Brian Stelter. (Photo via Facebook.)

Last week was quite a whirlwind for New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter. Top of The Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, his look at the world of morning television, hit shelves, and Mr. Stelter found himself in the potentially awkward situation of appearing as a guest on morning shows to talk about a book about morning shows.

At press time, Mr. Stelter had done around 20 media appearances, with more scheduled. He was on Morning Edition, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CNN’s Early Start, Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition. Revelations were sprinkled throughout the tabloids and on the cover of Us Weekly, which featured a smiling photo of Ann Curry in a yellow cardigan, arms defiantly resting on her hips, with the headline “Stabbed in the Back: They called her ‘Big Bird’ and plotted to get rid of her. How Ann Curry’s coworkers tortured her and why she won’t forgive Matt Lauer.” 

“I feel the same way a morning producer feels at 9 a.m.—proud of my work, happy that people have seen it for themselves and dog-tired,” Mr. Stelter told Off the Record over the weekend.

Although The New York Times Magazine ran a cover story the weekend before the book came out on some of the juicier elements about Ms. Curry’s ouster and the drama with Matt Lauer behind the scenes, the newspaper itself panned the book in a review

“Brian Stelter’s book on the nefarious network morning show wars ends up being like a breakfast made not quite to order,” veteran television critic Ed Bark wrote. “The eggs over easy have one hard yolk, and the bacon’s a little limp. The toast is well-buttered but burned, and the coffee’s short on heat. Edible? Yes. Fulfilling? Not quite.”

Mr. Bark then took the reporter to task for his use of metaphor, which, when comparing a book to breakfast in the opening of a review, seemed a tad unfair.

“It’s a breezy read with more than a little overblown prose, some of it just plain silly,” Mr. Bark continued, noting that the author, at 27, still has “ample time really to get the hang of this.”

“I expected a tough review,” Mr. Stelter told OTR. “If it had been glowing, readers would have rolled their eyes.”

Tough review or not, it did little to quell the celebration. Mr. Stelter’s girlfriend, NY1 traffic reporter Jamie Shupak, organized a book party at The Park in Chelsea. (The book is dedicated to Mr. Stelter’s parents and to Ms. Shupak: “For Jamie, my love, who makes every morning a good one.” Of course, Ms. Shupak is usually at the NY1 studios before dawn to report on traffic conditions.)

Sunlight streamed through the large windows, making it difficult to see the media people, drinks in hand, who stood with their backs to the view of the High Line.

“You know, Jamie was the social director of her sorority,” Mr. Stelter told OTR. We didn’t doubt it. The bubbly brunette, in a lime green minidress, acted every bit the hostess, posing for pictures and thanking people for coming. In keeping with the theme, the dessert table featured chocolate cakes shaped like miniature TV sets and peanut butter balls shaped like tiny suns.

“Matt Lauer and Ann Curry send their regrets,” joked Mr. Stelter, before thanking both his and Ms. Shupak’s moms and a host of editors and colleagues, many of whom were in the room.

“The hardest part was putting together a guest list,” Ms. Shupak said, explaining that she had to keep adding people at the last minute. But Ms. Shupak evidently did a good job. In addition to her family and his, there was a strong Times contingent: Michael Grynbaum, Michael Barbaro, Christine Haughney, Dave Itzkoff, Julie Bloom, Stephanie Clifford, Julie Bosman and Bill Carter all seemed relaxed despite a Politico hit piece on executive editor Jill Abramson’s tenure that ran earlier in the week. Bloggers, television execs and NY1 hosts rounded out the list.

Out on the balcony, media reporter David Carr smoked a cigarette in the setting sun while talking to a friend of Ms. Shupak’s mom.

As we were leaving, NY1’s Pat Kiernan reminded us to grab a copy of the book. They were almost gone.

Photo credit: Huffington Post.

The Huffington Post Home vertical took us inside the magical, DIY home of everyone's favorite media couple--New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter and NY1's traffic reporter Jamie Shupak.

When Michelle Manetti, HuffPo Home's associate editor, first met Ms. Shupak at a crafting event (side note: what's a "crafting event"?), she was told that the traffic reporter had an amazing way with the home crafts. But she had to see it to believe it. And a tour of the West Village apartment that Ms. Shupak shares with Mr. Stelter convinced her. Ms. Manetti's 18 picture slideshow convinced us that...um, they have a very nice place, thanks to Ms. Shupak's craftiness and Mr. Stelter's "trusting" personality.

"It also doesn’t hurt that Shupak pretty much has free rein over the decorative decisions. When the couple first moved in to the space right after Labor Day, the few items Stelter kept with him included his televisions, computer chair and the dinning room table," Ms. Manetti wrote. "But even the table was turned into a project when Shupak decided to buy new legs and install them herself. 'He is so, so trusting,' Shupak gushes."

