• Oscar nominations announced. Dreamgirls shut out from Best Picture. Gays cry.
• Ahoy, The Politico, and welcome to the neighborhood … where we don't watch each other's backs or care much if the bullies on the corner kick your ass on the way home from school.
• Maria Bartiromo: CNBC anchor, homewrecker.
• NYT jumbles up its reporters and rebrands them Hollywood scribes.
• With a fourth hour, isn't it time for the Today show to add the fifth through 24th hours?
• Scooter Libby's trial begins.
• Twenty four writers have ditched the Observer for the Times. Twenty four writers are richer because of it.
• Rosie O'Donnell is suddenly our hero now that she blasted American Idol judges Simon, Paula and Randy as "three millionaires…one probably intoxicated."
• With Art Buchwald gone, so ends the era of civilized humor. [Insert Borat joke *here*].
• If a tree falls in the forest and the mainstream media writes about it, does anybody read it?
• Judge postpones the Scooter Libby trial, citing America's unanimous hatred of President Bush as the primary reason. (Seriously).
• The Camera Phone: the gadget that perverts, vigilantes and celebrity stalkers can all agree on.**
• Yahoo to Google: You haven't won, yet.
**We liked this headline so much we borrowed it verbatim from Slate.
• The Washington Post announces plans to publish fiction for the very first time; "Been there, done that!" scoffs the NYT.
• It's opening day at the Scooter Libby trial, also known as "just one more thing you won't get to read about in Valerie Plame's book."
• Parents suddenly catching on to this whole newfangled MySpace thing.
• CBS responds to threat of never-ending Today show, announcing two more years of Rachael Ray.
• The biggest problem for YouTube's marketing team? "There are only 365 days in a year." Oh, to be bought by Google…
This AP news alert just hit the wires:
Former CIA operative Valerie Plame files suit against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide Scooter Libby, and presidential adviser Karl Rove.
We're giving Matt Drudge 11 and four-thirteenths of a second to get a headline up.
Update: The full AP story is here.
Yesterday, we missed what just may be the best correction we've ever read in the New York Times. Fittingly, it's about why the Times missed a same-day story. Reports NYO's Media Mob:
On Sunday, April 9, the New York Times reported on page A1 that the Vice President's former Chief of Staff I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby had been authorized to leak to former Times reporter Judith Miller that Iraq was "vigorously trying to procure uranium" to produce a nuclear bomb.
The Times piece said that Libby was told to overstate the intelligence.
But on Wednesday, Libby filed a correction to accompany his original court filings (from which the Times had gotten its information). The correction explained that he was not told to oversell the intelligence. Details of the letter were made available to the media on Tuesday night, and The Washington Post ran a piece on Wednesday explaining Libby's correction.
To which the NYT issued this correction:
Although Mr. Fitzgerald formally filed his corrective yesterday, accounts of it were provided to some news organizations on Tuesday night, and were the basis for news articles yesterday. The Times did not publish one, as other organizations did, because a telephone message and an e-mail message about the court filing went unnoticed at the newspaper. An article on the filing appears today, on Page A17.
A voicemail. And an email. Went "unnoticed." Can't wait to use that one. Again.
Times Forgets to Check Voicemail [Media Mob]
Corrections [NYT]
And in other "our government is totally fucked up" news, the National Journal brings us a Plamegate update.
As was pretty much suspected, but never actually testified to a federal grand jury, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby admits that he "received 'approval from the President through the Vice President'" to leak intelligence regarding invisible WMDs to the Washington Post and the New York Times.
In some instances, the information leaked was directly discussed with the Vice President, while in other instances Libby believed he had broad authority to release information that would make the case to go to war.
Of course this led to the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, an investigation into Judith Miller which resulted in her going to jail for protecting her source, and Dick Cheney laughing in the corner because his plan to distract the media from the war is going perfectly.
Next week, when the veep accidentally shoots someone, we can only hope the gun will backfire.
Libby Says Bush Authorized Leaks [Murray Wass, National Journal]
We can not wait for them to adapt this story for Law & Order. In the next chapter in Plamegate (which we may have to change to Wilsongate, according to the Times), lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, are slapping subpoenas on the New York Times and Judith Miller.
The new subpoenas seek her notes and other materials, including any other documents concerning Ms. Wilson prepared by Ms. Miller and Nicholas D. Kristof, an Op-Ed columnist for The Times; drafts of a personal account by Ms. Miller published in The Times in October concerning her grand jury testimony; documents concerning her interactions with an editor of The Times; and documents concerning a recent Vanity Fair article on the investigation
We don't really understand why anything besides Vanity Fair, the grail of truth, would be needed for a court investigation. It doesn't matter that the article was written by Judy's best friend. A VF article is great evidence — especially because their reporters got it all on tape.
Lawyers for Libby Subpoena Reporter and New York Times [Adam Liptak, New York Times]
Oh, that New York Observer. They're always, like, observing things. Like this Judith Miller debacle, where the weekly is struggling to keep pace with, say, hourly publications like ourself.
