Updated

Al Jazeera English has provided the most comprehensive coverage of the uprising in Egypt, but you'll have a tough time finding it on most cable and satellite systems in the U.S.: Most cable systems don't carry it.

Jeff Jarvis writes at Huffington Post, "It is downright un-American to still refuse to carry it. Vital, world-changing news is occurring in the Middle East and no one -- not the xenophobic or celebrity-obsessed or cut-to-the-bone American media -- can bring the perspective, insight, and on-the-scene reporting Al Jazeera English can.

"Yes, we can watch AJE on the internet. But as much of an internet triumphalist as I am, internet streaming is not going to have the same impact--political and education impact--that putting AJE on the cable dial would have. I can watch AJE in the Zurich hotel room where I am now; I want to be able to watch it on my couch at home."

He calls it a "sad vestige of the era of Freedom Fries."

The network's live streams on the Internet have drawn huge traffic, and plans are in the works to lobby cable companies again to carry it, reports the New York Times. It is now available in only several cities, including Washington DC.

Cable systems have been worried about "over the top" services, or the offering of channel streams and services via the Internet, at much lower prices or even for free. While it may not be the same watching Al Jazeera on a computer screen, it may be habit-forming and a hint of the future.

Update: KCET in Los Angeles is running expanded Al Jazeera English newscasts on its MHz Worldview digital channel --- Channel 239 for Time Warner Cable subscribers.

Omar Sharif is Egypt's most famous actor, so it was perhaps no surprise that he would weigh in on the tumult that is rocking the country.

He says that President Hosni Mubarak should have resigned.

"Given that the entire Egyptian people don't want him and he's been in power for 30 years, that's enough," he told a French radio outlet.

"The president hasn't improved the standard of living of Egyptians. There are some people that are very rich -- maybe 1 percent -- and the rest are all poor trying to find food," he said.

But he also told the Associated Press that he is concerned over what happens if Mubarak is toppled.

"I personally don't know what they will do afterwards. Who will they bring, who will take his place, who will be in charge of the country?"

A summary of today's quick reads...

Rep. Jeff Dunham (R-Calif.) doled out $25,000 to have LeAnn Rimes perform in Washington for a fund raiser at the W Hotel, an event that raised eyebrows earlier this month because it came "after his freshman class was swept to Washington after promising a renewed commitment to frugality and economic restrain," reports Jake Sherman of Politico. (Politico).

Rahm Emanuel's bid for mayor of Chicago, which has drawn out-of-town donors like Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, and campaign appearances by stars like Jennifer Hudson, got another endorsement over the weekend: Jeff Tweedy, the frontman for Wilco. (New York Times).

HBO has ordered a pilot from Aaron Sorkin for a series set at a 24-hour news network. (Variety). Keith Olbermann grouses that "not one reporter or blogger" has asked him about his supposed involvement. He Tweeted over the weekend: "I haven't talked to Aaron about his series since he visited around a year ago."

Passings: Charles Nolan, a fashion designer who dressed many prominent women on the political scene, died Sunday in New York. His partner, Andy Tobias, is the longtime treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. (LGBT POV)

Today: The documentary "Living for 32," the story of Virginia Tech survivor Colin Goddard, screens at Rutgers U today, in advance of a Feb. 9 screening across the street from the Virginia Tech campus.

More than any other president, Barack Obama has exploited late-night TV, as the nation's first commander in chief to pay in-studio visits to "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

One of the motivating factors was for the president to reach younger audiences who may not pay attention to cable news or political blogs, as well as to compensate for an ever-fractured TV audience. It hasn't just been late night: He's been on everything from "The View" to ESPN. In other words, in this new media age, less is not more.

But there are hints that that approach may be changing. In John Heilemann's New York magazine cover story this week on the overhaul in the West Wing, outgoing senior adviser David Axelrod admits that they "overused" Obama.

He tells Heilemann, "There was a period of time in the eighties when the Bears weren’t very good, and they would hand Walter Payton the ball on every play: It was Payton left and Payton right and Payton up the middle. He was the greatest running back of all time, arguably, but still it became kind of a dreary game plan. And, you know, we have one of the great political performers of our time. But I think we degraded that to some degree by using him as much as we did in the ways we did.”

With Obama's poll numbers improving, it will be interesting to see how he taps into pop culture, if at all, in the coming months. But Axelrod's comment seems to be an admission that, as hard as it is to reach audiences and get them to listen in the age of the Internet, the solution may not be more exposure, but less, particularly if approval ratings are falling and negative ratings are rising. The dynamics are different for candidates. But Meg Whitman suffered from overexposure in her race for California governor, and, given her rising negative numbers, Sarah Palin may be experiencing the same now.

With protests erupting in Egypt, today C-SPAN's series "The Communicators" features an interview with Ambassador Philip Verveer, who serves as the coordinator for international communications and information policy, who talks about social media and the role of Twitter and Facebook in fomenting freedom movements in the Middle East.

You can view the whole interview here.

This week we saw Egypt erupt, while their government targeted journalists trying to cover the story.

George Clooney's eye-in-the-sky over Sudan produced some disconcerting images.

More than 400 rabbis protested Fox News "Nazi" references, and they made their grievances known on News Corp. turf.

Jon Stewart, still fighting with Fox over Third Reich rhetoric, was named to the board of the 9/11 memorial.

President Obama delivered Reagan-esque optimism in the State of the Union, something that may serve him well even if there are doubts that he can make wireless ubiquitous in just five years.

And...presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty top gunned campaign spots, Keith Olbermann broke his silence with tweet after tweet, Maxine Waters finally weighed in against the approval of Comcast NBC U, and one of the biggest champions of NPR and PBS comes from the right.

Mailbox: There were a number of comments to the post on the Oscar snub of "Waiting for Superman" for best documentary, even as it helped elevate the fate of public education into the national debate.

Commenter "Khodabear" wrote, "Yours is the only substantial industry in the world that has absolute distain (sic) for its customers.

"Seriously - you make PG&E look like a chain of Day Spas. And you wonder why your revenues and business model continues to decline."

Commenter Ningrim wrote, "Variety acts like the reason for this is some mystery to them. They need to get out of the Hollywood bubble. Has a right-leaning or critical-of-the-left documentary every been nominated? Doesn't matter how good it is, that's an instant disqualification."

There were even more calls from congressional Republicans this week to end funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

My story on the perils ahead for NPR and PBS drew this lengthy response from commentator Lynne G, who found their marketing and lobbying campaigns wanting: "Public broadcasting's biggest enemy is itself - and I say that as a onetime employee and lifelong supporter. Across the system, in tv/radio/online, there's a head-in-the-sand mentality. Few outlets explore or develop smarter, more effective fundraising concepts. Fewer still study and practice competitive marketing. Despite all the economic and media changes of the past decade, most public broadcasting entities do things the same as they did in 2001. That includes still spending time and money on endless research and conferences to discuss the sorry state of their problems.

"Their big lobbying campaign to fight these funding cuts is a perfect example: they've got a website and strategy around the claim that 170 million Americans, half the U.S. population, use public media. And with this positioning, they're handing it to the Republicans who are probably asking, "Then why aren't you capable of generating more than 5-10 percent of member donors from that base?" It's a shame if we lose public broadcasting but the system itself is making it more and more a reality."

The riveting footage coming out of Cairo and other Egyptian cities this morning has been all the more extraordinary given that there has been a coordinated government cutoff of social media, Internet, and wireless phones.

On top of this have been efforts by security forces to stop journalists from doing their work.

Brian Stelter of the New York Times writes: "A journalist for BBC Arabic, Assad Sawey, said he was beaten and arrested by plainclothes police officers on Friday. His shirt bloodied and his head bandaged, Mr. Sawey came on the BBC to convey what had happened. He said he would be going to the hospital after the live report.

