As details begin to unfold about the plane crash in Austin, CNN's Marylynn Ryan tries to explain the course of events to Anchorman Tony Harris. Accomplished newsman that he is, Harris only needs three detailed explanations to grasp the situation.

Anderson Cooper won't talk about his personal life (read: gayness) because he worries it will damage his objectivity. All-gay-all-day blog Queerty hits one out of the park showing why the Gay-Reporters-Can't-Cover-Gay-Stories argument is bullshit. Get that closet door ready, A.C.

During CNN's blizzard coverage yesterday, Gene Lasker called in to advise everyone to "Stay in and contemplate Howard Stern on American Idol." Ali Velshi did not pick up that this was a prank call until Gene called Ali a dumbass.

Well, this is ironic. Moments after criticizing President Obama as "charismatic guy with a teleprompter" at the National Tea Party convention tonight, Sarah Palin sat down for a Q&A session—and appeared to read notes written on her hand.

Tonight, Brittany Murphy's mother and husband gave an exclusive interview to Larry King about the death of the actress. The whole thing was fishy, but one moment—in which the morning of her death was recounted—was particularly troubling.

The CNN anchor tweeted a response to the National Enquirer story that said he and his boyfriend were adopting. Don't worry, he will still continue to be a daddy to countless others. His twitter stream is a wealth of information!

• Jon Stewart will face off against Bill O'Reilly when he enters the "No Spin Zone" tomorrow evening. In somewhat related news, pedicure-loving ex-congressman (and wanna-be Senator) Harold Ford hit Colbert last night.
• Is the magazine industry on the verge of a turnaround? Let's hope so! [AA]
• TV news: ABC is thinking of moving The View to the afternoon; Fox confirms it's had "conversations" with Conan about a late-night show, but hasn't had any real "negotiations"; and Matthew Broderick may be coming to the small screen.
• Layoffs: Big cuts went down at CBS News yesterday afternoon. And Sony Pictures has announced that it's cutting 450 positions at the studio.
• For the first time in a long time, CNN has surpassed MSNBC in primetime. Neither network is close to catching up with Fox News, though. [Politico, LAT]
• A reality show about The Oprah Winfrey Show is coming to Oprah's new cable channel next January. The network will also be home to shows about imprisoned women, "miracle detectives," and workaholic parents. [NYT]
• News Corp. is in talks with James Cameron about an Avatar sequel. [THR]
• Did you catch the New York Post's "prosti-dude" story today? Some staffers at the paper were a little less than thrilled with the PR stunt, it seems. [Gawker]
• Condé Nast's new fraud hotline should make ratting out co-workers (for stealing office supplies, expensing meals with friends, etc.) much easier! [NYP]
• More on this morning's Oscar nominations. [THR, NYT, TE, LAT]
• Meet Hollywood's top 40 moneymakers for 2009. [Vanity Fair]

• An estimated 25 million people tuned into last night's broadcast of the Grammy Awards on CBS, earning it its highest ratings in six years. [AP]
• Disney is looking to sell off the Miramax name and its library of 700 movies, and seven to 10 parties have reportedly expressed interest. [NYT, NYP]
• Nate Berkus's new TV show will hit WNBC beginning this fall. [THR, NYP]
• Kelly Cutrone's reality show, Kell on Earth, debuts on Bravo tonight. [LAT]
• Candy Crowley is the new anchor of CNN's State of the Union. [NYT]
• Amazon.com is backing down in its fight over e-book prices. [Reuters]
• Avatar was No. 1 at the box office for a seventh weekend in a row. The movie has now grossed more than $2 billion around the world. [NYT]

Tonight's Larry King Live ran the pop culture gamut: Jay Leno on Oprah, John and Elizabeth Edwards—even an appearance by non-gay Ted Haggard and wife Gayle. The best moment, though, was a sassy caller from Boca Raton. *Snaps*

• How many people have signed up for Newsday.com since the newspaper put up a pay wall three months ago? A grand total of 35, believe it or not. [NYO]
• Following in Oprah's footsteps, Martha Stewart announced she's moving her syndicated TV show to cable (the Hallmark Channel) next fall. [Reuters, WSJ]
• NBC honcho Jeff Gaspin says he "underestimated the level of emotion" that would follow the decision to change up NBC's late-night schedule. Fortunately, the Olympics are here, which he says will be "a cleansing moment." [NYT, AP]
• Ratings are up at Fox News: The network was ranked No. 1 in primetime cable last week. Strangely, Fox News was also ranked "the most trusted name in news," according to a national survey released today. Seriously. [NYT, PD]
• There's lots of anxiety in the air over at CNN, not surprisingly. [Politico]
• Yet another Post staffer is suing the paper for discrimination. [Gawker]
• Roger Hodge, the editor of Harper's, has been let go. [NYT]
• More than 83 million people tuned in on Friday for the Haiti telethon. [LAT]
• Who's going to replace Simon Cowell on AI? Possibly one of these guys. [NYM]
• Nancy Grace loves cameras in courtrooms. Except when she's the one doing the testifying, in which case they can cause "embarrassment." [AP]

This weekend, Times Style writer Guy Trebay accurately observed that the CNN reporter's default uniform in Haiti was a snug-fitting muscle shirt. This, Trebay concluded, was a sign that journalists were basically becoming slobs. But how to explain Don Lemon?

