We speak it soundbites, so it's easy-breezy conducting an interview that's served up to a reporter with a little ribbon from the cuuuute paperie we discovered in the West Village. But the assault on in-person interviews, or even chatty cathy-ing over the tele, is growing, reports not-the-reactionary-type Howie Kurtz. Of course we have to turn to the likes of Blogger Ethics Experts like Jason Calacanis, Jeff jarvis, and Jay Rosen for something like this. Says Rosen: "Everyone used to be landlocked, and the media was the outlet to the sea of public discussion. But now there are many routes. . . . Readers have more power because they have more sources, and sources have more power because they can go direct to readers."

We didn't understand much of that, but here's the gist: Sources are tired of their quotes being taken out of context, or cherry picked by reporters. Rather than respond to a journo's list of questions, they'll simply blog their answer, and a reporter is free to quote from the blog, which everyone else is free to read, too!

It all has to do with journalists and their agendas: Choosing quotes from sources that only back up their previously-held beliefs. Which, as you might know, is common practice among blogs.

• The Los Angeles Times: It's what happens when people stop being polite. And start getting 'real.'

• CBS News' online coverage of the Couric/Edwards interview already has 49 pages of comments. And counting…[via TVNewser]

• Tribune seems to favor Zell offer. Just as we reported. Then forgot about. And are now reporting again.

• MySpace "star" Tila Tequila attributes her success to "any pimply dork with a computer." Pimply dork responds by saying, "OMG, she said my name!"

• Time, Newsweek agree that Americans are "already over" Afghanistan.

CONTINUED »

Though we have a personal connection with George Washington University – we, like you should, refuse to put "The" in front of the school's name – most of you media types know the D.C. school as the sometime homebase for CNN's Crossfire, Capital Gang, and then On The Story … until, of course, they were all canceled.

Now GW is claiming a new graveyard spot for Reliable Sources, the media gabfest hosted by WaPo's Howard Kurtz. After six years of using GW's space to tape its programming, the setup has reached its fin.

Due to continuing changes in programming, CNN no longer needs a regularly scheduled discussion show, network spokesperson Edie Emery said. Emery added that the network will be open to periodic projects with students in the future.

"We hope to continue to be able to work with the wonderful students at GW on editorial projects, but it is time for our use of the Jack Morton Auditorium to come to an end," Emery said in a news release.

Might that have something to do with CNN planning to phase out Reliable Sources, which averages about half the ~920k viewers tuning into competitor Fox News Watch on FNC? Don't let us be the prophets of bad news.

What do we like about CBS News' Lara Logan more than her accent? How adamantly she defends the media's reporting from Iraq on Howard Kurtz's show — and her demanding Laura Ingraham shut her trap and report from Iraq. You know, even though Ingraham already did.

Oh, Cindy Adams. It's still a wonder why Col Allan lets her pick up a pen each day and file stories. Sure, the Sixers have their inaccuracies, but at least they limit their rambling to favoring clients in transparent PR arrangements. Cindy, meanwhile, mixes the two ailments to create column inches so unfastidious, we long for the days of Victoria Gotti's column in Star. Witness:

Last Sunday, Feb. 26, Howard Kurtz reported on CNN's Reliable Sources that Cindy Adam's statements about chef Emeril Lagasse regarding Hurricane Katrina were, ahem, made up (inaccuracy number one).

KURTZ (voice over): Emeril Lagasse, the famed New Orleans chef and Food Network star, got some bad publicity back home when he seemed to be adding bitter ingredients to the debate about the city's hurricane recovery.

"New York Post" gossip columnist Cindy Adams quoted Emeril as saying, "The mayor's a clunk. The governor is also a clunk. They don't know their (backsides) from a hole in the ground."

"I've reopened Emeril's, but only a few locals come. There's no tourists, no visitors, no spenders, no money, no future, no people. It's lost. It will never come back."

Bam!

