CAPTION THIS: Gangbangin’ With Mr. Cooper
Anderson Cooper couldn't be happier about his first trip to a men's prison. (MPR, via ONTD)

Anderson Cooper Calls The Lohan Family "Horrific"
News anchor Anderson Cooper makes one thing clear: the Lohans are "horrific" people. Filling in for Regis Philbin on Tuesday, he has candidly talked about the "atrocious" E! reality show. The 41-year-old broadcaster was in the set of "Live with Regis and Kelly" and was conversing with host Kelly Ripa about reality shows. After doing an impersonation of a current "Project Runway" contestant, Cooper then focused on discussing the "worst show" he can't watch. Although admitting to watching "Living Lohan" 4 or

Anderson Cooper Has 'Spot' of Skin Cancer Removed
Anderson Cooper is dealing with a dermatological health issue, the journalist explains on his CNN blog. After recounting his experience on the campaign trail with Sen. Barack Obama, Cooper, 40, writes, "On a personal note, I've been off for the last couple of days. I had minor surgery on Monday. A small spot of skin cancer was removed from under my left eye." The setback will not keep Cooper off-camera, he says. "I hadn't planned on mentioning this, but I still have stitches and you'll no doubt

News media follows Gustav south
Anderson Cooper is CNN's first Big Star to change flight plans from St. Paul, Minn., to New Orleans.

Network anchors flock to Republican convention
NEW YORK -- The top broadcast and cable television news anchors left the storm-drenched Gulf Coast today and headed to St. Paul, Minn., to report on the Republican National Convention as it resumed a full schedule. CBS' Katie Couric, ABC's Charles Gibson and NBC's Brian Williams will arrive in Minnesota in time to anchor tonight's news specials about the GOP gathering, which was drastically scaled back Monday because of Hurricane Gustav. CNN's Anderson Cooper and Fox News' Shepard Smith also will rejoin

The Ticker (Gustav edition): Shep, Anderson, Gibson...
> FNC's Shepard Smith gets some high praise from the Kansas City Star's Aaron Barnhart. "Now that Shepard Smith is on Fox, there's really no reason to watch anything else," he writes. "Knowledge of his home state and his experience from the Katrina watch makes him the authority." > CNN's Anderson Cooper is leading the on-the-ground coverage of Gustav, reporting from the French Quarter in New Orleans. As for the rest of Cooper's week, CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein tells TVNewser, "We'll make a call based on

All The Sad Young High School Literature Teachers… [Summer Reading]
"I would would love to teach any of the Russians including guys like Babel. Definitely Wilde and Virginia Woolf. I would want to do Illustrated Man by Bradbury. Mafouz, Naipaul, Saramogo, oh and Crab Walk by Günter Grass as a weird interesting look at WWII. Plath is wonderful. I could go on. For me I want to deal with books that in Kafka's words 'wound and stab us.'"--My favorite high school teacher emailing in response to this.* *I went to a generally mediocre Catholic high school but every medio

The Daily Show: August 29, 2008 - VIDEOS
Filed under: OpEd, Video, The Daily Show, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free "The Heart of Hopeness": Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech the other night, to a stadium full of insanely excited Democrats. John Oliver filed a report live from the site of Obama's speech. Man, John has really been putting himself on the line this week, being incredibly annoying in front of so many overexcited people. I mean, chanting "Osama!" at a massive crowd of Obama lovers is almost a sure to bring about a beating, but

RNC & Gustav: Prime Time Coverage Notes
• Fox News Channel will remain live until 2amET tomorrow morning (later if news warrants) with coverage from the Gulf coast and reports from the RNC as well. Greta Van Susteren interviewed Laura Bush and Cindy McCain to air later tonight. Shepard Smith anchors a special hour at 11pmET. Fox & Friends will begin at 5amET tomorrow. • On CNN Campbell Brown anchors a two hour Hurricane/RNC special from 7-9pmET. Larry King Live will air live at both 9pm & Midnight. And AC360 from 10-12pmET. Anderson

