Abc News

BET has a mixed history when it comes to news, documentaries and public affairs - and much of it is for the worse. With a former programming emphasis on music videos and a record of little or no serious commitment to news, questions have regularly been raised whether Black Entertainment Television was serving its audience or exploiting it. The paucity of serious news and first-rate public affairs programs was impossible not to notice. The National Association of Black Journalists gave BET its "Thumbs Down Award" in 2007.

Last Sunday, I wrote about the way in which British tabloid values had already taken root in American media and corroded the soul of our press. I was challenging the conventional wisdom here that our journalistic standards are somehow vastly superior to those of the British. I think too many analysts are using the News of the World scandal to support that false belief. I am hoping we can use the discussion to help us pull back from the values Rupert Murdoch had helped import.

The New York hotel maid who says she was sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former chief of the International Monetary Fund, has broken her silence in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts that will air Monday on "Good Morning America. " In excerpts made available by ABC News, Nafissatou Diallo says, "I want justice.  I want him to go to jail. I want him to know that there is some places you cannot use your money, you cannot use your power when you do something like this.

ABC News, which has been making its own news this week with Diane Sawyer's Jaycee Dugard interview, kept the ball rolling Monday night with a report on the Christian counseling clinics run by the husband of GOP candidate Michele Bachmann. She refers to the practice owned by her and husband, Marcus, as the "family business. " Monday night's report by ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross shows the Bachmann family business, which has received $137,000 in Medicaid money, practicing a widely discredited form of Christian "therapy" that promises to turn homosexuals into heterosexuals through prayer.

Just one week after a winning interview with comedian Jon Stewart, Fox News host Chris Wallace stumbled in his conversation with what looked like a much friendlier guest, Michele Bachmann, the hottest new GOP presidential candidate. In response to what some analysts see as partisan and sexist claims that's she's "ditsy," Wallace asked her if she is a "flake" on his "Fox News Sunday" show. She wasn't amused. Neither were her followers -- or, apparently, the powers that be at Fox. Wallace offered a near-instant apology in his weekly "post-show" video.

The Monday, May 2 morning update will be devoted entirely to news of Osama bin Laden's death at the hands of U.S. troops.  • "The Mastermind" of 9/11 meets his demise . (NY Times)  • Mission was to kill, not capture . (Reuters)  • Bin Laden buried at sea . (AP)  • Capturing bin Laden would "unleash hell. " (AFP)  • President Obama spoke with Presidents Bush and Clinton before making his statement on the terrorists' death. Here a re their reactions.

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said at a press briefing today that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden died as a coward, hiding behind a woman "presumed to be his wife," who was also shot.  "Here is bin Laden ... hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield," Brennan said.  Maybe this is just U.S. propaganda, but if it's not, that's a pretty ignominious way to go.  Video below from ABC News.  ...

Throughout his (fake?) campaign for president, Donald Trump has made statements implying that President Barack Obama's childhood is part of some sort of mysterious conspiracy. "He grew up and nobody knew him," Trump told ABC News. "Nobody knows who he is until later in his life. It's very strange. The whole thing is very strange. " Now, it turns out Trump was right. Obama, in his youth, was a ...  pirate .    Seriously, the above photo is one of several family photos accompanying an awesome profile  of Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine.  Hopefully, Trump can take some time out of his busy schedule of never-ending "exclusive" interviews with every media company imaginable to read the article.

In a major and unexpected move, ABC News anchor Charles Gibson announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the year, and Diane Sawyer will become the anchor of ABC's "World News." The 66-year-old Gibson said in an e-mail to ABC News staffers Wednesday that he had planned to retire as early as 2007 but that unexpected events in the news division resulted in him staying on. Longtime anchor Peter Jennings died in 2005, and then his replacement, Bob Woodruff, was seriously injured in Iraq in January 2006.

Norm Lewis spends a lot of time with his head in the sky. Not only does he study the clouds for his nightly forecasts, but he's also a huge fan of astronomy. Lewis, a married father of two grown kids, learned about the weather while serving in the military. Since then, he's spent more than 30 years doing weather on TV in Baltimore. Lewis lives in Mount Airy with his wife, Linda. 1. 206mm Astro Physics refractor telescope "This is the finest amateur refractor telescope ever made. The only problem is there are only three of them in the world."