In Case You Missed It,...

MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski had just about enough of the Paris Hilton story when she refused to lead her news report with Paris Hilton post-prison updates. On "Morning Joe" with co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist, Brzezinski tried to torch the script with a lighter, crumpled it into a ball and finally sent it through a paper shredder. I appreciate what she did, as I, too, am completely sick of Paris Hilton and the coverage her prison sentence garnered. Brzezinski stood up to her network on the air and refused to grant the Hilton story numero uno coverage. It really became a big deal because Joe and Willie made fun of Mika for refusing to read the script. Still, few journalists of her level would have the guts to do that.

Also, I was clicking around my television Saturday morning and turned to NBC's HD channel. I thought I would just see an HD version of the "Today" show, but instead some groggy-eyed producer put the studio feed on the air, so I watched an anchorwoman practicing her script and talking to producers about pronunciations and camera angles. I have never seen the network news make a blunder like that. After watching the anchor stumble through the copy three times, it kind of took away from actually hearing it live. Some things viewers are just not supposed to see...