Continuing the fallout from the Katie Couric CBS Evening News interview with Sen. John McCain last night, The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz has more on the answer in question.

CBS News SVP Paul Friedman said in a statement: "The report was edited under extreme time constraints and one piece of tape was put in the wrong order. Fortunately, this did not in any way distort what Senator McCain was saying."

But did the "wrong order" mean a violation of their Standards? Crooks and Liars reports the CBS News Standards (sec. 111-5 Editing, to be exact) says, "If a question to an interview subject is used, the answer must be to that specific question."

As has been made clear over the last 24 hours, that did not happen.

The New York Observer's Felix Gillette reports Redlasso (a name you probably see a lot on this site) has been sued by NBC Universal, Fox News and the Fox Television Stations group in New York today.

In May, NBC, CBS and FOX sent a cease & desist letter to Redlasso. Apparently the networks are moving forward with the lawsuit.

CBS is not part of the suit, although we noticed in the past few weeks all CBS material has been taken off the site.

On May 29, Redlasso named Michael Jordan, former chairman of CBS, senior advisor to serve as chief liaison between the networks and the company.

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	ElectionHQ:	Hume:	Shep.:	O'Reilly:	H&C:	Greta:	O'Reilly:
	202	267	269	497	438	322	299
CNN	Blitzer:	Blitzer:	Dobbs:	Brown:	King:	Cooper:	Cooper:
	123	112	249	171	282	297	239
MSNBC	Hardball:	Gregory:	Hardball:	Countdown:	Abrams:	Countdown:	Investig.:
	109	88	212	467	245	228	258
HLN	Prime:	Prime:	Beck:	Grace:	Beck:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	50	62	95	248	145	226	105

continued...

The Buffalo News reports Pres. Bush has signed into law, the renaming of a section of a western New York highway in memory of Buffalo native Tim Russert. The bill, which Congress passed overwhelmingly, renames the section of Route 20A between Abbott Road and California Road "Timothy J. Russert Highway." The section of highway is near Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of Russert's beloved Buffalo Bills.

Russert died of a massive heart attack on June 13.

President Bush signs the law renaming a section of Rt. 20A in New York in honor of Tim Russert.

What brings out MTV News, AllHipHop.com, Access Hollywood, The Colbert Report and, well, us? A Nas-led protest outside News Corp. today, home of Fox News Channel.

The hip-hop star (left) joined about 50 protesters, (less than another anti-FNC protest in 2004) from two organizations: ColorofChange.org and MoveOn.org who called on the network to, "stop its racist smears against the Obamas and other Black Americans."

Also in attendance — more than 620,000 signed petitions. Andre Banks, deputy director of Color of Change, told TVNewser the plan was to bring the boxes in one by one, but in the end, "They refused to accept the petitions. They just don't want to hear it."

The protesters stood quietly for about an hour until Nas appeared, most holding pre-made or hand-made signs. Many Fox News employees came to check out the scene, including Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld and some of the show's staff. "This is quite possibly the most boring protest ever," he told us.

But that was before Nas arrived. The hip-hop star emerged from an SUV to a flutter of cameras, made his way to the front of the protesters and gave a short speech, before heading back into the SUV.

A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, "Fox News believes in all protesters exercising their right to free speech, including Nas, who has an album to promote."

About 15 minutes after leaving, Nas returned, and he had something to say.

continued...

The first major storm of the season may have claimed two Satellite newsgathering trucks. A TVNewser tipster writes, "there have already been two sat trucks lost to the storm on South Padre. A local affiliate, and the ABC News vendor truck both damaged and out of service."

As of the 5pmET update, Dolly is now a Category 1 storm, with winds at 85mph. It came ashore around 2pmCDT as a Category 2 storm about 25 miles north of South Padre Island.

Johnny Dollar had his ear on The Radio Factor today and picked up some interesting news. Bill O'Reilly was talking about the anti-Fox News protests (which Steve just returned from, story coming up) and the accusation that Fox News is racist.

But O'Reilly let drop an interesting bit we haven't heard before:

I wouldn't work for NBC News. You know, NBC News offered me a ton of money. I don't know if I've ever said this. Have I ever said this before? They offered me a ton of money to go over there. And I said 'no.' They offered me more than I am making now at Fox. Okay. And the reason I am saying this is because now NBC News attacks me everyday. And um, I said, you know, look, 'thank you.' I was very respectful. Thank you, but you know, I think that I am better suited to Fox, more traditional and you dance with the one who brung you. Not to say that I wouldn't go someplace else. That's possible, but it would have to be a Godfather offer.

Steve's outside Fox News headquarters right now covering a protest sponsored by ColorOfChange.org and MoveOn.org. They, along with hip hop star Nas, will deliver a petition signed by 620,127 people demanding that, as a press release states, "FOX end its pattern of racist attacks against Black Americans including presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle." A full report later this afternoon.

And apparently today is the day to protest TV networks in Midtown Manhattan.

Monday night, Fox News's Greta Van Susteren got the grandmother of missing 2-year-old Caylee Anthony to go On the Record. But the woman, Cynthia Anthony, (who said she'd only gotten 45 minutes sleep in the last 48 hours) implored Van Susteren not to ask "stupid" questions.