Chris Rose, a columnist for the "New Orleans Times-Picayune," barbecued Lagasse, writing, "You should try serving a clue at your restaurant and then take a bite."

But Emeril has now told Rose that he never made the offending remarks and that Adams made them up.

To rebutt the allegation, Cindy took to her own column. But not to lambaste Howard Kurtz. Nope, she was on the hunt for Anderson Cooper. Did we mention Anderson Cooper had nothing to do with that CNN report and only appeared in an unrelated segment of the show? (Inaccuracy number two.)

Wrote Cindy in last Monday's column:

SPEAKING of chefs brings me to An derson Cooper's Sunday CNN re port, which suggested I may have told an untruth. Hello??? I do not tell untruths. Could I ever bollix a fact or a story? Hey, I'm human. But lie consciously in this column? Any writers/editors/fact- checkers/reporters who suggest that on-air better watch their mouths.

So appalled was one reader, she spit out a letter to the Post and forwarded it on to us.

From: XXXXX
To: letters@nypost.com
Cc:
Bcc:
Subject: Note To Cindy Adams
Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2006 12:57:56 -0500

Hello Ms. Adams,

On Monday, February 27, 2006 you wrote in your column that "Anderson Cooper's Sunday CNN report" suggested that you had told "an untruth".

This was not Mr. Cooper's report nor Mr. Cooper's show for that matter. The show is called "CNN Reliable Sources" and is hosted by Howard Kurtz. Mr. Cooper is interviewed in a later segment on a completely unrelated story.

The person you may have a bone to pick with is Mr. Kurtz.

Got it, Cindy? That's H-O-W-A-R-D K-U-R-T-Z. Wouldn't want the New York Post fact-checkers to have to exert themselves.

CONGRESS MEMBERS ABOUT TO BE INDICTED [Cindy Adams, NYP]
CNN RELIABLE SOURCES Transcript [CNN]
Earlier: More of Cindy Adams' particular brand of crazy
Earlier: Cindy Adams' Jewish jokes of the day
Earlier: Harder to understand: Cindy Adams or the subway announcement?
Earlier: Cindy Adams not 100 percent today

• Need a good laugh? Take a look at Howard Kurtz's explanation of journalism, and why it sometimes requires reading. [Romenesko]

• Courtney Love is selling her real house…and buying a crack house. [Curbed]

• Monday nights are about to get a lot more interesting. You can watch Heather Graham's fake Sex and the City Show then catch "Roller Girls" crash the shit into each other. Or, you can just watch Boogie Nights. [Slate, ABC]

• Note to the Guardian: celebs may not be supporting our troops, but fake celebs are. [MSNBC]

• Truly breaking news of the day: Tom Brokaw and Harrison Ford are old. [Rush & Molloy]

• The days of Keith Olbermann bullying may be numbered, now that Rick Kaplan may be on his way out as MSNBC president. After getting passed over to head NBC News when Neal Shapiro announced his departure, his tenure there might not last the year.

• Howard Kurtz is joining Geraldo Rivera's cause, calling for the New York Times to issue an apology to the talk show host for claiming he staged a Hurricane Katrina rescue for the camera's benefit.

• While Rodale couldn't make Organic Style work (though it still appears on the website), the publisher is going ahead with a full-scale launch for Women's Health, the Men's Health spin-off. Finally there will be some David Zinczenko-style loving for the ladies.

• TV Guide president John Loughlin is quitting for the greener (and more stable) pastures at Hearst, taking over as vice president of the publisher late next month.

• Viacom and Comcast are working together to launch a new swatch of super-niche cable channels, because the YES Network and The Food Network aren't specific enough.

• Clear Channel is clearing the way to get song from new artists and unsigned bands into the hands of listeners by debuting tracks on their website.

• Is Men's Vogue an oxymoron all by itself? If Anna Wintour falls out of her seat and nobody there's to see it, did she really skip Diane Von Furstenberg's fashion show?