howard kurtz's reliable sources. >> thanks. it's one of the oldest rituals of democracy. election officials getting an earful from the voters, but a handful of high critics at a town hall meeting on health care reform have turned out to be a magnet for the media. the meeting might be dull, but one screamer draws the cameras. you have day seen some of this footage constantly replayed on television or across the web. >> the cash for clunkers program is -- >> you're lying to me! >> that's right! >> what are you waiting for? >> i recognize a liar when i see one. >> just say no! just say no! just say no! just say no! >> when they could no longer ignore the anti--obama voters,

democrats began to dismiss them and demonize them as the hired guns of the insurance companies or brooks brothers protesters. >> when hamas does it or hezbollah does it, it's called terrorism. why should republican lawmakers and the astroturf groups be viewed any differently. >> now the press trying to unravel allegations that the republicans planted some of these protesters and counter charges that the democrats are trying to discredit legitimate dissent. joining us now to talk about the coverage is mark halpren for "time" magazine, and arthur of the blog "the page." and here in washington, anna marie cox a columnist for playboy magazine. mark, are the media playing off the loudest and angriest of these protesters to the point where it distorts what s what's

on at most of these town hall meetings? >> yes, it distorts. i'm not an advocate for any position on the president's proposal, but i think this is something you have written about and seen for years. the lowest common denominator, people taking video, which is meaningless. yes, there should be discussion. dissent is fine. i don't care why the protesters are showing up, but this is a horrible breakdown of our media culture to allow people to go in with the intent to disrupt to become the story. the biggest issue in the health care debate, things like should there be a public plan, completely ignored by all of the media and crowded it out by stunts and gimmicks. >> anna marie, mark says this is a brick down in the ne a break down in the media coverage, but they deserve to be heard, right? >> it's a wonderful expression of democracy. i'm not sure if they're

astroturfed or not myself, i think they day aren't this is the best throes of a dying republican party in this form and not sort of the start of something new. >> you have to admit, if you want to look at the media's performance here, that the media outlets and particular television are giving these critics ample air time. >> absolutely. it makes for good tv. you know, it's an arrogant position. anyone on madison avenue will tell you you don't win new consumers by insulting them. so it's really, from a business standpoint, i think a really dumb move for both the liberal media and maybe even the obama administration to start insulting and criticizing average americans who have concerns about a sweeping health care program. >> how are the liberal media insulting people by showing up -- except to the point where they are shouting down members of congress and not giving them a chance to speak. >> sure, but when keith oberman

calls them terrorists or crazy, that is dismissive and arrogant. there's a way to talk about the policies and the arguments that they're making, but the liberal media is making this very personal. they are talking about the protectors, not the protests. >> let me read a memo that we have seen in recent days. this one appeared on the website of key party patriots, giving people advice on thousand behave. you need to rock the boat early in the rep's presentation. watch for an opportunity to dwrel out and challenge the rep's statements early. the goal is to rattle him and goat him off his prepared script and agenda. if he says something outrageous, stand up, shout out and sit right back down. mark, you said you don't care why people are showing up, but there seems like there's an effort here by some in the media to say this is all being ginned up by the right wing and it doesn't mean much.

>> i could careless why they're there. of course we want a full debate. we want people who have dissenting views to have a full hearing, that's not what this is about. that's not the intent of most of these people. it's not the way the press is covering it. we're having a freak show display because there's video on youtube to talk about the protests, say, in what cities they occurred in, to show the most violent disruptions. there needs to be a debate in america on whether we should have universal health care. there needs to ab debate on the president's ideas. if these protesters have ideas, great. let's hear them. if they are just stunts to cause disruption, again, i think it's bad for the country. whether you want the president's plan or not. >> just stunts? we love stunts in the media. >> i love stunts. i don't agree with what -- the kind of things the protesters are saying, but i'm appalled that mark is calling it something other than what it s which is a raw democracy i think that give us time, we will start ignoring these people. much as we ignore code pink now.

