple sources claim Lola did notify her superiors at the Times before agreeing to guest host The View. But that's where the accounts diverge: One source claims the Times didn't say yes, but didn't say no — just that it probably "wouldn't fly" and would be "frowned upon." Having seen Maureen Dowd appear on Bill Maher's HBO show countless times, Lola's reasoning went, she thought it'd be a non-issue. (To be fair, however, Dowd doesn't write much about Maher, HBO, or Time Warner, while Lola has written flattering articles about ABC recently.) Another source, however, says that when Lola checked in with her bosses, they gave her a flat no — and she went on The View anyway.

• The Times hasn't had a problem with Lola's multiple Today show appearances. That said, to our knowledge she's never sent the Today show an audition tape like she did with The View.

• Lola was paid standard union fees for appearing on The View. The Today show, as we understand it, did not compensate her for appearances.

So where does all this end? It isn't yet clear, and Lola hasn't returned our request for comment. From what we've heard, the Times hasn't axed her, but isn't welcoming her back just yet.

Earlier: NYT's Lola Ogunnaike's Ethical Sacrafice for a Shot at a Morally Bankrupt TV Gig

Exclusive

Lola Ogunnaike – Daily News decamper and current New York Times culture reporter – had a smashing performance last Monday on The View, where she appeared as a special guest co-host. Word has it View producers were enamored. Ogunnaike, a pretty young thing who is generally well liked in this town (see here, at left, with Nicole Young), is said to have sent producers a tape back in July, perhaps auditioning for the vacating Star Jones slot.

The only problem? Ogunnaike, we hear, didn't tell anyone at the Times about her View gig. She didn't ask permission, didn't alert superiors to her spot. As one might imagine, this might present a wee bit of a conflict of interest for a Times culture type — especially given that she's been regularly writing about the ABC network, which carries The View.

The New York Times thought so too — which is why, we hear, they've suspended her.

As the Los Angeles Times' Scott Collins noted on Saturday, Ogunnaike has written a few favorable ABC pieces recently. While she didn't placate Rosie, Babs, Joy, and Elisabeth in her writings, she did pull a Tim Arango and write flattering items about the very network she hopes will become her future employer. Among them: a Sept. 28 flattering profile of Grey's Anatomy star Shonda Rhimes, as well as another creampuff last week about Ugly Betty's America Ferrera.

So is Ogunnaike's suspension permanent? It hasn't been decided; we're told there's a review of her work pending. One source at the Times with general knowledge of the matter says her most recent article, in Sunday's paper, "may be her last." And how are her former Daily Newsies reacting? "It's unfortunate that she didn't follow protocol," says one ex-colleague. Offers another: "That shit would've been fine here, even encouraged [laughing], but that's just stupid to try at the Times."