It was announced last week that the well-reputed paint-huffing punks of VICE were partnering up to share their VBS.TV content with CNN—the 30 year-old broadcast news network, America's first all-news channel—on their website. Does it mean anything?

It looks like Anderson Cooper may have some competition on his hands:

• As if this hasn't already been a crappy week for liberals thanks to the election results in Massachusetts, Air America announced today that it's shutting down effective immediately and filing for bankruptcy protection. [AP, WP]
• More on the conclusion of l'affaire Coco, what's in store for O'Brien (unclear), and what NBC can look forward to in the months ahead (lackluster ratings for Leno, mammoth losses, continued shame, etc). [NYT, TW, WSJ, NYT]
• CNN has been pulling out all the stops to cover the crisis in Haiti (not to mention invested in hundreds of tight t-shirts for Andy Cooper). And yet Fox News, which has sorta ignored the earthquake (and typically avoids covering stories involving poor black people) is still out in front in the ratings. [LAT]
• Kitty Kelley's tell-all about Oprah hits bookstores on Apr. 13. [AP]
• A Pulitzer for the National Enquirer? Stranger things have happened. [WP]
• HGTV and Food Network have returned to Cablevision customers. [NYT]
• Thanks to Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones, you'll be hearing "We Are the World" (Haiti 2010 edition) again in the near future. [Showbiz411]
• Madonna and Beyoncé have joined Team Clooney, FYI. [Reuters]
• So much for free content: Hulu may start charging its users to watch popular TV shows in the future; and YouTube is introducing pay-per-view videos.
• Is the Wall Street Journal really launching a travel agency? Yes. [E&P]
• Say goodbye (arrivederci?) to MTV's Jersey Shore. [NYM, Gawker, MTV]

Two days ago, CNN's Haiti coverage reached a strange climax, as Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper morphed into a team of life-saving reporters/heroes. Tonight, Gupta and Cooper were just a couple of journalists who have maybe seen too much.

• As rumored, the New York Times plans to begin charging readers to access stories on the NYT website. It will be a metered system (so only "frequent readers" will be affected), and it doesn't start until 2011. And faithful subscribers to the print edition won't be forced to pay anything extra. [NYT]
• What are the chances Conan lands at Fox? It could happen, but there are plenty of reasons why Fox might decide to back away from a deal. [WSJ]
• The news biz: Talks to bring Ted Koppel back to ABC News appear to have fallen through; Megyn Kelly is getting her own show on Fox News; and CNN has announced it's partnering with hipster mag Vice, oddly enough. [NYO]
• Condé Nast's Fairchild unit has a new chief. Gina Sanders, Lucky's publisher (and Si Newhouse's niece) will now be running the show. [WWD]
• The Sundance Film Festival kicks off in Park City, Utah tomorrow. And it's shaping up to be fest's "most important" year ever, supposedly. [NYT, WSJ]

In your progressive Wednesday media column: the typically effeminate French (whose asses we saved in WWII) think ladies can be in charge of things, the WaPo has never been to DC, Greg Mitchell's lament, and Vice meets CNN.

• Negotiations between Conan O'Brien and NBC didn't wrap up today, as expected. Conan is holding out for more severance for the employees who will lose their jobs. Or "posturing" as part of a "PR ploy," to use NBC's words. [NYT]
• Related: Conan has a big lineup planned for the rest of the week, which will be his last. And NBC's Jeff Zucker played defense with Charlie Rose last night.
• Larry King's celebrity telethon for Haiti last night raised $9 million. [Us]
• Speaking of Haiti, do there really need to be hundreds upon hundreds of reporters on the ground covering the disaster from every angle and also gobbling up very precious resources in the process? Good question. [TNR]
• Rumor has it the Times is going to begin charging for online content soon. The plan comes with some pros and cons, as you might expect. [AdAge, PC]
• Apple will probably unveil its tablet computer on Jan. 27. [WP, ZDNet]
• Related: HarperCollins is in talks to put its books on the tablet. [WSJ]
• It's been a full year since Glenn Beck started spewing on Fox News. [HP]
• Obits: Mystery writer Robert Parker died yesterday. Kate McGarrigle, the Canadian folk singer and mother of Rufus Wainwright, has died, too.

Larry King sold his suspenders. Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta saved young Haitians. And Jessica Yellin made a terrible earthquake-related pun. Welcome to the strangest night yet of CNN's unrelenting prime-time Haiti coverage.

Tonight on CNN, a special two-hour edition of Larry King Live is underway. The official point of the broadcast is to raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Unofficially, it's about the celebrities and their precious "Tweet Suite."