this is really interesting n one way, which being in the minority, having an unpopular stance forced the republican party into saul-insky tactics. >> you have protesters, and then you have to decide do you give them a paragraph or do they hijack the story? let me show you footage of a town hall meeting in tampa, this was on thursday night where employees showed up, a lot of people couldn't get in. it was a big shouting match. >> let me turn to you. what we have now playing out on the media battlefield is a fight for the control of the images, and right now the media seems to be conveying a sense that much of america is rising up against the obama health plan. >> when they're covering it at all. like we saw with the tee paa

parties, if you read the "new york times," they just didn't happen. when these are covered by the liberal media, they're covered by a bias way. as someone who writes about liberal stereotypes against republicans a lot, usually republicans are called crazy or stupid. now the worst indictment i can find here is is that they're organized. it's a sort of, you know, interesting and almost desperate paranoid-sounding attack. >> on the other hand you can't blame the media if some protesters seem overly angry or confused. >> also, it's novel to have republicans act this way. that's one of the reason why this is getting so much coverage. we are not used to seeing republicans take on, as i said, these tactics. >> if democrats had shown up to be angry or perhaps -- >> have you seen -- >> meetings during the bush administration that would not be as news worthy? >> i don't think it wouldn't be treated as news worthy. in the media, because it's novel to have the republicans behave

in this way, that that's why we're covering it. if this becomes common place, we'll stop doing it. >> let me turn to the role that president obama is playing. he, of course, on tv all the time, particularly talking about health care, among other issues. the question is starting to be asked about whether we are seeing too much of the president of the salesman in chief. let's roll a montage we put together about some of his appearances in recent months. >> i do think in washington it is a little bit like "american idol" except everybody is simon cowell. >> you know, commander in chief i hereby order you to shave that man's head. >> five guys. >> that's where we're going. >> wow. >> look, the -- >> i hate to say this, my brother-in-law is in the pac-10 now, but the pac-10 is looking weak this year. >> we have jim wright over there. >> the world is a better place for the world you create on sesame street. >> mark, is the president out there a bit too much? are the media complicit?

every program wants to put him on including, apparently, "sesame street." >> he's a great content provider. he will continue to do it. i think it's a relatively meaningless debate in the sense that he won't stop. he is a fantastic performer and his consistency is extraordinary. unlike past presidents, even in the case of reagan, when barack obama goes out, he generally hits his mark. now, he can go 99% out of 100, but that 1%, it is a problem. >> at that press conference, he spent 40 minutes talking about health care and didn't make any news. if he's going to be giving all these interviews, prime time press conferences, speeches, is there a point where there's diminishing returns? >> for them or us? if he is being covered too much, stop covering him.

but he keeps doing stuff, they keep putting him out there. if the president does it, it is news. he said the cambridge cops behaved stupidly. he didn't call the cops stupid. >> yes, if the president makes speeches or news conference, of course we're all going to cover it. behind the scenes executives and producers are clamoring to get the president to appear with katie and meredith and everybody else. >> and i think they'll stop doing that. these things, as with the coverage of the protesters, they'll stop doing that when he stops getting the ratings. >> ah, the media, in which you insist on calling the liberal media, are more hungry for appearances by this president than president bush. >> yeah, he rates. but at the same time this is a deprecating currency. we make fun of hollywood celebrities like harris hilton or lindsay lohan because they are overexposed and end up

losing credibility. i'm not comparing president obama to them -- >> glad you clarified that. >> but the more he goes out with these beer summits, jay leno, ball games this is war time this is not an economic boom time. i think the american public wants to see a serious president. as someone who may criticize his policies, he is still my president. i would like to see him get serious, too. >> i totally agree with that point. >> you totally agree with that point. thanks for clarifying that. thank you for joining us, with this morning. when we come back, the white house launches a video counterattack after the drudge report features clips of president obama singing a different tune on health reform. linda douglass joins us next. and we've been asking people on the street what they think of the first 200 days of the obama administration and also the question of what they think about the media. let's show you some of that. >> they really like the president right now. i think the republicans have

kind of gotten little attention. >> i think the media has been inconsistent. it's hard to decipher what's true from what is not. >> you're the media, to be honest, d minus. the media takes everything that is a small nugget and makes it into a nightly news story. geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 70 years. and who doesn't want value for their dollar? been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it? umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