So what tidbits did we learn about the Stelter/Shupak household?

• They live in a nice building with an actual lobby: "As we walked through the amazing lobby, which had all those great old New York City details (deep jewel-toned colors, classic traditional furniture and flattering lighting) we wondered if the home would retain the same appeal."
• They have a bedroom: "The loft apartment allows for adequate sleeping space."
• Their office desk was "originally from a medical institution." (The caption fails to note what type of institution).
• They blew up and framed iPhone photos.
• Ms. Shupak's grandmother's perfume tray makes for a nice candle and terrarium holder.
• They have a chalkboard-painted wall where they scribble hastags (can't take that guy off Twitter, can you?).
• They found a construction sign on their first date.
• The living room is "bright, airy and funky."
• Judging from a three quarter empty bottle on their liquor stand, their scotch of choice is Johnny Walker Black.
• An artistic rendering of the subway map was bought in honor of Ms. Shupak's job as a traffic reporter.
• Ms. Shupak saw a crazy expensive lamp at ABC carpets and made one herself for way less money out of plumbing supplies.
• They called their apartment "The Lovenest" in a chalk welcome to HuffPo.
• They have roof access!

And now, home decor mostly accomplished, they are ready to turn their attention to entertaining: "Though [Ms.] Shupak still has a desire to be creative while most of their home is complete, the two are now focusing on hosting fabulous dinner parties."

We await the post on their DIY hors d'oeuvres.

This sure looks like a freshly cleaned suit.

Stand by for news ...

New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter finally did his laundry yesterday, something he apparently hasn't done since 2008 or 2009. "Did laundry last night. First time in 3-4 years. Is this what growing up feels like?" the 27-year-old Mr. Stelter posted on his Facebook page this morning.

Some of Mr. Stelter's 174,012 Facebook subscribers commented to express their disbelief that anyone could wait that long to launder their clothing:

"Um, did you realize you just used your out-loud voice? :0" said one commenter.

"Are you kidding me? That's crazy" another said.

"Did you mean years or weeks?" a third askd.

We have seen Mr. Stelter on a number of occasions and he never looks like he is wearing clothes that have been dirty since the first Obama inauguration. Maybe Mr. Stelter just buys new clothes whenever his get dirty. Or maybe his girlfriend, NY1's traffic reporter Jaime Shupak, is doing the laundry.

Either way, we are impressed. And slightly disturbed.

Bill O'Reilly tore into New York Times television reporter Brian Stelter on The O'Reilly Factor last night, using Mr. Stelter's "Gay on TV" article as proof that "most of the media will not even consider the traditional point of view on marriage."

Mr. Stelter wrote that Mr. O'Reilly and one of his guests had complained about Chaz Bono appearing as the first openly transgender contestant on Dancing With The Stars. In fact, only Mr. O'Reilly's guest, Fox house psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow did. Mr. O'Reilly said Mr. Bono had the right to pursue happiness.

"Once again Mr. Stelter writes a falsehood in order to demonize me and Fox News," Mr. O'Reilly said. (Like Dr. Ablow, however, Mr. O'Reilly has complained about Glee glamorizing homosexuality and transsexuality in the past. "If children hear it, unsupervised children, they might go out and experiment with this stuff," he said.)

Mr. Stelter tweeted out the video and a correction this morning.

This talk was covered six ways to Sunday. (http://www.imagethink.net)

New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson spoke at SXSW in Austin, Tex. yesterday, further proof of her tolerance for meta-media spectacles previously hinted at by appearances at the World Economic Forum in Davos and the Iowa caucuses.

Ms. Abramson, well within her area of expertise, appeared in a conversation about “The Future of the New York Times” with Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith.

Less than a year after her predecessor, Bill Keller, wondered aloud in the Times magazine if Twitter was making us stupid, Ms. Abramson said that the real question was whether or not to break news on Twitter without a story to link to. Some of her political reporters wanted to "issue an edict" against it, but she's not ideological about it. She'd seen on the campaign trail that Twitter was a “revolution” for news gathering.

(Not that you have to tell us. The Observer curated—or is it aggregated?—all the information in this post from the safety of New York, using SXSW-goers manic Tweets and Poynter editor Steve Myers's liveblog. Is there a symbol for that?)

Pressed on that front—the difference between her and Mr. Keller—she said, “He reads poetry on the subway, I’m reading my horoscope in the Post on the subway.” (Ms. Abramson is a Pisces.)

The functional difference, of course, is the 6-month digital sabbatical Ms. Abramson took before taking his post, which she described to Mr. Smith. A “scary and hopeful” time, she learned she had a lot to learn but was comforted by the fact that new media tools advance old school work like investigative reporting. Longform investigations are among the Times most popular online articles, she said.

