So, you may have heard that News Corp. Chairman & CEO Rupert Murdoch is now on Twitter. Murdoch sent his first Tweet New Year’s Eve and hasn’t slowed since. He’s Tweeted about the delightful Fox film “We Bought a Zoo;” he educated us all that Alexander Hamilton — the guy on the $10 bill and founder of the New York Post — was born (“illegitimate”) 40 miles away from where the Murdoch brood was spending the Holidays (St. Bart’s); and he encouraged his 70,000 followers to watch “The Five” on Fox News because it’s better than that other guy.

NYT’s Brian Stelter confirms, via a Tweet of course, that Murdoch is the master of his verified Twitter feed. No surrogate here.

Join The New York Times reporter Brian Stelter (left) at our Social Media 101 online conference and workshop starting January 19. He’ll show you the basics of social media for work and play. Other expert speakers include Lauren Dugan (AllTwitter), Erica Swallow (Mashable), and Jessica Bennett (Newsweek and The Daily Beast). Register by January 5 to get the early bird rate.

Actually, it’s the library at the State Capitol in Des Moines. Scott Pelley anchored tonight’s CBS Evening News from Iowa’s fanciest library. Brian Williams and Diane Sawyer anchored from their New York studios while  Andrea Mitchell, Ron Mott and Chuck Todd reported for “Nightly News” and Jake Tapper and David Muir reported from Iowa for “World News.” George Stephanopoulos was on set with Sawyer.

And click continued to see if you think the office of the Hogwarts headmaster bears some resemblance to the Iowa State Capitol library.
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A pair of new CNN morning shows: “Early Start” with former ABC and MSNBC anchor Asheligh Banfield and former Chicago local anchor Zoraida Sambolin and “Starting Point” with one-time CNN “American Morning” anchor Soledad O’Brien, debuted this morning. Here’s O’Brien’s open to her show at 7amET. And after the jump, a get-to-know video of Banfield and Sambolin.

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Like their broadcast counterparts, the cable networks are getting an early start to the new year in Iowa ahead of Tuesday’s caucus.

On Fox News, Megyn Kelly, Shepard Smith, Bret Baier and Sean Hannity will anchor their respective shows from Iowa beginning today. Baier and Kelly will team up for a three-hour special report from 8-11pmET as the caucus results come in, followed by a live “Hannity” at 11pmET.

CNN’s coverage begins on Monday with the launch of “StartingPoint” and “EarlyStart” in the morning. Chief political correspondent Candy Crowley, who has been in Iowa since last week, will continue to report across all CNN platforms from Des Moines. Tuesday night’s caucus results will be delivered by CNN’s usual primetime crowd: Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett and John King. Additionally, “Piers Morgan Tonight” will be live at midnight.

MNSBC’s “Morning Joe” team broadcasts from Iowa through Wednesday of this week. Rachel Maddow will be at the helm for Tuesday night’s caucus returns, and she will be joined by Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O’Donnell and Al Sharpton through midnight, when Chris Hayes will take over for a wrap-up of election results. Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell will also anchor their daytime shows on MSNBC from Iowa.

Additionally, CNN and FNC both aired election specials last night at 8pmET — Kelly and Baier hosted on Fox, and Blitzer hosted on CNN.

For ABC’s Jim Scuitto, it came down to two choices: Relocate to Beijing or hang the pictures in his new Georgetown home.

Beijing won.

After a decade in the London bureau as ABC’s senior foreign correspondent, Scuitto had been in Washington less than a year when U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke last month asked him to be his chief of staff and senior policy advisor.

“We still have a stack of pictures on the floor, leaning against the wall,” says Scuitto, 41, a 13-year network veteran. “We had gotten our son into a great little preschool and had just settled in.”

Still, the offer was too good for Scuitto to refuse. A Chinese history major at Yale and Fulbright Fellow, he was proficient in Mandarin. Two of his three sisters had worked in Asia; they were with his parents in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

The China job offer came up “organically” during one of Scuitto’s discussions with Ambassador Locke, whom he viewed initially as a source. To Scuitto, it was “surprising, unexpected and irresistible.