But Gaby Sherman is definitely on top of the "Judy rode Scooter" gossip like, well, Judy on Scooter Libby. Media chattering classes say she boinked Dick Cheney's chief of staff while Judy sounds like Jessica Simpson's publicist: deny, deny, deny. And she's using it as her basis to trap the New York Times into her severance negotiations.
Ms. Miller and her lawyers signaled that they were specifically displeased with—and might consider legal action about—Mr. Keller’s use of the word “entanglement†in his memo to describe Ms. Miller’s connections with now-indicted Vice Presidential aide I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. In the light of long-circulating gossip about Ms. Miller’s romantic life, that word choice led to widespread speculation and mockery. In a follow-up phone conversation, Ms. Miller described the insinuation as “completely untrue.â€
“Many people—many other journalists—assumed that there was an improper relationship,†Ms. Miller said in Sag Harbor. “Many people assumed there was a sexual relationship, which is one reason I’m so insistent on that, on his clarifying [the word choice]. I’ll be diplomatic, O.K.? I call it a correction. And at The New York Times, we call it a correction …. But I’ll settle for a, quote, ‘clarification.’â€
And we'll settle for a, quote, "immediate end to all Judy coverage," but we don't always get what we want. And what fun is speculating about someone's sex life when the truth isn't as scandalous as the gossip?
If you're in need of a good laugh, as we are, you'll excuse us as we go back in time (!) to Sunday, when the Washington Post reported a statement from disgraced former VP chief of staff Scooter Libby.
Libby is a man who loved his job so much he planned to stay with Dick Cheney until, uh, "I get indicted or something."
And today, he got that "something."
We were so looking forward to reading E&P's live blogging of the indictments, and then, well, that didn't happen. Instead they had to go and bore us with an actual article about Scooter Libby's five-count indictment and his subsequent resignation as Dick Cheney's chief of staff.
The criminal charges were one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of making a false statement and two counts of perjury, all related to the Plame case in 2003 and releasing information to reporters.
Libby will resign, ABC reported, citing a White House source saying his "boxes are packed." According to the New York Daily News, his post will be filled by Cheney's chief counsel David Addington.
Startlingly, there are zero counts against CNN, MSNBC or FNC for boring us all morning with repetitive speculation. Meanwhile, Karl Rove remains under investigation (and so should his blood pressure) while special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald admits defeat in actually completing the task he was charged with.
Grand Jury Speaks: Libby Indicted on Five Charges [E&P]
Earlier: Plamegateâ„¢: Libby going down
As you begin your Friday dreaming of what the weekend will bring (hint: Halloween fiascos and an extra hour of slumber), you can also look forward to raising your glass to the indictment of Scooter Libby, VP Dick Cheney's chief of staff.
Unfortunately, if you were planning to pour out an ounce for Karl Rove, you're going to find yourself with a little extra liquor on your hands: President Bush's deputy chief of staff isn't likely to face indictment from special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.
Finally that little website he set up is going to get some action. Ooh, perhaps they'll even live-blog the whole thing!
Cheney Aide Appears Likely to Be Indicted; Rove Under Scrutiny [NYT]
• Just when you thought the MTA's near $1 billion surplus might let commuters catch a break on fares, Governor George Pataki is lobbying to shut down plans to offer discounted holiday prices. [NY1]
• Some people think Al Franken's joke about Karl Rove and Scooter Libby being executed for treason wasn't funny. Thankfully, we've never identified with "some people." [NewsBusters.org]
• While he's trying to finesse the image of the NBA by instituting a stricter dress code, the commissioner David Stern also greenlighted NBA Ballers, a video game based on the private jet, spinning rims and bling, bling, bling lifestyles of players. [Page Six]
• Mayor Bloomberg hit up the weekly gay bash Beige at B-Bar last night, meeting with new lackey and everyone's favorite commercial gay Brian Ellner. [Gawker]
• We're not really sure why NBC Universal CEO Bob Wright is even talking about The Peacock's dismal ratings, let alone using the word "desperate" to describe its status, but we're glad to know he's aware "we could use another hit or two in prime time." Serial smarts are needed to be at the top, people. [NYP
• Jon Stewart finally unloaded his West Village apartment for $3.995 million, which has been on the market since March when he bout a $5.8 million Tribeca flat, which he's spending $300,000 on to decorate. Or, in relative terms, 700,000 times more than Stephen Colbert is pulling in. [NYO]
It's 2:45pm and, well, you can forget about special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald announcing any indictments today. The federal grand jury adjourned today and didn't make any announcement — or, perhaps more shockingly, any plans to make an annoucement.
Grand Jury in CIA Leak Case Adjourns [AP]
Office of Special Counsel [US DOJ]
Earlier: Plamegateâ„¢: It's 12:16, do you know where your indictments are?
Just to make sure you're paying attention, it's 12:16pm and still no indictments for Karl Rove, Scooter Libby or Dick Cheney.
We're so bored waiting for an announcement that we're actually considering re-reading that Vanity Fair article. Yes, that one.
In the meantime, read the satirical update from Unconfirmed Sources.
CIA leak probe has Washington waiting [CNN]
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald Announces No Indictments for Rove and Libby in Plame Case [Unconfirmed Sources]
Editorial Director
