Sarah Palin's Cranky Christmas Book, Justin Bieber's Managed Meltdown, And Matt Lauer The Martyr: Tuesday Media Roundup

Some of us may have thought that the winter holiday season included many different religious and non-religious holidays, celebrated by people of various faiths and cultures, as well as everyone who adheres to the Gregorian calendar. Not so, says Sarah Palin: Her forthcoming book, “A Happy Holiday IS A Merry Christmas,” is a self-described “fun, festive, thought provoking book” which will “ignore the politically correct Scrooges who would rather take Christ out of Christmas.” HarperCollins will release in November. Curious sidenote: When Judith Regan, of O.J. Simpson confessional fame, was fired by News Corp. in 2006, it was said to be in part due to anti-Semitic comments she made about a “Jewish cabal” supposedly working against her (and the O.J. book), which at the time included HarperCollins President Jane Friedman and Executive Editor David Hirshey. (Washington Post, New York Times)

The Daily Currant Managing Editor Daniel Barkeley spoke to the Daily Caller about legit news outlets mistaking his satirical news as fact (numerous outlets mistakenly picked up a fake story about Paul Krugman filing for bankruptcy last week, and in January a Washington Post blog incorrectly reported that Al Jazeera was hiring Sarah Palin). “It’s not a big score, you know, for us to have a news organization pick it up as real ... the reason why we write the articles so close to truth is because that’s what we think is funny,” he told them. (Daily Caller)

The New Yorker's Jon Lee Anderson got into a Twitter spat Monday with a reader who had some grievances with his coverage of the late Hugo Chavez. Anderson called said reader -- who only has 169 followers and therefore has no right to criticize the esteemed scribe, apparently -- “a little twerp” and told him to “get a life.” (Gawker)

There is a major media blackout going on in Mali right now: Members of the private media – print and broadcast – are protesting last week's arrest of Le Republicain editor Boukary Doau, who published letters from soldiers fighting Islamic militants who complained of too-meager rations and lack of proper equipment. The BBC's Alex Duval Smith said that 40 newspapers did not appear on the stands Tuesday, and that 16 private news radio stations are playing only music or are completely silent. (BBC)

Village Voice writer Jay Stephens argues that Justin Bieber's protracted public meltdown is choreographed: “Bieber has chosen a different path towards earning respect: purposefully engaging in destructive behavior in an effort to ditch his tween fan base and reconstruct himself as a tragically flawed, artistically deep man worth listening to,” Stephens writes, and goes on to explain how each of Bieber's recent PR disasters are carefully calculated to establish himself as a serious, relatable artist with grown-up sex appeal. (Village Voice)

Matt Lauer is still really bummed out about what NBC (NOT Matt Lauer) did to Ann Curry, guys: In an interview with Howard Kurtz, the longtime “Today” host criticizes the network for its management of Curry's ousting last year: “We didn't handle a family matter well.” NBC brass pipes in to praise Lauer, with NBC Universal chief Steve Burke recounting how Lauer offered the fall for “Today”' ratings dip. A Fox News response piece quoted some media “experts” who criticized NBC and Lauer's strategy, with one calling the Daily Beast story a “not-so-thinly veiled attempt to make the senior executives the bad guys, and humanize Matt Lauer.” (Daily Beast, Fox News)