"'They took my camera away and when they arrested me, they started beating me with steel bars, the ones used here for slaughtering animals,' Mr. Sawey said, calling the police officers 'brutal.'"

Ben Wedeman of CNN reported that Egyptian police took the camera away of a colleague he was with.

Reporters for Al Jazeera English --- which is not available in many U.S. homes but is streamed online --- also has faced threats from police.

Alex Pareene writes on Salon that Al Jazeera is trumping the U.S. networks in covering the story. He writes, "Fox, CNN and MSNBC are all acquitting themselves better than they did the day Tunisia's government collapsed. All of them have reporters in Cairo, and are airing footage of the demonstrations on the streets. But none of them are reporting on the situation as compellingly as Al Jazeera English, which has reporters across the country."

Richard Adams of the Guardian noticed a shift in coverage by the U.S. nets, writing it "has all changed today, with the the extraordinary scenes from Egypt filling America's TV screens – even if the early morning bulletins were more interested in Charlie Sheen's hernia."

Here's one of the more disturbing shots of the day, which ran on CNN:

A followup to my posts on George Clooney and the Satellite Sentinel Project, which he co-founded and is being funded primarily by Not On Our Watch.

The project says that the Sudan army has dispatched troops along the north-south border, but the org says that they don't appear prepared to be moving forward.

Clooney, humanitarian groups and other industry activists launched the project in advance of Southern Sudan's vote on independence as a way to monitor the situation and, perhaps, provide a check to prevent violence.

Preliminary results showed the south voting for independence, but the worries are that the Sudanese government will try to seize territory or try to undermine the election altogether.

“These first images and analysis have deepened our understanding of the evolving situation following Southern Sudan’s historic vote on independence," Clooney said in a statement. "Although the SAF in South Kordofan apparently remains a force largely in hiding, we showed they are field-deployed, and they are controlling major roads by running checkpoints. Though they are not showing signs of advancing, we confirmed that they’re equipped with helicopter transport, artillery, armored personnel carriers and trucks. Our first report represents the best recent information on the military situation in Sudan publicly available.”

The complete report is here.

The project is believed to be the first "sustained, public effort" to monitor potential hotspots and threats to security along a border. Clooney conceived of the project on a trip to South Sudan in October with John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project.

Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks told the GlobalPost that with the satellite project, "Now the Sudan army know we are watching and if they sneeze, we'll know it. The public knowledge of this security information may galvanize the United Nations. It may encourage negotiations. It may encourage the U.N. to lay out a firm stand with the Sudanese army where the U.N. establishes a presence that encourages the Sudanese army to back off." 

Politico's Brooks Boliek, who was the longtime D.C. bureau chief for the Hollywood Reporter, writes that the MPAA's "luster has faded over the years as it finds itself in an identity crisis."

He writes, "The retirement and death of its charismatic longtime president Jack Valenti and the departure a year ago of former Democratic congressman and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman left the once-influential lobby searching for a direction.

"“It used to be that when they had the screening for the Senate, you could’ve had a quorum call in there,” said one former movie industry executive.

"Ethics concerns required changes. The dinner is now a buffet. Movies — such as “Black Swan” — are still screened, but guests must sit through a policy briefing over issues facing the industry."

Public interest groups like Public Knowledge and Free Press would argue that the studio influence is still powerful --- with bipartisan support for strict anti-piracy legislation. But perception is everything, and the search for a new MPAA chief is now more than a year old. Efforts to land Bob Kerrey fizzled, and, according to Boliek, the latest name floated, former Rep. Tom Davis, doesn't want to job. Nor does Chris Dodd. Maybe more telling is that the search doesn't even command the same level of speculation that it once did. As Glickman points out in Boliek's piece, the risk is "out of sight and out of mind."

Jon Stewart is expected to appointed to the board of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

In September, Stewart emceed the org's annual dinner, and since then was outspoken in the effort to pass a bill to provide health benefits to 9/11 first responders. The legislation looked as if it would be stalled in the Senate in the face of some Republican opposition, but Stewart devoted substantial time on "The Daily Show" to the bill, leading to its eventual passage in December.

Other members of the board include survivors of the terrorist attacks and victims family members, as well as various philanthropists and business execs. Other entertainment figures on the board include Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal and Jane Rosenthal. 

There may be doubts that President Obama can meet his State of the Union pledge to spur development of high-speed wireless coverage to almost all Americans (98%) by 2016, but his remarks did garner praise from a group that previously has been wary of such plans: Broadcasters.

Obama's goal resembles those of FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, whose National Broadband Plan calls for stations across the country to give up some of their unused spectrum to be used for the new wireless capacity.

Broadcasters have been vocal about not being forced to give up spectrum, and are offering some guarded support to a bill in which the unused space will be freed via voluntary auctions. But Gordon Smith, the CEO of the National Assn. of Broadcasters, was pleased with what he heard from Obama's speech because it focused on expanding wireless to rural areas.

"NAB believes the President's vision deserves as much attention as reallocating broadcast spectrum to wireless carriers in urban markets," he said. He added that Congress should consider a "holistic approach" to finding spectrum inventory, including legislation that identifies "fallow or warehoused airwaves."

Obama's proposal also drew praise, not so unexpectedly, from Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Assn., who has been pushing for "finding the best uses for our finite spectrum." Verizon Wireless's general counsel Steve Zipperstein also praised the plan, although the company is challenging the FCC on its recently passed net neutrality rules.

Almost 43 million viewers watched President Obama's State of the Union address, down 11% from last year's audience.

Nielsen combined the audience across 11 broadcast and cable networks.

Obama's State of the Union speech on Jan. 27, 2010 drew 48 million viewers. His address to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24, 2009 garnered 52.4 million.

President George W. Bush's final State of the Union on Jan. 28, 2008 drew 37.5 million viewers.

More than 400 rabbis are calling for News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch to sanction Glenn Beck and are demanding an apology from Roger Ailes over the use and reference to Nazis and Holocaust imagery.

The twist is that their open letter to Murdoch is set to run on Thursday in the News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal, according to the org Jewish Funds for Justice. It also is slated to run in the Jewish publication Forward.

In their open letter, they cite not just Beck's use of Holocaust and Nazi images, but for Ailes' statement to The Daily Beast that the complaints over Beck are being made by "left wing rabbis who basically don't think that anybody can ever use the word 'Holocaust' on the air." Ailes also called NPR brass "Nazis" in the wake of its firing of Juan Williams, but the Fox News chief later apologized to the Anti Defamation League.

"In the charged political climate in the current civic debate, much is tolerated, and much is ignored or dismissed," the letter reads. "But you diminish the memory and meaning of the Holocaust when you use it to discredit any individual or organization you disagree with. That is what Fox News has done in recent weeks, and it is not only 'left-wing rabbis' who think so."

The org says that their letter was sparked by Beck's series of segments in the fall on financier and philanthropist George Soros, who is a frequent contributor to liberal causes.

Soros is a survivor of the Holocaust who was a teenager in Nazi-occupied Hungary. Beck said he "used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here's a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps. And I am certainly not saying that George Soros enjoyed that, even had a choice. I mean, he's 14 years old. He was surviving. So I'm not making a judgment."

Beck's comments led to a condemnation by the Anti-Defamation League, whose national director, Abraham H. Foxman, called the remarks "horrific" and "completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top." But he later softened those remarks, saying that he still believed that Beck was "a strong supporter of Israel and the Jewish people."

Joel Cheatwood, senior vice president of development for Fox News, said in a statement, "We haven't seen the ad, but this group is a George Soros backed left-wing political organization that has been trying to engage Glenn Beck primarily for publicity purposes."

A spokesman for News Corp. said that the company would have no comment. Update: A spokeswoman for the Wall Street Journal also declined comment.

