Wonkette

Aaron Brown was a kindly gent who hosted the CNN many moons ago. Every night Americans would drift off to sleep as he reviewed the morning papers with a dumb little rooster crowing in the background. And we all loved it because he was Aaron Brown, a very nice man, and then Anderson “Silver Fox” Cooper threw him under the bus and took his show. It looks like Aaron learned his lesson because now he has gray hair and no glasses, just like Anderson Cooper. So what’s he up to now, besides adorably swearing his face off for Observer reporters? MORE »

The Internets are buzzing with the bizarre story of BBC News reporting the 9/11 collapse of WTC7 before the building actually collapsed — all over a live shot of Ground Zero, with the 47-story highrise clearly in view and clearly standing.

What it “proves” is anyone’s guess, but it sure makes for hilarious viewing. But BBC reporters and anchors who maybe didn’t know the Manhattan skyline so well could possibly be forgiven for reporting an erroneous story and not knowing that great big highrise was World Trade Center 7 (otherwise known as the Salomon Brothers building). So why doesn’t the BBC simply say it got a story wrong and didn’t know any better? Stranger still, why did New York-based CNN anchor Aaron Brown do the same exact thing on September 11, 2001? We’ve got all the creepy video and much more to make your head asplode, after the jump.

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CNN Pipeline is replaying CNN’s coverage of 9/11 in real time and as it happened. It’s just as you remember it from that dark day: jerky, pixellated, and constantly rebuffering. And with occasional, inexplicable gaps in the tape, like the one seen above, taken from just after the South tower collapsed. It presumably hides the moment when Sandy Berger called in to CNN cackling and accepting full responsibility for the attacks on America. MORE »

• Heard on the Hill: DCCC spokesperson sends out birthday party Evite for “I Will Survive”-themed karaoke night “hosted by Bob Ney“… Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D-N.J.) office to hold mustache contest. [Roll Call]
• Reliable Source: Former CNN anchor/sincerest man on television Aaron Brown plays important role in 9/11 movies. [WP]
• Page Six: Senator John McCain has penned a forward to a book called Debunking 9/11 Myths. [NYP]

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Talk of a “Cooper d’etat” at CNN has media mavens buzzing. It’s certainly more entertaining than anything actually on the network. Fred Beck agrees.

Dear Wonky-Tonky,
 
Could there possibly be a better reality show than the constant crashing series of car wrecks brought to us by CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein? Who could make you love Aaron Brown? Jon Klein! It’s not just the bad programming Klein endorses that make me want to feed him peat moss. His public comments are so creepy, his self- assurance so supremely misguided and his praise so residue spreading I need handiwipes whenever I read about him.
 
Anderson Cooper is the anti “anchor” Klein tells us. And I tell people I’m humble all the time. Really I am. There are just some compliments that are meant to be said by other people. Klein’s frantic wake-up calls to every media writer about Cooper’s star quality are going to initiate restraining orders. All that heavy breathing.

Fred’s thoughts continue after the jump.

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• We keep getting emails about some change-up at CNN. Who is this Aaron Brown guy? [TV Week]
• There’s a “White House ‘truth closet.’” Is Scott McClellan in it? [NPR]
• Law and justice religious leader is way into profit: “Some of us truly believed God told us to serve Jay…But not to help him live like Louis XIV.” [Legal Times]
• A War on Terror vs. War on Bird Flu analogy: Cheney is to Halliburton as Rumsfeld is to Gilead Sciences. Go nuts, kids. [Fortune]
• Jesus Christ what does it take to get fired from the Times? [NYO, HuffPo]
• Bloggers staying away from WH briefings in droves. Why? Because we’re laaazzzeeee. [E&P]
• The closing of the Senate will be avenged: “In a real sense, you see, the U.S. Senate plays by hip-hop rules: Respect is all. Disrespect is the ultimate crime, and must be avenged swiftly and mercilessly.” They don’t call him Fristy-Cent for nothing. [TNR's The Plank]
• You have no idea how badly we wish we were making this up: “Santorum: Well she called and the first thing she said to me was you know Suzanne Wright? I said sure and then she says, well I’d like to do a threesome.” [C&L]

• CNN’s opinion of its viewers, encapsulated in the DC bureau chief’s description of “The Blog Report”: “It’s sort of like Blogs 101…Or the Reader’s Digest of blogs. Or Blogs for Dummies.” They said it, not us. [NYO]
• Isikoff on Cooper: He should have tried to “cajole [Rove] into going on the record and leaning on him with information gleaned from other sources. Instead, Isikoff asserted, ‘It seems like Time stopped reporting.’” [Media Nation]
• Anderson Cooper and Aaron Brown have hot co-anchor action. [TVNewser]
• Rumors of violence in New Orleans prove to be just rumors, but Bush still glad he didn’t actually have to go until it was dry and stuff. [NYT and NOLA]
• CBS’s “Public Eye” has tin ear: Headlines regarding “Early Show” exec Michael Bass include “Reeling In A Bass” and “Pump Up The Bass.”
• “Inside the Bubble,” the movie: “Watching the film is going to subject you to a lot of ungainly behavior.” [ABC] Also: The Stephanie Factor returns (WM).

• Have you missed Bill Hemmer and his cute non-prescription spectacles? They’ll be on Fox Monday around noon. Also: cable news bloggers have their claws out. . . for each other! [ICN and TVNewser]
• Aaron Brown rumored to be on the outs at CNN; Klein’s deft touch at work again? [The Cable Game]
• Advice to the young newsreader: “Gaining trust takes a lot more than leaning back during the closing credits and smoking a pipe.” [TVSpy]
• Jon Stewart on the “Crossfire” clip: “It was definitely viral. I felt nauseous afterward.” [Wired]
• Is there such a thing as news junkie fan fiction? If it does exist, there is a soundtrack: “Does anyone know of any good, downloadable news music done by fans / amateur musicians? Fan music can sometimes be surprisingly good, so I’m curious if anyone has attempted to compose news themes…” [TVNewsTalk]

• Under the Dome: Could ‘08 bring a McCain-Kerry ticket?. . . Hatch faces fire for his position on intellectual-property rights. [The Hill]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Is Matt Cooper job hunting at The New York Times?. . . MSNBC President Rick Kaplan “erupted angrily and at length” towards Keith Olbermann after the anchor told viewers of his own cancer scare. [NYDN]
• Liz Smith: Peter Jennings had told Aaron Brown: “Aaron, drop this morning paper idea. You are not funny!” [NYP]
• Names & Faces: Mayor Williams makes risotto and lamb on Channel 16’s “InStyle Washington” cooking program. [WP]