Desperate Denver Journos Just Reporting on Each Other [Journalismism]
There's no news in Denver. At least, no news that couldn't be reported by watching it on C-Span from the comfort of home. So what to do? Report on what all your fellow journalists are doing! So far, the single greatest example of this is HuffPo's constant reportage from their own "HuffPost Oasis" in Denver. At left, an unretouched screengrab from their front page today. The Oasis is remarkably popular with journalists, considering that we have no idea what goes on there but we don't think it involves free b

Gustav a Cat 3 4, And Heading For the Gulf
The networks are continuing to move in correspondents to the Gulf coast as Hurricane Gustav developed into a Category 3 storm this morning. With Gustav bearing down on Cuba today, NBC's Havana correspondent Mary Murray has been doing live shots on MSNBC. As for anchor coverage, CNN's Anderson Cooper was on the ground in New Orleans for his show last night. The show was also live for its second hour at 11pmET. The networks are keeping a close on the storm today to determine who will head to south this weeke

Feeding the CNN Army, Guests, and EMS Too
So we're on our way to interview Gretchen Carlson at the Fox Experience, but we stopped off at the incredibly neon decked-out CNN Grill. CNN analyst Roland Martin is doing his radio show from here, and we've spotted CNN correspondents John King, Candy Crowley, Gloria Borger, Ed Henry, Joe Johns and Jessica Yellin. And we hear Anderson Cooper will join the team in St. Paul as early as today. Insiders tell us he, like other network anchors, is leaving the Gulf Coast and headed here. Arianna Huffington

Video: Beckham gives Anderson Cooper "tattoo tour"
We all know David Beckham's first two passions (soccer and family), but as the superstar tells Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes this Sunday, the guy is also obsessed with his ink. "I think everybody's got a way of expressing their feelings, and mine is through my tattoos," Beckham says of his 15 body tattoos. He also shows Cooper the likenesses of wife Victoria Beckham (on his left arm) and the three cherubs on his right arm (for sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz). Also revealed on the CBS interviewing (ai

Gustav vs. Politics on News Networks
For the cable news networks, the national Presidential conventions are like the Olympics in ratings. CNN is going gangbusters with their Democratic National Convention coverage, and pulled in averaged 5.38 million viewers from 10 to 11 p.m. Wednesday, when VP nominee Joe Biden spoke and Presidential nominee Barack Obama made a “surprise” appearance. That [...]

Barack Obama On Hurricane Gustav Relief Efforts
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama took to the airwaves Monday night for an exclusive interview on CNN's 'Anderson Cooper 360' -- weighing in on Hurricane Gustav relief efforts. Fresh off of his historic nomination at last week's Democratic National Convention, Obama told Anderson Cooper he is satisfied with the handling of relief efforts for Hurricane Gustav, which hit landfall on the Gulf Coast Monday. "We have seen the evacuation of two million people, with relatively few glitches,"

News Teams Improvise for Hurricane Gustav
With a major hurricane moving toward New Orleans and the Louisiana Gulf Coast, CBS News anchor Katie Couric is departing the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., while other TV and cable networks shuffle anchors and correspondents to cover the storm. The changes reflect the demands placed on news networks that are scrambling to cover back-to-back presidential conventions and a looming natural disaster that could rival Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005. The long-planned schedule

OK! Exclusive: Dina Lohan Fires Back at Anderson Cooper
It almost goes without saying that the Lohan family takes a fair amount of criticism in the media, most of which the family pubicly ignores. But when CNN's Anderson Cooper went on a rant on this morning's Live with Regis & Kelly, the clan's matriarch, Dina Lohan felt the need to reply. During his guest-hosting appearance on the talk show, Anderson launched an anti-Lohan tirade that included the following gem about little sister Ali Lohan: "Allegedly a 14-year-old girl, looks to be about 60... I sa

