We Love Dirty Laundry

What's better than embarrassment for one overpaid, over-hairsprayed TV news "personality"? Embarrassment for two overpaid, over-hairsprayed TV news "personalities."

First, CNN's Lady in the Loo.

Her "loving" husband emerged pretty well, but her "control freak" of a sister-in-law is probably less amused, after a CNN presenter left her microphone on while chatting to a colleague in the toilets.

Viewers who tuned into Tuesday's edition of "Live From ..." to watch President George W. Bush in New Orleans were instead treated to the president competing for attention with anchor Kyra Phillips giving a lavatory low down on her family.

"My husband is handsome and he is genuinely a loving, you know, no ego... you know what I'm saying," Phillips told an unidentified confidante in a bathroom back-and-forth transmitted live to the nation for over a minute.

When her powder room pal turned to talk of her latest love interest and her mother's approval ratings, Phillips confided -- or so she thought -- that her brother was the one she needed to look out for.

"He's married, three kids, but his wife is just a control freak," she said.

That certainly should make for a pleasant family dinner come Thanksgiving. And if you listen to the potty chat (Hat tip: Newsbusters), Phillips really hits on "freak." Her sister-in-law must be thrilled. I smell libel lawsuit.

Then there's Katie Couric and the case of the Photoshop Diet.

No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds. The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing.

The touched-up photo of Couric dressed in a striped business suit appears on the inside of the September issue of Watch! which is distributed at CBS stations and on American Airlines flights.

CBS News President Sean McManus said he was "obviously surprised and disappointed when I heard about it."

Katie, of course, didn't know anything about it. This kind of photo retouching goes on all the time in corporate art departments. But when your corporation is about presenting the "truth," maybe you need to be a little more careful about shaving 20 pounds of the public face -- literally -- of your news division.

Here's a side-by-side comparison (Hat tip: Instapundit) and here's an overlay comparison. Is that Don Henley I hear?

We got the bubble-headed bleach blonde
Who comes on at five
She can tell you bout the plane crash
With a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry

And they wonder why we don't watch television news anymore. You can't make this sh*t up. Or maybe you can.