Afternoon Briefing:
Arnold casts his friends: Gov. Schwarzenegger has appointed some of his friends to the California Film Commission, which is charged with keeping the film industry vital in California. The governor has asked Danny DeVito, Clint Eastwood and others to help keep productions in the state. (Zap2it)
Oops! USA Today pulled a Dewey-Truman today and ran a story on its Web site saying Kwame had won the Trump job on "The Apprentice." It wasn't in the print edition, so the erroneous story was removed before anyone could be fired. (Reuters)
Nirvana goes network: The WB is reportedly developing a script for a film about Kurt Cobain -- his life, his times and his wife -- based on Charles Cross' 2001 biography "Heavier Than Heaven." No word yet on casting. (Hollywood Reporter)
No students allowed: Three student newspapers in Iowa that made formal requests to cover the president's visit there Thursday were denied access. Mike Allsup, a reporter for the Des Moines Area Community College Chronicle, said he was contacted by the White House Press Office and told "the president didn't want students covering the event in Des Moines." (Iowa State Daily)
-- Karen Croft
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Turn On:
Following Tammy Faye Messner (who announced she has inoperable lung cancer) and Della Reese (who announced she was struggling with diabetes) Dick Clark goes on "Larry King Live" "to announce a health issue that changed his life," according to CNN (9 p.m. ET; CNN). Night of Rock: on Saturday, first watch Chris Rock in "Head of State" (8 p.m. ET; HBO) and then see his new comedy special, "Never Scared" (10 p.m. ET).
-- Scott Lamb
Morning Briefing:
New developments in the Air America brouhaha:The liberal radio network has removed from its Web site a "press release" in which it joked that it would settle its dispute with Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. by taking a crowbar to Multicultural owner Arthur Liu, and referring to him as "Liu-cifer" and "Liu-ser." One Multicultural exec told the press that the memo was "more than sophomoric. It's disgusting and frightening." (AFP) A judge, however, ruled in favor of an Air America restraining order against Multicultural, and the show is back on the air in Chicago, but not yet in Los Angeles. (L.A. Times)
Blame the boss: USA Today founder Al Neuharth blames Jack Kelley's "new bosses" with global ambitions far from the paper's initial "down-home" intentions for the shamed reporter's misdeeds. "Real or self-imposed pressure grew to grab new readers and prizes. Kelley's deceptions from faraway places followed, spanning 10 years," he writes. (USA Today) "Oh, the irony!" USA Today reporter Jim Hopkins writes in a letter to Romenesko. "In 1987 -- just five years after the paper was founded -- Neuharth himself announced the launch of Jetcapade, billed as 'a seven-month assignment that will take Al Neuharth and a small news team to six continents and more than 30 countries.' Bonus irony points: Accompanying Al on that trip to record every scintillating moment was, of course, Kelley himself." (Romenesko)
Former friends? Madonna has reportedly become so devoted to the cabala that she's sacrificed her relationship with her best friend, nonbeliever Debi Mazar, at its altar. "They are no longer best friends ... Madonna has made up her mind," a "source in Madonna's camp" says. Madonna's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, says that "the love is still there" but Madonna's just very busy these days and has no time to spend with Mazar. (Page Six)
"Apprentice" loser news: Ex-"Apprentice" contestant Nick Warnock apparently doesn't take disappointment with Kwame-like equanimity. Turned away from a New York club for being drunk, he was said to have yelled at the bouncer, "F-- this! That's bull--!" Said one witness, "He was rude." (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)
-- Amy Reiter
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