After Tim Pawlenty's release of a campaign video masked as a movie trailer this week --- and it kind of had to happen, didn't it? --- a company called Visionquest conceived the one-sheets.

Just to clarify: The campaign video is real; the one-sheets are not. Chances are the lines will get ever more blurried as campaign 2012 ramps up.

President Obama did what so many of his predecessors have done in his State of the Union speech: He grabbed hold of the "future" and ran with it.

In what he said and how he said it, it was a speech entirely mindful that the Republicans have a House majority and a filibuster-check on the Senate, but also aware that GOPers would be suspicious of the rhetoric and pounce on the policy. They did.

But Obama also was delivering a pep talk. He tried to project optimism, certainly when it came to America's ability to get out of the recession and compete in the world economy, but also when it came to leaving Iraq and the far more dubious prospects in Afghanistan. He talked of the "American family" and "innovation" and exceptionalism, and of not trading American politics, as messy as it can be, with any other country.

By contrast, in his response, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was more dire and downbeat, albeit he had a rather thankless task and certainly did better than some of his predecessors. The Tea Party response from Michele Bachmann was out and out distracting, not for what she said, which was predictable, but by the way she delivered it. She looked not right at the camera but just off to the side.

In invoking the message of "win the future," ambiguous as it may be, Obama is seizing what has been a potent political strategy. He's trying to stake out a sunnier vision of the country's prospects after one of the most anxiety-ridden midterms in recent history.

Ronald Reagan faced significant midterm losses in 1982, only to bounce back, as the economy did, with his message of "morning in America" in 1984. Bill Clinton was labeled the "incredible shrinking president" after his drubbing in the 1994 midterms, but handily won reelection with the "bridge to the 21st century." Each benefited from a lack of vision on the part of their opponents --- Walter Mondale and Bob Dole --- along with economies convincingly on the upswing.

There are differences. Obama sounded Reagan-esque not only in the spirit of some of his rhetoric but in the jokes he said. The "salmon" quip was at the expense of big government, as was a dig at TSA "patdowns." Unlike Reagan, of course, Obama doesn't think the government is the enemy, just that it needs to be more efficient. Obama also sounded like Clinton the centrist, anxious to seize the high ground. But unlike Clinton, Obama will spend the next months defending a divisive healthcare bill.

Unemployment this year and next promises to be stubbornly high, and it's way too early to know if Obama can maintain the message. His 2012 campaign may be much more traditional than in 2008, with a greater challenge in invigorating grassroots activism or, given the media environment, getting people to listen.

But as Republicans look for deep cuts and shout about spending, Obama is banking that he'll at least be the friendlier face with the way forward.

Keith Olbermann is doing a running Twitter commentary of tonight's State of the Union address, offering sardonic nuggets like these:

Word one of #SOTU at least 10 minutes away but full texts of Ryan, Bachmann responses to it already on web #WhatACountry

Just received my advance copy of #SOTU -unfortunately I bought a copy at 3:30 from a guy on 57th St along w/the script for The King's Speech.

Little known Pop Culture reference: Sen. Ben Nelson was indeed the model for Stimpy of "Ren And Stimpy" #SOTU.

Kerry, McCain, Lieberman just entered Chamber together. With his announcement, golly, who'll be running for Lieberman's seat? #SOTU

The latter is a nod to a campaign to draft Olbermann into the 2012 Senate race in Connecticut to succeed Lieberman.

Throughout the review process of the Comcast-NBC Universal, there was perhaps no more visible critic than Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). At various points she chided NBC U chief Jeff Zucker, pressed the FCC to lengthen the time of its review and even tried to pair up job seekers with NBC execs at a July Judiciary Committee field hearing.

Not surprisingly, Waters is not pleased that the transaction got the regulatory greenlight, but she faults the FCC more than the Department of Justice, the two agencies that had to give the deal their clearance.

"The combination of a major content provider with our nation’s leading cable service provider warranted every level of public and congressional scrutiny it endured over the past year," she said in a statement provided by her office.  "To that end, I must express my disappointment with the failure of either agency – particularly the FCC – to craft substantive conditions that are in conformity with established precedent and standards on media diversity and localism." 

She also doesn't give much credence to Comcast's pledge to add 10 independently owned channels to its digital tier over the next 8 years, "when current networks have had so many challenges negotiating reasonable carriage terms with the cable giant."

While she did "commend" the DOJ for its consent decree "containing provisions that can work to ease some -- albeit, not all -- of the concerns" about the transaction, she noted that the conditions expire in seven years, at most.

"Since no divestitures, separation of corporate authority, or any other stringent conditions were attached to the acquisition, the FCC’s 279-page order approving the Comcast-NBCU merger will be even more meaningless than it is today," she says.

As Waters points out, her views are counter to those of some of her Republican colleagues on the Hill. Far from calling the FCC too lenient, they accuse the agency of being too stringent and invoke a term we're likely to hear ever more often in the next two years, regulatory overreach.

Her full statement is below:

Congressional Republicans are proposing eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, setting up a battle not just for federal funding of public television but perhaps its very existence. Here's my Variety profile of a key figure in defending CPB, its new chairman Bruce Ramer, a prominent entertainment attorney who also is a well-known Republican donor and fund-raiser:

Just after entertainment attorney Bruce Ramer was elected chairman of the Corp. for Public Broadcasting in November, he quoted Winston Churchill to the rest of the nine-member board: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

That he was citing a historic figure who faced impossible odds was no accident, as his words came just days after the leaders of President Obama’s deficit commission called for eliminating the CPB, and congressional Republicans cast a critical eye on future funding for National Public Radio following the firing of commentator Juan Williams.

What was not lost on many observers is that Ramer, 77, a Hollywood attorney with a client list that includes Steven Spielberg, is a well-known Republican in an industry of Democrats and liberals.

But to hear him talk at length is to hear a vigorous defense of public media
— he says it “really carries on the conversation of the nation” — and a sense that, despite calls for elimination of federal funding, support on Capitol Hill is deeper than the headlines would have you believe.

“I think we are going to have, despite a lot of Sturm und Drang and noise, a receptive audience both on the Hill and in the administration to maintain the system,” he says. “They may cut some. I hope it is not to the bone. I hope it doesn’t hurt too much. It has been too valuable a system through the years.”

Ramer is a prolific donor and fundraiser for GOP candidates, and a tenure as president of the American Jewish Committee took him to Capitol Hill to testify on national security issues. Ramer’s connection to public broadcasting goes back nearly 20 years to when he joined the board of KCET-TV in Los Angeles. He served as chairman from 2001 to 2003, and President George W. Bush, whom he knew from his campaign work, appointed him to the board of CPB in 2008.

The board comprises four Democrats, four Republicans and one independent. Its president and CEO, Patricia Harrison, is a former State Dept. official and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

Ramer obviously disagrees with the conclusions of Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, the co-chairs of the deficit commission, noting, “One of the things that they perhaps didn’t focus on is this: There is a lot of leverage that comes with federal funding of public media. In the context of the overall budget, while every dollar counts, we are talking about $450 million here. That is a lot of money. However, that amount is not going to balance the budget. That is not going to have any noticeable impact on a deficit, which is in the trillions. It would eliminate employment (wages) of almost a billion dollars of Americans who are working in public media.”

Although the CPB is prohibited from spending money on lobbying Capitol Hill lawmakers, Ramer is cognizant that perceptions of public media can be just as powerful as reality. At the November CPB board meeting, he spoke of public broadcasting as being “irreplaceable,” but “also in need of repair.”

The nominees for this year's Oscar for best documentary are "Restrepo," "Gas Land," "Waste Land," "Inside Job" and "Exit Through the Gift Shop."

But missing was "Waiting for Superman," which had perhaps more marketing power and publicity behind it, not to mention the pedigree of David Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning filmmaker of "An Inconvenient Truth."