when a website posted a video of some of barack obama's past comments on health care it was trumpeted by the drudge report which boosted it into mainstream media, but the president, rather than ignoring the thing, decided to take it

on. linda douglass got into this with her own video. we'll show you part of the attack video and then the white house response. >> my commitment is to make sure we have universal health care. i would hope that we set up a system that allows those who can't go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort. there's going to be potentially some transition process. i can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out. >> hi, i'm linda douglass, communications director for the white house of health reform, one of my jobs is to keep track of the disinformation out there about health insurance reform. there are a lot of deceiving he headlines, such as this one. this one says uncovered video, obama explains how his health care plan will eliminate private

insurance. >> and joining us now to talk about the white house media strategy is linda douglass, welcome. why did you decide to take on mat drudge and put up that video? >> one of the things we learned during the campaign is that if you give people all the facts, they become better informed. there were all kinds of myths and smears used against senator obama during the campaign. we discovered if we encountered them with real facts, people understand what the truth is when they seek it. this was a bunch of clips taken out of context with a headline that said the president wants to eliminate private insurance. that's the absolute opposite. >> when you say taken out of context that video featured clips of president obama before he was president, the dates were given. it was his own words. >> you can take a sound bite here, sound bite there. they took pieces of sound bites from different periods of time, put a chyron on a screen that

says wants to eliminate private insurance, and our point is that he is saying exactly the opposite. the health insurance reform we're talking about is built upon the current private insurance system. that's what it is. >> right that is not his current plan, so you can say it misrepresented or suggested -- >> it is clearly -- >> apparently he did have a different position when he was senator. >> he didn't have a different position. >> what do you mean? first he talked about single payers, years ago. then making a transition over 10 or 15 years to fully government insurance. >> what he talked about early on, look, if he could start over all again, maybe it would be fine to have a single payer insurance. there is legislation that is built upon the private insurance system. if you like the coverage you have at work, you can keep it. it doesn't change except you're protected from ownious insurance

regulations. >> this woman behind this naked emperor website is pam kish, she is not affiliated with a large or political group. doesn't she have the right to speak out? >> of course she does. we have the right to correct the information. one thing we'll do this week is making available a website where people can go to get the facts about health insurance reform. there's a lot of misinformation, and as i said in the video, a lot of disinformation, information meant to mislead you. we will have a new site where people can go, get the facts, share it with family and friends. look at some videos. we'll have fact sheets and make it possible for people to get the answers to the questions they're seeking. >> i'm still skeptical on whether using someone's actual words is disinformation, but another thing that the white house did in recent days that is drawing flack from the right is asking people, in this effort by you to collect what you had called disinformation, to send

in e-mails, those of perhaps who are not representing adequately the president's health care. that was talked about on a number of factors, including "the o'reilly factor" here is bill o'reilly talking about this effort. >> i'm really glad you used the word hypocrisy that runs through all of this yesterday somebody in the obama administration, linda douglass, who i know and i think you know, said that if you have any fishy -- her words, fishy information, misleading information about obama's health care plan, send it to us at the white house. >> he went on to say if the bush administration had tried this t would be a page one scandal story in the "new york times." >> as i said before, there's a tremendous amount of misinformation, disinformation, myths, rumors being circulated all over the place for people trying to scare -- this happens every time you try to do something with the health care system. there's tons of special interests who have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are.