The rest of Austin was gossiping about CNN’s rumored acquisition of Mashable, but Ms. Abramson praised the Times’s internal development team, including Andrew DeVigal and Aron Pilhofer.

Not that they get it totally right all the time.

For example, Clara Jeffery, editor of Mother Jones, asked why the Times has the irksome habit of never linking out.

Ms. Abramson said there’s no policy against it, and there will be more of it in the future.

While Times tech and media reporters Jenna Wortham and Brian Stelter Instagrammed on the newspaper’s official SXSW Tumblr (Ms. Wortham packed a glittery vest! Mr. Stelter flew in to Dallas to save money!), Mr. Smith asked Ms. Abramson if the Times, once upon a time, wouldn’t have frowned upon strong individual reporter brands, “the David Carr-ification of the New York Times.”

Ms. Abramson said the relationship was symbiotic: Mr. Carr benefits from the institutional clout as much as the Times benefits from the Page One star’s wattage.

“No one is going to convince me otherwise,” she said.

Although Ms. Abramson’s appearance was undeniably good diplomacy toward the powerful tech leaders to which media companies now find themselves beholden, keeping pace with SXSW’s rapid-fire self-documentation is easier said than done.

Ms. Abramson herself hasn’t tweeted since December.

“I don’t pretend that I know everything but it’s been exciting and very  eye-opening and great listening time for me here,” Ms. Abramson told Forbes's Jeff Berovici before the panel.

In the video below, Ms. Abramson dressed in a leather blazer, told him she was spending her first SXSW trip meeting individually with people from Twitter and Apple, going to some sessions, and, hopefully, seeing some music. Mr. Bercovici asked which acts she was hoping to catch.

“One of the concerts that I’m hoping to go to tonight may get packed so I have to keep mum about it,” she demurred.

“You’re going to Jay-Z," he said. “Say ‘Hi’ to him for me.”

“I’ll send him your love,” she replied.

Later that night, Jay-Z sent his love to Ms. Abramson and The New York Times, as well as The New Yorker, New York magazine, and The New York Post, whose logos flashed when he performed “Empire State of Mind” in miniature tribute to his hometown media, according to the Times' Lexi Mainland.

The Observer wasn't there to take take it personally.

She will be replaced by George Stephanopoulos (whom she replaced) and who will pull double duty on Good Morning America, Mr. Stelter reported officially, noting that the Twitter slip-up sent more sources his way.

Ms. Amanpour will continue to report for the network as a "roving Global Affairs anchor across all ABC platforms," but has also taken a position back at her old home at CNN, reports the Huffington Post. She will host an evening newscast on CNN International.

Thank god no one got truly fired.

This is the first major Times newsroom trim since 2009, when the paper cut 100 jobs through buyouts and layoffs. At that time, all employees received buyout packages in the mail; now staff have been alerted to the availability of the buyouts and can request more information.

Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy attributed the buyouts to an effort to rebalance the news operations and strategically invest in digital operations, but the company is likely adjusting to a changing bottom line. Last month chief executive Janet Robinson announced the company expected an 8% drop in print advertising revenue for the third quarter, as well as a 2-3% dip for digital advertising.

Mr. Stelter also reported that The Times will eliminate vacant positions and offer a limited number of buyouts on the business side, a change the company has not publicly announced yet.

According to his report, only newsroom employees who are covered under the Newspaper Guild print contract are eligible. Digital contract employees are not. Ms. Abramson also reserved the right to deny buyouts in areas where reporting muscle is still needed.

Ms. Lapin is flirting with outlets for the new shows she'll be producing. She's no stranger to HLN; she regularly made appearances on the network as a CNN Live anchor, before she hopped to CNBC in January 2010.

In the mean time, she's appearing on the CW's Dr. Drew's Lifechangers and the NBC's Today show, and working on Decoding The Wall Street Journal, a book that will demystify the financial topics covered in the broadsheet. She'll also launch a suite of online personal finance and investment tools along the lines of Mint.com. 

It seems Ms. Lapin, 27,  has swiftly transitioned from covering business to having one of her own, a move her ex-boyfriend (and, yes, Media Power Bachelor) Brian Stelter trend-spotted in June, as a flock of television anchors flew their network coop for independent production studios, online or on television.

"Katie Couric, Oprah Winfrey and Glenn Beck, among others, are taking equity stakes in themselves, separating from the media conglomerates that have profited mightily from their star power," he wrote.

Did his article inspire Ms. Lapin's move?

"No," she wrote The Observer in an e-mail. "I've always had a dream to start my own production company and the timing couldn't be better."

She's said to be positioning herself as a Suze Orman for a younger generation, but according to her, it's more personal than that.