Why the snub?

On Tuesday morning, many theories abounded, although the documentary branch of the Academy is at times unpredictable (or maybe baffling is a better term) in its choices.

The Washington Post's education blogger Valerie Strauss writes, "Academy Award nominations are heavily political, yet this film didn’t make the cut even though President Obama called it “powerful” and welcomed to the White House the five charming students who starred in the film.

She added that the film distorted the reality of the public education system. "Guggenheim edited the film to make it seem as if charter schools are a systemic answer to the ills afflicting many traditional public schools, even though they can’t be, by their very design. He unfairly demonized Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and gave undeserved hero status to reformer and former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee. Guggenheim compared schools in Finland and the United States without mentioning that Finland has a 3 percent child poverty rate and the United States has a 22 percent rate."

The movie certainly stirred debate over the best solutions to the education system, but it also defied conventional wisdom, that the documentary community churns out projects that almost always can be characterized as the agenda of the left. "Superman" did draw praise from Obama, but also a smattering of conservative candidates across the country. In her unsuccessful bid for governor of California, Meg Whitman encouraged voters to see it.

Andrew Stuttaford, writing on The National Review's blog, The Corner, who said today that "Superman" was "powerful, polemical, and deeply moving, it was just what the education debate in this country needs: an airing at the Oscars would have been all to the good." He also offered an endorsement of another documentary that offered a more biting take of the education system, "The Lottery."

Keith Olbermann sent out a tweet this evening sending his "humble thanks to all Friends of Keith for the many kind words.

"The reports of the death of my career are greatly exaggerated," he wrote.

As can probably be expected these days, there's a campaign afoot to draft Olbermann into the race to succeed Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who is not running for reelection.

MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell also paid tribute to Olbermann on their shows.

Meanwhile, Rick Sanchez, fired from CNN last year, told the site RumorFix.com that he would consider taking Olbermann's job if offered, but he wouldn't say whether he had been approached by MSNBC.

"Keith is a great broadcaster," Sanchez said. "He gets it. There's a nuance to his message that likely will be missed."

He added, "Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward."

Less reverential were Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly on Fox. Beck called Olbermann "the biggest pain in the ass in the world" and O'Reilly, without mentioning him by name, said, "Some of the hate has been neutralized."

Politico reports that former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is headed to MSNBC as a regular pundit during the 2012 campaign cycle.

He's also said to be talking to NBC News about such a gig.

Rendell has been a frequent presence on MSNBC during his gubernatorial tenure, garnering headlines for his outspoken views. In advance of the 2010 midterms, he called the Republican Party "scary" but also told disaffected liberals to "get over it."

The news of Rendell's new gig comes just after the sudden departure of Keith Olbermann. That had Comcast insisting that it was in no way involved in the decision, noting that the deal to acquire NBC U has not yet closed and that it had pledged not to interfere with its news operations.

But Rendell carries his own set of connections to Comcast, having served as mayor of Philadelphia, the company's base of operations. During his tenure, Rendell's chief of staff was David L. Cohen, the company's executive vice president in corporate and governmental affairs.

Donald Verrilli, a litigator who once represented Viacom in their case against Google and the movie studios in their landmark case against the Grokster file sharing service, has been nominated by President Obama to be the next solicitor general of the United States.

Verrilli currently is deputy counsel to Obama, and previously served as associate deputy attorney general in the Department of Justice under Eric Holder. He'll succeed Elena Kagan, confirmed as a Supreme Court justice last year.

Verrilli worked in private practive at Jenner & Block on First Amendment, telecommunications and intellectual property law for some 20 years. Perhaps most famously for those in Hollywood was the MGM Studios vs. Grokster case, in which the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that file sharing sites could be held liable if their objective is to promote its use for copyright infringement.

Viacom is appealing a U.S. District Court decision ruling last year that Google was protected by the "safe harbor" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act when users posted clips of copyrights material on YouTube. Ted Olson, who served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush, is leading the company's appeal.

The

Here's my story from the print version of Variety on the perilous environment that public broadcasting faces over the next few months, as Republicans seek across the board spending cuts and, in some cases, elimination of federal funding altogether for the likes of PBS and NPR:

A 41-year-old video posted to the PBS website has been a morale booster for public television in times of tough budget battles.

In it, Mister Rogers appears before a powerful Senate subcommittee scrutinizing $20 million in federal funding. In explaining his show, he recites lines from a song called "What Do You Do With the Mad that You Feel?"

The testimony is enough to win over the panel's irritable chairman, Rhode Island Democrat John O. Pastore, who tells Rogers that he got "goosebumps" listening to him and adds, "Looks like you just earned the $20 million."

Rogers is gone, but the "mad" remains -- anger that may drown out any other "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"-like moments in what looks to be a bruising battle over the public funding of broadcasting.

The new Republican majority in the lower house of Congress, emboldened by sweeping victories in November, has called for across-the-board cuts in discretionary spending. And although they've been criticized for a lacking specifics, it didn't take long for a few conservative lawmakers to offer them, including Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), who introduced a bill his month to eliminate all federal funding for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, the org charged with distributing funds to public stations, National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and another bill that would more narrowly restrict any tax dollars going to NPR.

"Government-funded broad-casting is now unnecessary in a world of 500-channel cable TV, satellite radio and cell phone Internet access," Lamborn wrote in an op-ed in the Hill on Jan. 12 after introducing the legislation. (CPB has an appropriation of $430 million this year.)

Public broadcasting's common defense, that federal funding contributes only about 15% of the total public-media budget, generates a counter-argument: Why can't private institutions fill the gap?

In other words, it's not about forcing public television to become more efficient; it's about its very existence.

Perhaps just as disconcerting for the public broadcasting community was the effort in December by congressional Republicans to eliminate funding for NPR, fueled by the furor that surrounded the firing of commentator Juan Williams.

Conservative commentators continue to support the idea, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor continues to present the idea of de-funding of NPR on his website YouCut.

But it's unclear how much of this is posturing.

Public broadcasting has faced the ax many times before, only to be saved via aggressive lobbying from avid viewers and the occasional visit of Big Bird to Capitol Hill. The Newt Gingrich revolution of the mid-1990s brought calls to eliminate such federal funding, with the perception among many lawmakers that it was a subsidy for the liberal elite. Some painful cuts were made, but in the end, the CPB was saved.

This time, there's the added toll of a severe recession. For many public stations, federal support has been the one constant as private donations have fallen and state and local funding has been drastically reduced.

Their anxieties intensified when the two bipartisan chairs of President Obama's deficit commission, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, made elimination of CPB funding part of their recommendations for getting federal spending under control.

Appearing on "Real Time with Bill Maher" on Friday night, Rachel Maddow said of Keith Olbermann's exit: "I know very little about it. All I know is that it was between Keith and the company. It wasn't, it didn't involve any of the rest of us and he was really gracious and nice when he left."

Maher noted that Olbermann had stopped his "Worst Person in the World" segment, then brought it back with the message that "we don't really mean it."

"It really is all downhill then," Maher said. "Stop organizing your life around people who don't get the joke."

More seriously, Maher added of Olbermann, "I always enjoyed his show. I hope he comes back."

Keith Olbermann's abrupt exit prompted Comcast to issue a statement denying that it had a role in its departure.

The company said, "Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBC Universal and has no operational control at any of its properties including MSNBC. Comcast pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal's news operations. We have not and will not."

Comcast obtained FCC and Department of Justice approval on Tuesday for their acquistion of 51% of NBC Universal, but the deal is not expected to close until month's end.

Although cable firms traditionally are among the most conservative in the media business, when it comes to political contributions Comcast has tended to spread the wealth to candidates and committees of both parties. And although the company's CEO, Brian Roberts, co-chaired the host committee for the 2000 Republican National Committee, it was officially nonpartisan. He contributed to both Al Gore and George W. Bush that year and to John Kerry and Bush in the 2004. Since 1990, 55% of he and his wife's individual contributions have gone to Democratic candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. His deputy, Steve Burke, has given 38% to Democrats and 43% to Republicans in that time frame.