there's effort to scare people what we asked people do is if they're worried about something they heard, send in the information. we don't have a list. we're not keeping the sources of information. >> you are not keeping -- why is it crazy? republican senator john cornyn asked the white house to stop this. >> the information is not being retained. the sources are not tracked if there's a rumor going around, as there have been many rumors going around, we say let's take a look at the rumor and see what the truth is. the information is all around, examined, looked at. we provide the truth for people on a website that i think they will find helpful as they try to get the truth about health care reform. >> what did you get from rush limbaugh saying the health care logo looks like a russian swastika? >> i don't know what to say about that. americans are suffering under the rising costs of health care, they are paying 30% more out of pocket than they did, it's threatening their jobs, they are

being denied health coverage. >> we're debating that. >> trying to discuss that in a civil way is extremely important. >> you were a journalist for three decades, you worked for abc, cbs, you were a guest on this program many times. is it uncomfortable to be pushing an administration line on health care on people who were your former colleagues. >> you mean trying to promote, advocate on behalf of health insurance reform is a gratifying thing to do. this is the country's greatest need. they have been waiting for decades -- >> if you were still a journalist you would be sitting in this seat asking the questions i am. instead you're a saleswoman. >> it's something all of us in the administration believe deeply. as a journalist i covered the last effort to try to bring health insurance reform to the country. i saw how the special interests crushed the effort and the people have seen their health insurance premiums double. >> you had a long standing

interest in this. >> i have a longstanding interest in this. >> 13 journalists have joined the obama administration. some people are saying you are all a bunch of closet liberals waiting for a democratic administration so you can cross over. >> as you know, i retired from abc news back in the end of '05, and i joined the obama campaign last year because i wanted to be an advocate for his candidacy and privileged to help with this effort. it's a different stage in life, a different career, but i'm gratified to be able to do it. >> linda douglass, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> bill clinton brings back two journalists from north korean captivity and the media talks about the clintons marriage? and does laura ling and euna lee bear some responsibility for what happened? >> and restrictions on what some

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i think i'll go with the basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. i'm john king this is ask the state of the union." a strong earthquake struck off the south coast of japan it was measured at 7.1. japanese media say the quake jolted tokyo and wide areas of eastern japan no immediate reports of damages or injuries. a tsunami warning was not issue. crews are reforming their search for victims of an air collision in new york. nine people are believed to have died when a small plane and tourist helicopter crashed yesterday over the hudson. this morning divers recovered what appeared to be a fourth

victim. three bodies were pulled from the water yesterday. president obama leave force mexico this afternoon for a summit of north american leaders, he will meet with the leaders of mexico and canada. high on the agenda, strategies to contain the h1n1 flu virus. that and more ahead on "state of the union." now let's turn things over to howard kurtz. >> thank you very much, john. they were journalists far from home, arrest bayed rogue regime, sentenced to hard labor. when laura ling and euna lee returned from north korea this week, under a deal brokered by bill clinton, it was one of those highly emotional tv moments, but the workers had not been a high profile affair. only once when lisa ling made the rounds on her sister's behalf. >> all we can say is that they -- they are journalists, and they were doing their job. my sister has been a journalist

for years. >> reporter: this week, as the cameras rolled and the world looked on, the two journalists were reunited with their families. >> we saw standing before us president bill clinton. we were shocked. but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. >> but there was an irresistible story line for the media. bill was back. he was in the spotlight and hillary wasn't. and what did this mean for president obama's foreign policy? >> a big victory for the u.s., but is the former president upstaging his wife? >> does former president bill clinton going to north korea, does it in any way upstage president obama at all? >> there is something iconic about big bill clinton, in a way

he's his own thanksgiving day float. >> was his presence in north korea and his face to face meeting with kim jong-il the propaganda victory that north korea was looking for and was a quid pro quo likely exchanged for the journalists release? >> has the coverage been responsible or a pretext to feed our fascination with the clinton? joining us now is julie nathan from the white house examiner, terrance smith from pbs news hour, and kimberly dozer, who covered national security issues at the white house and pentagon. shy mention the last time i talked to that you you wrote a book last year, my wife spent a few weeks working on publicity for that book. julie mason what is this enduring fascination, even in this international context with the bill and hillary soap opera? they are cat nip, so interesting, when he got involved in the story it just blew up. he brought it to a conclusion, so it did become news, but you're right, there's something