"Just search inside yourself, you know, before you ask me a stupid question that I can't answer, please," Anthony pleaded with Van Susteren. Anthony came on the show to keep her granddaughter's story in the news and her image on the air. Van Susteren pressed on for another nine minutes asking questions about Casey Anthony, the little girl's mother, Cynthia's daughter, who is in jail for lying to police. "Let the attorneys and the detectives talk about what's going on with Casey. Let me talk about why we need to bring Caylee home," Anthony said.

The interview drew to a close as Anthony asked Van Susteren, "Help me get out the word, sweetie."

Katie Couric's CBS Evening News interview with Sen. John McCain is getting some attention, not for what was said, but for what was not said, or at least what was not used. During the Couric interview McCain confused the timeline of the U.S. troop surge.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann took up the issue last night on Countdown: "CBS curiously, to say the least, left it on the edit room floor," he said. "It aired Katie Couric's question, but in response, it aired part of McCain's answer to the other question instead."

Of the 14-minute interview, a little less than three minutes was used on the Evening News. A CBS spokesperson tells TVNewser, "As all news organizations do with extended interviews, last night's Obama and McCain interviews were edited to fit the available time and to give viewers a fair expression of the candidates' major differences. The full transcript and video were and still are available at CBSNews.com."

Cable networks MSNBC and CNN have aired segments discussing McCain's "misstep" today, while Joe Scarborough talked about the media angle of the story this morning, and had some harsh words for his fellow MSNBC host...

> Update, Joe Scarborough responds to TVNewser:

Bloggers are suggesting that I attacked Keith Olbermann this morning regarding a news story. That is simply not true.

Keith is a respected colleague who has built a large and loyal following that has been critical to the success of MSNBC. He has also been a strong supporter of my efforts here. I don't like the fact that people are misinterpreting this morning's comments.

Our network is a champion of diverse opinion. We believe America is best served by a vigorous debate in the free marketplace of ideas. That's why any suggestion that I would attack Keith is way off the mark.

continued...

Activists from the American Jewish World Service organization drowned out Al Roker as we was trying to tell viewers about Hurricane Dolly this morning. According to a press release, the group is calling on NBC "to beef up its coverage of China's complicity with the Sudanese government's genocidal campaign in Darfur as the network approaches its Beijing Olympics broadcast."

The AJWS did its own study that found NBC "has spent a mere 6 hours and 45 minutes on the genocide in Darfur since the conflict broke out in 2003." But is planning "an unprecedented 1,400 broadcast hours to the Beijing Olympic Games this August." The group also sent a letter to NBC News president Steve Capus earlier this month requesting a meeting.

But what the AJWS does not mention is the reporting done by the Today show's Ann Curry. Curry has traveled to the region twice to report for NBC News programs. MSNBC produced an hour-long special based on her reporting, and Curry was honored for her work there. So, while the coverage of the genocide in Darfur has fallen out of the American news cycle of late, the AJWS might want to make their voices heard to all the news networks, and not NBC alone.

continued...

The New York Post thinks so.

We hear that Luke Russert made such a good impression on TV viewers after his father Tim's funeral, insiders say NBC is recruiting him for its team covering the presidential election.

TVNewser readers have been wondering whether CBS News has its eye on Forrest Sawyer. The veteran newsman subbed on the CBS Evening News Saturday and Sunday nights. Insiders tell us, however, that it was most likely a one-time thing as Sawyer filled in for vacationing Russ Mitchell. Sawyer, the ABC and NBC veteran, owns his own production company which produces documentaries for a variety of outlets.

The NYObserver's Felix Gillette takes a moment from Sunday's Meet the Press, and ponders whether David Gregory has become NBC's "lame duck." Gillette observes that Gregory, NBC's long-serving White House correspondent, may not be doing himself any favors by anchoring MSNBC's Race for the White House if his true aspiration is to be the next moderator of Meet the Press. Gillette talks with several TV insiders and veterans about Gregory's future with the network:

• Ken Auletta, The New Yorker: "If you think he has real talent-and boy he does, he's a good ad-libber, he's good on his feet-you would think that NBC would think twice about building that brand before they mix news with opinion. On the other hand, if he does not develop an opinion voice, is he vanilla as an anchor on MSNBC?"

• Andrew Tyndall, the Tyndall Report: "It's not particularly good practice for Meet the Press, where you're having formal interviews with newsmakers. I don't think he ever has newsmakers on there. The function of the show is to showcase NBC's in-house political analysts. There's not much heavy lifting there for him to do. His current job is merely debriefing."

• Steve Friedman, former NBC & CBS morning show exec.: "I think David Gregory views himself as a news anchor, and I think that's where his future is. You have to choose what's open."

• Reese Schoenfeld, former CNN president: "I don't think David Gregory should waste his talents becoming an anchorman. I think he's a terrific reporter. But I don't know if he's anything more than a normal anchor guy."

Of course, it was Schoenfeld who banned a young Katie Couric from CNN's air after disapproving of her high-pitched voice.

With the 11amET advisory, Hurricane Dolly is now a Category 2 storm. This morning, the three broadcast networks led with the storm as it was coming ashore along the Texas-Mexico border. The cable networks have been reporting on Dolly's progress as well since early this morning.