Howard Kurtz attributes Olbermann's departure to clashes with his bosses. In the list of people he thanked this evening, he left out MSNBC's president Phil Griffin, and by calling Tim Russert "my greatest protector" he signalled that he has been left without important allies.

David Brock of Media Matters for America issued a statement in which he said that Olbermann "led the charge against conservative misinformation in prime time. He was one of the few voices in the media willing to hold the Bush administration accountable and fight the right-wing smears against progressives and their policies."

Keith Olbermann has departed MSNBC, anchoring his last "Countdown" on the news network this evening.

"MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract," the network said in an announcement on Friday, but did not elaborate on a reason. Near the end of his show, Olbermann announced that his appearance would be his last.

Olbermann, one of the network’s signature stars, was briefly suspended in November after it was disclosed that he had contributed to several candidates in violation of network policy.

"MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors," the network said in a statement.

Lawrence O’Donnell’s show, currently called "The Last Word," will move to 8 p.m., while "The Ed Show" will move to 10 p.m. Cenk Uygur, a contributor to MSNBC and host of the web show "The Young Turks," will fill in as host of the 6 p.m. hour, the network said.

Brian Lowry writes that the timing, just days after Comcast received government approval to take control of NBC Universal, is sure to rause eyebrows.

"Last May, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts was asked about whether he was ready for the headaches associated with running NBC U during an interview at the Cable Show. Former News Corp. COO Peter Chernin specifically wondered what Comcast would do if an MSNBC host created a stir that threatened the company's larger interests.

"Roberts sidestepped the question, but did say regarding NBC News, "The single most awesome asset that comes from this deal is NBC News. ... NBC News will help define Comcast.""

On his final show, Olbermann did not go into details of what led to his departure, but did reference the movie "Network," in which the provocative anchor of a nightly news show is assassinated on the air by his own network when he becomes too outspoken.

"I think the same fantasy has popped into the head of everybody in my business who has ever been told what I have been told, that this is going to be the last edition of your show," Olbermann said. "You go directly to the scene from the movie 'Network,' complete with the pajamas, and the raincoat, and you go off on an existential, otherworldly journey of profundity and vision. You damn the impediments and insist upon the insurrections, and then you admit Peter Finch's gutteral, resonant, Soooo. And you implore, you will the viewer to go to the window, open it, stick out his head and yell...well, you know the rest."

"Your support and loyalty ultimately required that I keep going," he said to viewers, whom he thanked along with his staff. He called Tim Russert "my greatest protector and the most indefatigable cheerleader."

Here is what Olbermann said on the show this evening.

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When the new Miss America, Theresa Scanlan, rang the opening bell of NASDAQ earlier this week, standing right along with her was someone familiar in Hollywood circles: Sam Haskell.

The former worldwide head of television for William Morris, Haskell has been spending the past few years laying the groundwork for a potential foray into politics and, a bit unexpectedly, serving as chairman of the Miss America Organization, the 90-year-old pageant that has been challenged to stay relevant in a pop landscape heavy in attitude and American Idol.

"The Miss America pageant is a slice of Americana," says Haskell, backstage at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas, just minutes before showtime. "It is the only thing left that can create a star out of a Kansas farm girl or a Mississippi belle. It is the only thing that still, on one night, changes someone's life forever."

Six years ago, after he resigned from William Morris, his wife, Mary, a former Miss Missippippi who competed in the pageant in 1977, encouraged him to join the board. He only intended to serve a year, but that soon changed when the chairman was ousted and Haskell was elected to the top spot. He does it pro bono, but it is a full-time job.

At the time, not only was the pageant competing against the onslaught of reality TV, but it had lost its spot on a broadcast network, and instead was picked up by Country Music Television.

After landing better placement in the past few years on TLC, Haskell last year helped secure a three-year deal that had the pageant back on a major network, ABC. By wrangling sponsors like DSW, Amway and American Signature Furniture and others, "we bought the time and had the money to produce the show."

President Obama appeared at the Kennedy Center tonight to speak at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's inauguration, with an event featuring Paul Simon (singing "The Sounds of Silence"), Yo-Yo Ma, Terrence McNally, and Herbie Hancock, as well as Morgan Freeman reading excerpt from his speeches during a performance of a new work by Peter Lieberson called, "Remembering JFK: An American Elegy."

The Kennedy Center has posted an audio mini-documentary on arts in the White House during the Kennedy years. "More concerts, ballets and operas were staged inside the White House for President and Mrs. Kennedy than ever had been before or ever have been since," the center says. Richard Dreyfuss narrates, and the highlight is excerpts from cellist Pablo Casals' Nov. 13, 1961 concert at the White House, above.

It's called Journopalooza --- and the superlative surely must live up to the promise. On Friday, seven bands, all made up of current and former hacks of the trade, will perform at the National Press Club in Washington to raise money for Reporters Without Borders, CPJ Journalist Assistance Program and the Eric Friedheim National Journalism Library.

The organizers have sent over an exclusive link to a promotional video, featuring the voice of Rich Edson, correspondent for Fox Business Network, and brief appearances by Reuters congressional correspondent Andy Sullivan, Deputy US Trade Representative Christina Sevilla, Washington Post's cartoonist Tom Toles, and Reuters TV producer Kat Jackson.

With today marking the 50th anniversary of the start of John F. Kennedy's presidency, Vanity Fair has posted Todd Purdum's retrospective on the inauguration and, a night earlier, a gala organized by Frank Sinatra.

Purdum writes, "Fifty years on, the sheer glamour of Kennedy’s inauguration, the sense of possibility and promise in the winter air, and the striking, even shocking youth of the principal players still shine bright in the country’s collective consciousness, in the yellowing letters and telegrams at the Kennedy Library, and in the memories of the dwindling band of people who were there. “It was really a generation-changing event,” remembers Newt Minow, the young Chicago lawyer who came to Washington on the train with his wife, Jo, and their friends Sargent and Eunice Shriver, Kennedy’s brother-in-law and sister, ready to assume the chairmanship of the Federal Communications Commission (and ready, too, barely four months later, to pronounce television programming “a vast wasteland”)."

The pre-inaugural gala included Tony Curtis, Gene Kelly, Leonard Bernstein, Tony Curtis, Bette Davis, Ethel Merman, Harry Belafonte, Laurence Olivier and Nat King Cole --- to name just a few. Sinatra sang "You Make Me Feel So Young," and a customized version of "That Old Black Magic."

That ol’ Jack magic had them in his spell
That old Jack magic that he weaved so well
The women swooned, and seems a lot of men did, too
He worked a little like I used to do.

Missing from the group: Sammy Davis, who, according to Purdum, was forbidden to come because of the controversy over his interracial marriage to May Britt.

The entire gala was taped, it was of such a poor quality that it was never broadcast. But this week the John F. Kennedy Library posted some restored footage of the event --- which, you will see, was a pretty remarkable moment.

At a concert to raise money for the legal fund to overturn Proposition 8, Elton John earned multiple standing ovations for classics like "Bennie and the Jets," "Rocket Man" and "Levon," but the biggest cheers were reserved for what he said just before performing his final song of the evening.

"As a gay man. I think I have it all," he said. "I have a wonderful career. A wonderful life. I have my health. I have a partner of 17 years and I have a son. And you know what, I don't have everything, because I don't have the respect of people like the church, and people like politicians who tell me that I not worthy or that I am 'less than' because I am gay. Well, fuck you...."

The hundreds in the crowd stood and cheered wildly, before he went on: "We deserve the respect, equality, the right to be recognized as a human being. Until we are, then we have to do these kind of events. We have to fight the good fight and we will win this fight."