about the clinton's involvement in it that makes it better. >> you have clinton undertaking this delicate rescue mission. he doesn't even speak when he brings the journalists home. some are saying there he goes again, hogging the limelight. >> imagine, bill clinton didn't have anything to say? >> was the news. >> that was the news. he conducted himself very well. it's interesting that all the fears on the -- at the outset of the administration that bill clinton would be this loose canon, rolling around the world exploiting his situation and his wife's office have proven not to be the case. >> and those fears were constantly emphasized on television or pundits saying this guy will overshadow his wife. was the media just wrong about that? up until now he has not exactly hogged the spotlight. >> what they underestimated is the obama's administration ability to use tools at its disposal. it is all a situation where the tension was ratcheting up in north korea. and it had a crisis that it

could take advantage of. it used the prestige of a former president to bring down the tone after months of nuclear tests, missile tests, this changed the atmosphere and gave the north koreans the media victory that they needed to maybe take a step back. >> was a media victory. what about the journalistic chatter about whether based on this mission, there would be a thaw in u.s./north korea relatio relations, do we know? >> the zurs saying it is not changing its tone. the six-party talks are nothing. what a lot of analysts think is that wae what we are seeing out of north korea, all of these belligerent statements, they were about bolstering the position of kim jong-il's successor. >> but this has not stopped journalists about wondering

about what might happen. >> that's their job to wonder what happens. >> there is also a comedic sub text to this. let me play a little routine from craig furgeson. >> clinton agreed to go as soon as he found out the mission was about picking up chicks. he was like, i'll go. i'll do it. i will find these young ladies and i will -- i will rescue them. >> you can't stop the comedians from doing their thing. a slightly more serious kronology here. until this rescue, these women were in north korea for almost five months this was not a front burner story for the news media, even though laura ling is a prominent journalists and there was her sister. why was that? >> they were did detention, there was nothing to report. we heard that al gore was trying to negotiate a release.

there was speculation he would go and do it. it was all happening behind the scenes, and there was nothing changing with their situation. we cover the news. when there's no news, there's not much coverage. >> it's a closed society in north korea, very little comes out about it. i looked it up, the coverage was about the same as roxanne that saberi, the woman held in iran for several months. the journalists. so it wasn't, i don't think, less than it might have been, though there always is a question in an editor's or producer's mind, is coverage helpful or hurtful for the individuals -- >> i think that might be part of the subtext here. >> not a conspiracy to -- but some delicacy. >> with all of the journalists or aide workers, et cetera, taken hostage by al qaeda, the

taliban, one thing we've learned is the more attention you give to this, the more profile you give to the hostages, and the more you strengthen the hand of the hostagetakers. that's in the back of your mind. >> there's three hikers right now being held in iraq. >> and a "newsweek" correspondent. >> exactly. >> so it's an -- it's a judgment call, i think. >> would it have been different in these had been two new yo"ne times" reporters? i don't think people know what current tv is. >> that's a good question. i don't know. >> there was a "new york times" reporter being held for months in afghanistan. we all knew. we said nothing. >> but that was an explicit agreement among news organizations, at the request of the "new york times," not to report this so as not to endanger his safety, they finally released him a few weeks ago. in this case, it wasn't like news organizations have gotten together. you have been in these countries, like iraq, where

american journalists are at risk. if you were held in north korea, would you want a lot of coverage to keep your case in the news. >> i would want back-channel negotiations. i now can see in the past how some of our coverage has played into raising the price on the head of people being held. and now it is in the back of my mind, when i get a tip, when i get a piece of video, such and so is being held. do i report it? this is what had a cumulative effect, i think for all of our editors. just like the way we all cover the military now since the start of the war in afghanistan, since the start of the war in iraq. you start getting to see behind the emerald curtain how the military works, how some of their thinking goes. >> sometimes you don't report it. >> sometimes you internalize. sometimes you go, not yet. later. will this serve the public interest by reporting it now or

is there something going on behind the scenes that will get these people out sooner. >> one other factor is the obama white house, which we now know was working hard behind the scenes was not making this a public issue. the president was not out day after day talking about it what responsibility, if any, laura ling and euna lee have for this. the following was written, lee and ling deserve to be held accountable for the unthinkably bad judgment they displayed in their preposterous and vainglorious and astoundingly naive venture. >> they did cross the border. >> i did not hear that disputed. >> i'm glad he knows what happened, but none of the rest of us do the facts aren't clear. but, sure you have a responsibility for yourself and this does raise the bar. you send a former president to bail them out. >> kimberly, they took some risks. they were out there with a