"I am doing this for my former self, who grew up not talking about the Wall Street Journal at the dinner table," she wrote. "I taught myself finance, I decoded it the hard way, without one single resource, without one single voice of education, without condescension."

A bit mystified by personal finance ourselves, The Observer asked Ms. Lapin if her production company's name means we should be buying up gold. She doesn't have a position on the commodity investment, but she offered the following quotation:

"Those joys were so small that they passed unnoticed, like gold in sand, and at bad moments she could see nothing but the pain, nothing but sand; but there were good moments too when she saw nothing but the joy, nothing but gold."

We think that means we should buy a rare edition of Anna Karenina instead.

Mr. Stelter, fan of 'Doug.'

In one of the more quotable moments from the documentary Page One, media reporter David Carr refers to his colleague, television reporter Brian Stelter, as "a robot created by The New York Times to destroy me."

Since then, Mr. Stelter's been doing damage control on his metallic reputation. He's escorted CNBC beauty Nicole Lapin down the aisle at the documentary's premiere, graced the star-studded pages of Page Six in an item about their relationship, and then landed a book deal. Now, he's talking at length about the warm and fuzzy memories he has watching "Doug" and other classic Nickelodeon shows. We liked "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" too, Brian! You just can't be a robot!

As The Observer reported just days ago, TeenNick will begin playing shows such as “Clarissa Explains It All” and “Kenan & Kel” between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. (It bears repeating, from the previous article, that these are prime drinking hours.)

"Some of the original children of the Nickelodeon channel for kids are growing up, and they're saying they want their old Nickelodeon back.," Mr. Stelter explains in the video.

He goes on to note that his favorite of the bunch was always "Doug." And with the news today that Mr. Stelter and his girlfriend have parted ways, perhaps that classic cartoon is the right balm to ease heartbreak. Doug Funnie never got with Patti Mayonnaise, either, man. It's going to be all right.

Also, the "Doug" theme song is now permanently stuck in our head.

Stelter! Look at you! Writing books!

New York Times television writer Brian Stelter announced earlier today, via Twitter, that he's parlayed his social media presence and budding silver screen stardom into a book deal. The Top of the Morning, a history of AM talk shows, will be published by Grand Central Publishing in 2013.

That is, if he figures out how to do the damn thing.

"I don't know how to write a book," Brian Stelter told The Observer this morning. "I know how to write a Tumblr."

At least he can do the latter! He's already posted eight times to the Tumblr site devoted to the book. And he's solicited advice on his personal Tumblr, crowdsourcing the book's conceits before he begins its prose. Perhaps he can just do that: take the accumulation of these Tumblr posts, and make them a book.

Kate Lee, the blogger-friendly agent at ICM who sold Morning on Mr. Stelter's behalf, declined to comment on the size of the advance Mr. Stelter netted.

It's something that's been in the works for a while. The idea came up in a meeting with Grand Central, where the publisher and writer decided that no book had adequetly taken on "the surrogate families that we invite into our homes each morning," as Grand Central told Publishers Weekly. The book will be a reported narrative, and Mr. Stelter has already reached out to networks to let them know of his book and ask for cooperation.

And they liked it!

"I got some surprisingly positive responses," he told The Observer.

He added that networks were interested in the prospect of having their morning show stories told by Mr. Stelter in more than newspaper-filing length pieces. In order for the story to work, he said, "It has to be epic in scope."

"The idea behind it was, after 9/11, morning television became the axis upon which the rest of the TV world turned," he said. "I think that remains true to this day."

Yes, Mr. Stelter's seemingly done it all, but even with his hyperactive Twitter -- just try to at-reply him without getting a response back -- he's never written anything resembling a book.

Hailed as a prodigy from his first byline, the announcement is just the latest step in Mr. Stelter's New York success story. The Times scooped him up in 2007, at age 21, straight out of Towson University. His GPA was just 3.5, but his web site, TVNewser, had hits into the millions and a partnership with Mediabistro. He was the youngest person slaving away for the Gray Lady. Mr. Stelter has since shut up the skeptics by amassing a Twitter following 60,000 strong, and then using it to lose 90 pounds. You can see him in a prominent role in the documentary Page One, and he's currently dating the gorgeous and glowing CNBC anchor Nicole Lapin (Page Six reported them as an item, and it's now Facebook-official).

As for how his precocity affects the development of this long-form technique, Mr. Stelter said that finding his footing is tasking, and exciting.

"It's a challenge much in the same way coming to the New York Times was a challenge."

When asked if he would be taking time off from his stead at the Times media desk to write, Mr. Stelter, speaking to The Observer by phone this morning, was uncertain.

"To be determined," he said. "I haven't asked for a book leave, but you can imagine how hard it'd be to take time off from this job."

nfreeman@observer.com | fkamer@observer.com