The event at the sprawling Beverly Hills estate of Ron Burkle raised more than $3 million for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, making it one of the biggest recent political fund-raising events  in Los Angeles.

Those present included stars like Matthew Morrison, Adam Lambert and Jane Lynch, singer Jason Mraz, director Gus Van Sant, producers Norman Lear and Lawrence Bender, Disney's Rich Ross and, reflecting the presence of Ted Olson and David Boies as lead attorneys on the case, politicos from both sides of the spectrum. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman also were there, as were Julian Bond, Dolores Huerta and Dennis and Judy Sheperd.

Speaking of Olson and Boies, John said, "It is so wonderful to see two people of different political views actually get on, and believe in the same thing, and that is what this country needs more of."

The foundation is hoping to raise millions for the case, which could be slowed by a recent effort by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to clear up a critical procedural matter. The appellate judges are asking that the California Supreme Court clarify whether the proponents of Prop 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state, have standing to appeal U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's decision. Walker ruled in August that the initiative was unconstitutional.

"Our goal is not just to win the case, but when that happens, people of the United States will say, 'But of course, that had to happen,'" Olson told the crowd.

A goal has been a showdown in the Supreme Court, and Boies quipped, "Ted Olson and I have this agreement. I'll get the four justices I won in Bush v. Gore, and Ted will get the other five, and we are going to win this case 9-0."

Wearing a long tuxedo coat, John performed at a piano with synthesizer. Watching him was his partner David Furnish, and although they have a civil union, John noted they are unable to marry in Britain and in California.

"It seems ridiculous we can have a young son but we cannot have a marriage," John said. "It's crazy."

Rob Reiner, who with Chad Griffin originally hatched the idea to pursue the case, emceed, and told the crowd, "We are putting the last piece of the civil rights puzzle into place...Years from now, people are going to look back and say, 'What was that all about?'"

In its size and scope, the event was in contrast to a fund-raiser that Burkle hosted for the No on 8 campaign in the weeks before the November election. Although it raised more than $1 million, it didn't draw the diversity of donors from the entertainment and political worlds. A testament to that came when Bruce Cohen, one of the foundation's board members who is also co-producing this year's Oscars, took out a piece of paper and started thanking a long list of co-hosts, like Steve Bing, David Geffen and J.J. Abrams.

"On Tuesday I am going to be begging the Oscar nominees not to take out a piece of paper and read a list of names, and look what I am doing," Cohen said.

Update: There was one self-critical moment during John's concert, when he talked of the government's lack of response to the AIDS crisis. He had yet to go public with his sexuality, and he said, "The American government was AWOL,” he said. “And I was AWOL. It was a disgrace, and I was a disgrace as well.”

Photos: Alex Berliner, via AFER.

John's playlist is below:

Jackie Chan, Vera Wang, Bob Iger and Willow Bay, Anna Wintour, Christiane Amanpour, Barbra Streisand, B.D. Wong, Herbie Hancock and James Brolin are among the celebrities attending tonight's White House state dinner for Chinese president Hu Jintao. Also present: Wendi Murdoch, although her husband Rupert was traveling, she said, and could not make it.

According to the pool report, Chan arrived with a big SLR camera, which he gave to his date before talking to a line of press. "I just want to take some photo," he said.

Jon Huntsman, U.S. ambassador to China, was asked if he plans to run for the Republican nomination in 2012: "We're loyal to our country and our president." Earlier, President Obama responded to a question on whether Huntsman would run. "I'm sure the fact that he's worked so well with me will be an asset in any Republican primary," he said sarcastically.

Update: Asked by a member of the press why she was invited, Streisand deadpanned, "I worked in a Chinese restaurant."

The Writers Guild of America West has studied the government conditions placed on the Comcast and NBC Universal combination and have found them insufficient.

They released a statement this morning: "After a thorough review of yesterday’s announcements by the FCC and DOJ, the WGAW disagrees with their decisions approving the Comcast-NBCU merger. Even with the conditions placed on the merger by the FCC and the DOJ, we believe this merger is anti-competitive and is not in the public interest or the interests of our members. The WGAW remains committed to joining with other organizations and individuals to continue the fight for an open Internet, independent production, and diversity of voices in all media.”

Their sister guild, the Writers Guild of America East, also opposes the government's approval, although they were a bit more biting in their criticism of the deal.

The founder of the Peace Corps, who died today at 95, was "one of the great underappreciated figures of modern American history," writes Scott Stossel, his biographer.

Stossel, deputy editor of the Atlantic, says that his record, which included leading Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty programs, presiding over the Paris peace talks in Vietnam and helping his wife, Eunice Shriver, found the Special Olympics, was due in large part to a question he would ask himself frequently. It was What have I done to improve the lot of humanity?.

He writes, "For me, exposure to Shriver was a revelation. I grew up in the shadow of Vietnam, Watergate, the hostage crisis, stagflation, oil crises, impeachment, and later 9/11 and the War on Terror. Public service, for my generation, often seems to be a hollow or futile thing. It can be hard even to say the words "make the world a better place" without having them stick in your throat, so hopelessly naïve and lacking in irony do they sound.

"For Shriver's generation, their experience of government and of public service was much different. They saw the New Deal help lift millions from Depression; they saw the Allies defeat Totalitarianism; they saw the post-War boom, the Civil Rights movement, and America put a man on the moon, just like JFK said we would. So much that he'd seen and done had instilled in him the faith that public service could be a powerful and positive force; so little that I've seen has conveyed that."

Shriver was the father of Maria Shriver and father-in-law of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was Schwarzeneggerwho , Stossel notes, gave Shriver a pair of authentic lederhosen which he was prone to wear.

Shriver also was in charge of the search for the "best and the brightest" that staffed President John F. Kennedy's administration. (By the way, Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's inauguration.)

Here's a segment from MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell," featuring clips from the documentary "American Idealist" and a short interview with George McGovern, who tapped Shriver as his running mate in his presidential bid in 1972.

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Update: Sean Smith, bureau chief for Entertainment Weekly, has resigned to join the Peace Corps as a volunteer in South Africa. Via LAObserved is his Daily Beast piece on what made him decide to make such a bold move. It was an interview with Angelina Jolie. She told him, “You know, we all go through stages in our life where we feel lost, and I think it all comes down to having a sense of purpose. When I was famous for just being an actress, my life felt very shallow. Then when I became a mom and started working with the U.N., I was happy. I could die and feel that I’d done the right things with my life. It’s as simple as that.”

Comcast won government approval for its merger with NBC Universal, but critics were at the ready to characterize regulators' conditions as mere window dressing.

They were led by FCC commissioner Michael Copps, the sole vote of dissent against the transaction. In a lengthy statement, he said that the merger "opens the door to the cable-ization of the open Internet. The potential for walled gardens, toll booths, content prioritization, access fees to reach end users, and a stake in the heart of independent content production is now very real."

One of the most vocal critics on Capitol Hill was Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who once worked with NBC on the series "Lateline" and was a regular on "Saturday Night Live." He called the government approval a "tremendous disappointment."

"By approving this merger, the FCC may have just given a green light to AT&T and Verizon to pursue similar mergers with ABC/Disney or CBS/Viacom," he said. "But, this does not mean the fight is over. A growing number of Americans stand behind me ready to fight any further media consolidation of this kind."

One the other side of the political spectrum, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, saw the FCC's list of conditions as heavy handed.

He said, "We are glad Comcast can now get back to doing business and creating jobs, but the price of doing so should not be coerced compliance with the heavy-handed tactics of an overreaching FCC. The FCC’s efforts to circumvent both the free market and courts by railroading job- and investment-harming net neutrality provisions, as well as regulation of nascent Internet-distributed video, represent more of a Chicago-style shakedown than the thoughtful deliberation this transaction deserved.  We will be examining whether changes in the FCC’s transaction review process are needed as we exercise congressional oversight in the weeks to come."