camera crew reporting on north korea. >> they did but they did this to bring attention to the plight of north korean refugees. i applaud them for taking a step back and not going straight out to the press and making themselves the story in the aftermath of their return. they're taking time to think about this and i hope and i bet they're trying to think about a way to take the focus off of them. let me tell you, it's really uncomfortable when you become the story and put it back on the original reason they went there. >> julie mason, they have responsibility, do they not, to publicly answer questions about what they were doing there? >> absolutely. but you have to wonder, is a lot of this castigation because they have gotten caught? >> did you invite them on here. >> i would be happy to have them on this program. i'll invite them on right now laura ling, euna lee, we would love to have you on. we are out of time. after the break, has twitter become scary?

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twitter may be fun, fanatical, penetrating, pointless or all the above. but is it a threat to major league sports and to sports writing itself? several nfl teams have barred players from using the social media network to communicate with fans. these guys face 300-pound linemen with shoulder pad bus have to swear off 140-character messages? and espn has issued a memo saying it's okay for employees to use twitter or facebook if they follow a detailed list of policies and prohibitions, any deviation from which could result in them being fired. joining us is will leash. you have said twitter is like your morning newspaper. how do you feel about espn

toning done your sports section by slapping all these restrictions on people. >> on the one hand i understand the idea behind it i'm sure it's day frustrating for them to sometimes pay reporters to break stories that they end up breaking on twitter. i do understand on one hand. but it's been fun for me and a lot of -- millions of fans to learn more about -- to have that interaction. it's a logical thing. you know, it's fun -- it's funny. i look at one, they are basically asking to take all the nfl stuff out now. which is strange because he talks about nicolas cage movies. >> let me read from this espn memo. this is telling the staff you are representing espn as you would in any other public forum or media. and shoe exercise disregs, thoughtfulness and respect for your colleagues. all posted content is subject to review in accordance with espn

employee policies and editorial guidelines. then it says incomplete, inaccurate, inappropriate, threatening, horacing or poorly-worded postings may be harmful to other employees, damage employee relationships, undermine espn's effort to encourage team work, violate espn policy or harm the company, which may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. now, if you got that memo, would you be careful what you write? >> it would slow me down. >> sounds like it was written by a bunch of lawyer. >> it's a shame. it was fun. it has been fun to learn the other side of this stuff. the people at espn, the talent, the on-air talent, they are grown-ups. i think -- i follow a lot of those guys. there's never been a moment where they have gone over the

top or i said they shouldn't be saying that. it seems like a preemptive strike of something that wasn't in a lot of danger of happening. here's the reaction from people on twitter. rick buicker writing this is prohibiting tweeting information unless it serves espn, and kenny manes saying it is like a taliban decree. >> it was very exciting for me to see people like bob lee who has been with espn forever, embrace this. have fun with it. from bob lee to bill simmons, the popular sports columnist who has turned twitter as a follow columnist, it's humiliating how good at it he got quick limit it's been entertaining to watch and have that happen. the dialing back of that, espn always had an idea that they are up in the castle kind of looking down at the fans.

they worked hard to try to improve on that. i think they've done that. but this is the type of thing that fans are pretty justifiable frustrated with. they had a chance to connect with people and now are lose it. >> rob king agreed to come on and talk about this, will, but we had trouble getting the shot out from bristol, connecticut. he has certainly defended this as not being a taliban-like decree, but an effort to have people be more careful about what they write. i think it's more about control. like news organizations that tell reporters who say go out and collect the news, but don't talk to any other reporters without clearing it with our pr team. what about football teams who have eliminated the twitter for their players what are they afraid of? >> i think it really is a lot about control. i think that so much of sports is based in kind of like a military idea any way, the idea that we are all one, altogether, we are all one team. no individual.

twitter is all about individuals. all about personal expression. i think, you know, it's something that teams can't control. it was easy in the past to say here's your ten minutes with this beat reporter. now all of a sudden darren williams and sha keek o'neal can say whatev shaquille o'neal can say whatever they want. i'm sure they are day tired having to have those 15-minute conversations. >> the san diego chargers have fined antonio cromartie $2,500 force writing that the training camp food was lousy. i think fans likes this glimpse of what players think, as long as they don't go haywire, don't you think? >> i do i think it's a matter of trying to control before something needs to be controlled. it shows a lack of trust in the players. the fans like this.