“It’s a chance to be inside the premiere superpower relationship of our time… I’ll see how foreign policy is made and help execute it. We often don’t get that chance as journalists to get

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On the back page of today’s New York Times Sunday Review section, there’s this full page ad for MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” proclaiming it “The Most Influential Political Show in America” and the tagline “Where America’s Leaders Start Their Day.” Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist will broadcast “Morning Joe” from Java Joe’s in Des Moines, Iowa tomorrow through Wednesday. Geist’s “Way Too Early” (4:30amCT!) will also be live on location from Java Joe’s ahead of Tuesday’s caucuses.

“Morning Joe” was only a few months old at the start of the last presidential primary cycle. In the last year, the show has grown its audience +17% in total viewers and +25% in A25-54 viewers, vs. 2010. The ad comes as CNN is just hours from launching its two new morning shows and a week before former “Morning Joe” EP Chris Licht‘s new “CBS This Morning” launches.

87 year-old Bruce Huffman became a YouTube sensation when a video of him and his wife trying to figure out how to use a webcam went viral. He is also a great ping pong player, and used to be an NBC page. On “Today” last week, Matt Lauer challenged Huffman to a ping pong battle royale, and he incorporated a webcam for good measure:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(h/t Top of the Morning)

We made what’s became an almost annual trek to Times Square to take in some of the sights and sounds behind the scenes as the cable networks broadcast their New Years Eve specials. The balmy 47 degree temperature — even warmer than last year — prompted CNN co-host Kathy Griffin to bare almost all. After the ball dropped and the specials went off the air we spotted Fox News’s Kimberly Guilfoyle streetside posing for pictures, stopped to chat briefly with Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly on the FNC stage and watched as Anderson Cooper and Griffin played to the crowd below. Happy New Year all!

It’s officially a new year, and although this political cycle may feel like it has gone on forever already, Tuesday marks the official kickoff to the 2012 presidential election.

As we told you earlier,  Bob Schieffer and Norah O’Donnell will co-anchor the CBS morning show from Des Moines on Monday and Tuesday. “The Early Show” will broadcast the its final week in Iowa, with Jim Axelrod and Nancy Cordes co-anchoring Wednesday through Friday. Scott Pelley will also anchor the Monday and Tuesday editions of “Evening News” from Des Moines, providing primetime updates as caucus results come in.

NBC also begins 2012 in the Hawkeye state, with David Gregory hosting “Meet the Press” from Des Moines this morning. Savannah Guthrie will report for “Today” from Iowa through Wednesday of this week, and Brian Williams will present special reports as the caucus results are tallied Tuesday night.

On ABC, senior political correspondent Jon Karl will be on the ground in Iowa for “This Week,” which is hosted by Jake Tapper from Washington, DC, today, as well as across other ABC platforms. Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos will anchor special reports from New York Tuesday night.

New Year’s Eve is upon us, and there is a veritable cornucopia when it comes to choosing who to spend the evening with on television.

Below, our guide.

Broadcast

ABC: “Dick Clark‘s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2012″ 10PM-2AM with a local news break

The title is a bit wordy, but still the gold standard after 40 years, even if Clark is limited to a handful of  awkward appearances from a studio. Seacrest can more than hold his own. Musical guests include Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, LMFAO and Will.i.am.

NBC: “New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly” 10PM-12:30AM with a local news break

The former “TRL” host and current “Last Call” host holds down the fort on NBC, with appearances by Jimmy Fallon, Brian Williams, The Roots and Cee Lo Green.

Fox: “American Country New Year’s Eve Live” 11PM-12:30AM

Fox’s special is hosted by a comedian named Rodney Carrington and “Paws Stars” Rick Harrison and “Chumlee.” Toby Keith will perform.

Univision: “¡Feliz 2012!” 10PM-3:15AM

Hosted by “Sábado Gigante’”s Don Francisco, musical acts will include Gloria Trevi, Prince Royce and Chino y Nacho.

Cable News

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