The Writers Guild of America, East released this statement: “The Writers Guild of America, East is disappointed by the FCC’s approval of the joint venture between Comcast and NBC Universal. We consistently have opposed this action because entertainment and news media already are too consolidated; too few multinational mega-corporations control what people watch on television and in movie theaters. The Comcast/NBCU deal is particularly frightening because it brings together one of the largest internet service and cable TV providers with one of the largest content providers.  Without strong and meaningful safeguards, the economics of the deal virtually mandate that Comcast/NBCU will discriminate in favor of its own content and leave writers and other independent members of the creative community out in the cold. This will impact not only entertainment programming but the diversity of news and public affairs voices so vital to a democracy.

"We applaud Commissioner Copps for his opposition to the deal as approved.  While we also appreciate that the FCC has conditioned its approval on a number of commitments made by Comcast and NBCU, with all due respect, we think these conditions simply make the venture a little less disastrous.  Time will tell if writers and other creators will be squeezed out of the internet, and if a small handful of powerful entities continue to control what people watch. “

There is now a debate over the debate over the Kennedy legacy.

Ever since History channel dropped "The Kennedys," the prevailing wisdom has been that, despite the cable channel's explanation, the real reason was that Caroline Kennedy pressured ABC, which then pressured corporate half-sibling A&E, into dropping it. Kennedy had leverage: a book deal with Disney imprint Hyperion that was based on interviews her mother gave to historian Arthur Schlesinger in 1964.

The New York Post today elaborated on how it all went down, going so far as to charge that Kennedy "blackmailed" ABC into exterting pressure to drop the project.

But the New York Times on Tuesday has a different take, one right in line with History's explanation for dropping the project at the last minute. Two prominent historians, Steven Gillon and Robert Dallek, were brought in after concerns were raised about the project's historical accuracy last year, based on a leaked early draft of a script. Scenes were cut, but not enough for Gillon and Dallek to say that it meant the channel's standards. History's governing board voted to pull the plug.

Dave Itzkoff writes that "people familiar with the discussions of the History board say that when it convened at the end of 2010, its unease about the accuracy of “The Kennedys” was more than sufficient to turn it against the project."

As I have written before, what is interesting is how many Kennedy projects surfaced in the 1980s and 90s, some with questionable accuracy, but generated little attention from principals. Depending on where it lands in the U.S., if it does at all, the controversy surely will help it.

Disney co-owns A&E, but they have experience at political hot button projects. In 2006, "Path to 9/11" stirred up past Clinton administration officials, who criticized its portrayal of their response (or non response) to terrorism. ABC ran the miniseries, but with last-minute edits, a disclaimer and without commercials.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is eyeing three scripts, including a World War II action movie that would be similar to "With Wings As Eagles."

That's what he said in an interview with the Austrian newspaper The Krone, according to Variety's Justin Kroll. He writes, "New pic revolves around an aging German soldier ordered to kill a young POW group, who decides instead to usher the group past enemy lines to safety."

But Schwarzenegger also seems realistic about the marketplace. "Throwing myself around the room and shooting people is no longer in there," he said.

To a certain extent, he's going to have to find ways to continue to capture maximum exposure in a fractured news environment, particularly if he is going to continue to press environmental issues and political reform.

In a Parade excerpt from his book "My Father at 100," Ron Reagan suggests that his father may have been in the early stages of Alzheimer's during his term as president.

Three years into Reagan's first term, in 1984, the younger Reagan writes that he had the "first shivers of concern that something beyond mellowing was affecting my father." He cited the first presidential debate he had with Walter Mondale, "when he floundered his way through his responses. He looked tired and bewildered."

But Reagan rebounded in the next debate, when he delivered the famous line, "I would never exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

Ron Reagan, however, says that the circumstances of Alzheimer's make it almost certain that his father was in the early stages during his terms in office.

He writes, "Does this delegitimize his presidency? Only to the extent that President Kennedy's Addison's disease and Lincoln's clinical depression undermine theirs. Better to judge our presidents by what they actually accomplish than what hidden factors may be weighing on them. We are entitled to approve or disapprove of my father's conduct in office irrespective of his medical condition. That likely condition, though, serves as a reminder that when we elect presidents, we elect human beings with all their foibles and weaknesses. I find something courageous in my father's dedicated pursuit -- even in the face of his declining powers -- of peaceful rapprochement with the Soviet Union, the world's other nuclear superpower, throughout his second term. He never stopped wanting to save the world."

The Walt Disney Co. is expressing concerns about Comcast and NBC Universal matchup.

A studio lobbyist, Susan L. Fox, spoke on Tuesday with two advisers to FCC commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, a Republican, to talk about conditions that could be placed on the merger regarding online video.

The FCC is mulling so-called "program access" conditions that would require Comcast to provide its video content to competitors. It could affect the exclusivity of content on Hulu, which is jointly owned by NBC U, Disney and News Corp.

According to FCC documents, Fox "expressed concern with any merger condition that may be dependent on or that would affect the marketplace negotiations of independent third parties."

The media congloms only recently have officially weighed in with the FCC on the transaction. Viacom reps have met several times to express their concerns that the merger would diminish independent programming. Time Warner chairman Jeff Bewkes spoke with FCC chairman Julius Genachowski on Tuesday, and they talked about online video. Bewkes "also reiterated the importance of such models evolving in a way that supports the creation of high quality programming."

Comcast is launching a video-on-demand service commemorating the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's presidency.

The on-demand channel, which launches on Friday, will feature famous speeches, newsreels, presidential debates, campaign commercials and documentaries. It's being produced with the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, which today unveiled an online digital archive on its website.

Kennedy was inaugurated almost 50 years ago --- Jan. 20, 1961.

Meanwhile, Showtime has rejected offers to pickup a less laudatory version of Camelot, the miniseries "The Kennedys" that was dropped last week by the History channel. I expect that the project will land on some outlet in the United States, but options are dwindling. 

Networks appear to have a bigger stomach for the more laudatory aspects of the Kennedy legend, not the salacious ones, and even after many other less-the-flattering projects aired in the 80s and 90s when many of the principles from that era were still alive.

A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that journalists risk losing their privilege to shield notes and outtakes from subpeonas if they fail to maintain their editorial independence.

The decision involved director Joe Berlinger and his 2009 documentary “Crude,” which chronicled Ecuadoran residents’ class action suit against Chevron over enviromental damage to a rainforest region of the country.

Chevron had sought for 600 hours outtakes from the movie, and Berlinger already has turned over a substantial amount of footage under a previous order, but the filmmaker argued that he was protected by journalistic privilege.

The three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said that “while freedom of speech and of the press belongs to virtually anyone who intends to public anything (with a few narrow exceptions), all those who intend to publish do not share an equal entitlement to the press privilege from compelled disclosure.”

The appellate judges upheld U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s denying Berlinger press privilege, citing instances they say raise doubts about his independence: Steve Donziger, counsel for the Ecuadoran residents suing Chevron, solicited Berlinger to make the documentary. And Berlinger removed a scene from the final version of the project at the request of the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

It may always be remembered for the unexpected news he delivered --- "Gabby opened her eyes for the first time" --- but here's a key line: "If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost.  Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle. The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives, to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. 

"And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, it didn't, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud."

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The cheers in the Tucson auditorium, filled with University of Arizona college students, jarred me at first. When Obama took the lectern, his tone somber, it was even annoying to hear the pep-rally like cheers start at his paused. But as his speech turned more hopeful, personalizing the lives of the victims and tying them to the goodness of the American character, the setting was fitting. We have pre-conceived notions of what a "memorial" speech should be, particularly from a politician.