Ali Lohan Somehow Got On The Cover Of Something
Has anyone heard of Supermodels Unlimited magazine? Ali Lohan's on the cover. Is this printed in Nana Lohan's basement? First off, I wasn't aware that Ali is a supermodel. Sure, she's walked the sidewalks of a Long Island and been called a "striptease person" by Anderson Cooper. But is that what really makes a supermodel these days? Someone's lowered the bar, then. Ali's featured in a variety of outfits and bad camera angles. You know her berserker mom Dina Lohan put her ass up to this. "Ali's it's a GREAT

A-List Secrets: Yes, Stars Really Love Themselves
Certainly not. Kanye West just likes to refer to himself as the new Kurt Cobain and "one of the more important people in pop culture" to see if you're listening. He really hates himself and thinks he's fat and wears those candy-colored polo shirts to punish himself. Of course celebrities think they're better than everybody else. And before you decide that's just an opinion, I've got real proof. Read on. Celebrities are narcissists, and that's backed up by science and doctors and everything. A study

CNN's Gustav Plans: Cooper Live at 8pm
Anderson Cooper anchors a two-hour special, beginning at 8pmET, from New Orleans. Cooper is one of the more than 120 anchors, correspondents, producers and support personnel in the Gulf Coast region for CNN. Other correspondents in the region include Don Lemon, Gary Tuchman and Ali Velshi. At 10pmET, Rick Sanchez, the Twitter superstar, picks up coverage, anchoring from Atlanta. Looking for citizen journalism in the area as well, iReport Kits have been sent to the region.

Charlize and Eva Show Their DNC Support in Denver
The Democratic National Convention rolled on last night with another rousing series of speeches, including from Hilary Clinton, and more stars arriving in Denver. Charlize Theron, a new US citizen and voter, was out with Stuart at a screening of their movie Battle in Seattle. Meanwhile, Eva stopped off to check in with the MySpace computer station. Naturally Anderson Cooper was there to cover the event, but what can I say, I'll take any excuse to post him. The same goes for Kal Penn, my recent fair game foe

Is Anderson Cooper replacing Katie Couric?
According to pretty much everyone you ask, Katie Couric is on her way out as host of the CBS Evening News. Well, everyone but CBS that is. The network – and Couric’s people – are all insisting that everything is well and good. However both traditional and internet media have been buzzing all week that Couric will be let go right after the inauguration in January – if not sooner. Everyone seems to have their own thoughts on why the Evening News has had such lackluster ratings under Couric – but no

TV networks shifting from politics to storm
Television networks rapidly shifted focus and personnel away from the Republican national convention to Gulf Coast communities in the path of Hurricane Gustav on Sunday, wondering how much of their political planning will be for naught. Anchors Katie Couric, Charles Gibson, Brian Williams, Anderson Cooper and Shepard Smith were all going to the New Orleans area for the storm instead of being with Republicans in St. Paul, Minn. Whether they will be heading north at all depends on the strength of the storm at

Ali Lohan Hurt by Anderson Cooper Rip, Dad Says
Ali Lohan was "very hurt" by CNN newsman Anderson Cooper calling her a 14-year-old who "looks to be about 60" and suggesting she wants to be "a strip-tease person," father Michael Lohan told TVGuide.com. "I don't know what it's about. I don't know how he can sit in a position like he is, judging someone else," Michael Lohan said Thursday. "I'm surprised that he lowered himself to pick on a child and act like a child himself." "She took it very personally," he added. "She's a 14-year-old kid.... And to

Networks Scramble from Convention to Storm Coverage
You’ve got to follow the biggest story--and right now that story is Hurricane Gustav coming ashore southwest of New Orleans as a Category 2 hurricane, NOT the Republican national convention, which was due to begin tonight. According to the Associated Press, television news networks rapidly shifted focus and personnel away from the Republican national convention to Gulf Coast communities in the path of Hurricane Gustav on Sunday. "We're going to go with the biggest story of the day tomorrow," Jay Walla