>> the u.s. marines are now being banned from twitter, fa facebook. will leitch, thank you very much for playing with us, with this morning from las vegas. you can check us out on facebook, you can become a fan, get an early look at some of the topics and guests we'll be featuring on sunday morning. the men who run nbc, ge and fox all try to stop the feed, but they are still going at it and how did a "new york times" reporter become the worst person in the world? you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day.

welcome home, man.

. the seemingly endless feud between keith olbermann and bill o'reilly has been fascinating in a car wreck kind of way and sometimes nasty. the "new york times" tried to declare the hostilities over earlier this week, that turned out to be a tad premature. i reported last year that the top executives at both corporations tried to get their talk show hosts to cool it. after all, olbermann was attacking o'reilly on msnbc almost every night, while o'reilly was on fox slamming the top honcho at general electric. >> bill o'reilly, the worst person in the world. >> he is a despicable human being. >> the effort by rupert murdoch and roger ales, jeff zucker fell

short. last weekend the "new york times" said a cease-fire will been reached, but olbermann was quoted as saying he wasn't part of any deal. he announced weeks earlier that he was ending his mockery of o'reilly because of the seriousness of the fox host attacks on george tiller, the abortion doctor who was later murdered. roger ales and jeff imal did hammer out an agreement of sorts, but it wasn't for a cease-fire, just an understanding that o'reilly and olbermann would stick to the issues and tone down the personal invectives, but when the times quoted a ge spokesman as praising the agreement, olbermann felt he had to demonstrate that he had not been muzzled by the corporate bosses. 48 hours later, he did just that, bestowing his worst person in the world awards, starting with the times. >> the bronze to brian stelter of the "new york times."

he asked me twice last week if there was such a deal. i told him i did not. >> then on to fox. >> our winner, rupert murdoch. how would like to be roger ales right now or bill o'reilly or anybody else who decides what goes on. >> o'reilly responded two days later, aided by a legitimate news story that ge paid $50 million that it cooked the books to mislead investors. >> ge defrauds the public, has to pay 50 million in fines, but could conceivably use taxpayer loan money to do it. amazing. situation directly touches the president because nbc news, owned by ge, has been perhaps barack obama's biggest supporter in the media. and jeff was awarded for that when the president appointed him to his economic advisory board. >> here go again. there's nothing wrong with network commentators taking each other on over issues and their own rhetoric, but the

extraordinarily personal nature of this slugfest is making both sides look bad. as their bosses know all too well. still to come, the curtain comes down on mouthpiece theater. how two of washington's top pundits ended their brief video career with a tasteless joke. qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back on a new, more fuel-efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from. more than ford, toyota, or honda. now get an '09 cobalt for under fifteen-five after all offers. and get it for even less if you qualify for cash for clunkers program. go to chevy.com for details. i think i'll go with the preferred package.

good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. it was called mouthpiece theater with two of the "washington post's" most prominent pundits doing their thing in smoking jackets. we told you last week they got into trouble with a bit about

what kind of beer they would recommend for public figures. >> sarah palin, arctic devil. >> swine flu swims, isolation ale. >> for the host of mouthpiece theater two cans of jack of it. >> it was called a crack in the routine calling hillary clinton drinking mad bitch beer. >> they said the joke was inappropriate and over the line, and millbanks said he would be honored to apologize to the secretary of state over a beer. journalist the have to be careful about stepping over the line. john king, as i turn things back over to you, have you ever engaged on any on-air human their boomeranged on you? >> not that i can recall at that level. that's why i have my beer off the job. >> i have done it once or twice, fortunately nobody has noticed. >> enjoy your