Instead, Obama delivered something different, more spiritual speech that related to lives fulfilled with families and friends rather than material accomplishment, politics or policy. In so doing he tapped into the collective reaction to shooting victims, missed in so much of the debate, and the debate over the debate, afterward. He said, "We recognize our own mortality and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth or status or power or fame -- but rather, how well we have loved and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others."

Artist Shepard Fairey and the Associated Press have "agreed in principle" to settle their legal battle over Fairey's use of an AP photo to make the iconic Barack Obama "HOPE" poster.

Financial terms are confidential, but the sides will now be in business together.

The AP released this statement: "In settling the lawsuit, the AP and Mr. Fairey have agreed that neither side surrenders its view of the law. Mr. Fairey has agreed that he will not use another AP photo in his work without obtaining a license from the AP. The two sides have also agreed to work together going forward with the Hope image and share the rights to make the posters and merchandise bearing the Hope image and to collaborate on a series of images that Fairey will create based on AP photographs. The parties have agreed to additional financial terms that will remain confidential."

Fairey's statement: “I am pleased to have resolved the dispute with the Associated Press. I respect the work of photographers, as well as recognize the need to preserve opportunities for other artists to make fair use of photographic images. I often collaborate with photographers in my work, and I look forward to working with photos provided by the AP’s talented photographers.”

Fairey had contended that his use of the photo was a "fair use," while the AP contended that it was not. Legal observers had been looking to the case to further define "fair use," a center of contention in copyright circles.

AP's copyright infringement suit against Obey Clothing, which marketed HOPE apparel, continues.

I'd run a screen shot of the HOPE poster --- but that's probably not a good idea in these circumstances. If you don't know what it is, you can see it here.

Updated

Her carefully constructed message, posted on Facebook this morning, is about "America's enduring strength," but it may always be known as the "blood libel" speech.

Sarah Palin: "America's Enduring Strength" from Sarah Palin on Vimeo.

Her most controversial line: "Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn."

As could be expected, her statement is generating passioned debate on all fronts. Howard Kurtz, who earlier wrote that it was "unfair" to connect her rhetoric to the shootings, writes that instead of delivering a message of unity she "chose to throw kerosene on the embers of a smoldering national controversy."

As for the tone of political rhetoric, Palin defends the passion of debate. “We will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults.”

But isn't there a contradiction in arguing that the use of gun-imagery and slang is protected by the First Amendment but the media's exploration of the hostile political environment in which the shootings occurred, even if irresponsible, is somehow "blood libel"?

This morning I was reminded of this speech, from Robert Kennedy, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. It's chronicled in the wonderful documentary "A Ripple of Hope," and it's inspirational and ironic in showing how a leader can, under the most trying of circumstances, find words that heal.

Update: Michael Scherer of Time says that in response to the "blood liberl" comment, "ideological tribes will retreat to their clubhouses."

He writes, "Liberals attack the viciousness of some right-wing rhetoric, while conservatives attack the viciousness of the liberal charge of guilt-by-association. Everyone puts on more tribal war paint. The ensuing noise is so deafening that the nation is once again pushed to the brink of missing the point: That we stand remarkably united against this sort of violent insanity. That the vast majority of us don't want the killings to be turned into yet another reason to draw the us-versus-them battle lines--even though Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck and others, can't help themselves, apparently for professional reasons."

New York Times columnist David Brooks chided the media for making the "extremely murky" link between political rhetoric and actual violence. Jon Stewart says "you don't know what a troubled mind will get caught on." And conservative radio talk hosts have characterized Jared Lee Loughner as an isolated case, while their liberal critics are seizing on the tragedy for political gain.

In all of the passionate takes on what led to the tragedy, up to now relatively little attention has been paid to gun control, and just how Loughner was able to obtain a semi-automatic weapon while other institutions, like the military and his community college, raised red flags.

There are signs today that the debate is shifting. Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, plans to introduce legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official. That is a pretty broad reach if you are in a major downtown area populated by government buildings, but the details of the legislation have not been released. And even though King is a prominent Republican, we've yet to see the full lobbying strength of the National Rifle Assn. respond to the aftermath of the tragedy in Tucson.

Meanwhile, despite criticism of those who have connected the shootings to the public discourse, Pima County Sherriff Clarence Dupnik unabashedly continues to make the point. He tells CNN, "Tucson and Arizona and the rest of the country have become very divided by a lot of the rhetoric that exists, particularly over the radio waves and some TV air, which is designed, in my opinion, to inflame the public against public officials, elected officials, government and the administration. And that kind of an atmosphere, in my opinion, influences people who are not stable -- people who have troubled personalities."

But he's also critical of the culture at large --- including violence in entertainment.

"We were taught to respect authority, and parents and, basically, everything," he said. "And, in my opinion, that's one of the most basic things that has changed in our society: People don't have much respect for anything. They use foul and vulgar language. Violence is -- it fills all the movies. It's hard to watch a movie that's not filled with violence and vulgarity and sex."

Jon Stewart opened his show tonight to give a short, serious speech about the shootings in Arizona, but he didn't cite political discourse as somehow responsible for the tragedy.

"I wouldn't blame our political rhetoric any more than I would blame heavy metal music for Columbine," he said, adding that "Boy, would it be nice to draw a straight line from this horror to something tangible, because then we could convince ourselves that if we just stopped this, then the horrors will end."

"You cannot outsmart crazy," he said. "You don't know what a troubled mind will get caught on."

Stewart's comments had been highly anticipated, given that he led the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington in October. While he criticized media hyperbole at that event, he didn't cite it as a factor in the Arizona shootings.

He said, "I don't know if there is a way to make sense of this thing."

He did call for toning down the highly charged rhetoric, "if for no other reason than to draw a distinction."

"It would be really nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn"t resemble how we talk to each other on TV," he said. "Let's at least make troubled individuals easier to spot."

His full speech is here.

The National Endowment for the Arts has been referred to, in budget cutting terms, as "low-hanging fruit." In other words, it's just the type of federal program that can withstand cuts --- as happened in the mid-1990s --- without much of a political price to pay.

With the new Congress, and a drive to slash spending, even for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year, arts orgs are worried that the federal outlay for the arts will be in jeopardy.

But there's hope that 2011 won't look like 1995, the height of the culture wars, and that enough progress has been made in expanding the list of defenders of public support for the arts, whether via education or jobs or neighborhood revitalization.

"I think the arts are overcoming the image that they are something frothy and non-essential," says George Stevens Jr., co-chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Here's my story that ran in the print version of Variety over the weekend, which shows some of the ways that groups are preparing to counter the calls for across-the-board austerity.

Yul Kwon was a star on "Survivor," then a deputy chief in the FCC's consumer and governmental bureau. Now he'll host a new PBS series, "America Revealed."

Fox News chieftan Roger Ailes tells Russell Simmons that Jared Lee Loughner "just was not attached to the Tea Party" and "it's just a bullshit way to use the death of a little girl to get Fox News in an argument."

While citing cases where his opponents have put bull's eyes on his head, or where Sarah Palin was hung on the end of a rope, Ailes said, "I told all of our guys, shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually. You don't have to do it with bombast. I hope the other side does that."

The reference to "the other side," needless to say, raised eyebrows.

John Nolte of conservative site BigHollywood says that Hollywood should look at itself for the rhetoric that came out of movies and other projects during the Bush years.

He calls Hollywood "an industry that for ten long years has almost uniformly been the most hostile, vitriolic, anti-government force on the planet; spending hundreds of millions of dollars to paint an American president as a war criminal who stole an election, our CIA as a force of evil , and our troops as dehumanized monsters."

More specifically, he cites the 2006 "mockumentary" "Death of a President," which depicted the assassination of George W. Bush and received praise from critics and at the Toronto Film Festival.