The NYTimes’ Amy Chozik has a piece on Pres. Obama and his love, hate relationship with the media.

“The news media have played a crucial role in Mr. Obama’s career, helping to make him a national star,” Chozik writes. “As president, however, he has come to believe the news media have had a role in frustrating his ambitions to change the terms of the country’s political discussion.”

While Mr. Obama frequently criticizes the heated speech of cable news, he sees what he views as deeper problems in news outlets that strive for objectivity. In private meetings with columnists, he has talked about the concept of “false balance” — that reporters should not give equal weight to both sides of an argument when one side is factually incorrect. He frequently cites the coverage of health care and the stimulus package as examples, according to aides familiar with the meetings.

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Lolo Jones, who finished fourth in the finals of the 100M hurdles Tuesday, went on “Today” this morning and, fighting back tears, said a Saturday New York Times story that compared her to Anna Kournikova, the former tennis pro known more for her good looks than her play on the court, didn’t help her performance. Jones tells Savannah Guthrie, “I think it was crazy just because it was two days before I competed, and then the fact that it was from a U.S. media. They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me to shreds.”

Earlier on TVNewser: FBN’s Sandra Smith Cheers on “Running Mate” Lolo Jones

“Their Finest Hour,” a Tom Brokaw documentary in honor of host country Great Britain, will premiere on Saturday during NBC’s daytime coverage of the London Olympics which starts at 10amET/PT.

“Their Finest Hour,” which was shot across Britain over the course of two years, explores the years leading up to America’s entry into World War II. In 1940 and 1941 Britain stood firm against Nazi terror. And, as historian Anthony Beevor recalls in the documentary, Hitler would have ruled all of Europe, and there would have been very little the United States could have done about it.

The documentary includes recently discovered color film footage of the period. Airing the day before the Closing Ceremony, NBC says “Their Finest Hour” is a tribute to England as the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

NBC’s record-breaking ratings during its Olympic coverage contributed to a slow week for the ad-supported cable networks not under the NBC Universal umbrella.

Fox News Channel placed third in primetime and fifth in total day among all ad-supported cable networks. FNC averaged 1.57 million viewers in primetime and 973,000 viewers in total day. MSNBC placed 22nd in primetime with 702,000 viewers; in total day, the network got a boost from Olympic coverage, placing 19th with 534,000 viewers. CNN was 38th in prime and 37th in total day with 318,000 and 294,000 viewers, respectively.

HLN placed 41st in prime and 42nd in total day with 283,000 and 232,000 viewers, respectively. Current TV was 91st in primetime and 94th in total day with 30,000 and 22,000 viewers, respectively.

Among the business networks, CNBC’s primetime Olympic coverage propelled the network to 51st with 184,000 viewers. CNBC placed 47th in total day with 164,000 viewers. Fox Business placed 87th in primetime and 83rd in total day with 42,000 and 48,000 viewers, respectively. Bloomberg TV has not rated by Nielsen since its launch in 1994.

The full cable network ranker is after the jump.

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25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 270| MSNBC: NA*| CNN: 96 | HLN: 78

• Primetime: FNC: 378 | MSNBC: 267 | CNN: 112 | HLN: 104

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
FNC	TheFive:	Baier:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:	Greta:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:
	282	292	393	529	365	241	255	209
MSNBC	Olympics:	Sharpton:	Matthews:	EdShow:	Maddow:	O’Donnell:	EdShow:	Maddow:
	NA*	198	261	248	303	250	155	148
CNN	Blitzer:	Blitzer:	Burnett:	Cooper:	Morgan:	Cooper:	Burnett:	Morgan:
	93	108	92	102	131	104	83	79
HLN	Express:	Express:	VelezMitchell:	Grace:	DrDrew:	Grace:	Showbiz:	DrDrew:
	75	45	102	65	122	126	45	56

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25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 201 | MSNBC: NA* | CNN: 76 | HLN: 144

• Primetime: FNC: 156 | MSNBC: 188 | CNN: 79 | HLN: 125

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
Fox News	NewsHQ:	NewsHQ:	Report:	Huckabee:	Pirro:	Mancow:	JER/FNWatch:	Pirro:
	150	199	213	185	111	172	99	93
MSNBC	Olympics:	Olympics:	Doc:	Lockup:	Lockup:	Lockup:	Lockup:	Lockup:
	NA*	NA*	171	199	167	198	253	295
CNN	Newsroom:	Blitzer:	Newsroom:	Presents:	Cont.:	Newsroom:	Presents:	Cont.:
	86	59	46	65	110	63	56	128
HLN	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:
	148	133	115	168	126	80	180	252

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Like most people who work in TV news, Melissa Francis took a round about way to her current job as anchor on Fox Business Network. It started with acting, continued at Harvard, and included many stops along the way. “You know you’re paying your dues for a long time to get where you want to go, but now that I’m there I think it was definitely worth it.”

• Part I: Monday, Melissa Francis on Being a Child Actor: “I’m one of the people that loved it.”

• Part III: Wednesday, Francis tells all in Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter

• Ever wonder how Bloomberg TV’s Adam Johnson got his start in the business? By approaching Dylan Ratigan, who was an anchor on CNBC at the time, while he was jogging in Central Park. “I said, ‘You should have me on your show.’ I told him, ‘I’ll make you look good and make your viewers money,’” Johnson told WAG Magazine.

• Anthony Bourdain talks to AdWeek about his move to CNN, where he will host a weekend show. “There are a lot of places where me and my team have been wanting to make television for a long time and haven’t been able to,” he said. “And CNN has the infrastructure and inclination to make those places doable.”

• CNN is publishing a five-part series on virtual gaming’s impact on society this week. “Gaming Reality” will be featured on Brooke Baldwin‘s 2pmET show on CNN, as well as on CNN International.

With 6.35 million viewers, Monday’s “Today” show was its second-best outing since May 2011. (Its best came last Friday with 6.45 million). “Today” drew +1.92 million more viewers than “Good Morning America,” according to Nielsen Fast National data. Compared to the second Monday in Beijing, Aug., 18, 2008, “Today” was up +12% in total viewers. Today’s show featured Matt Lauer‘s interview with Michael Phelps, the most-decorated Olympian ever.

Last week, the first week of the games, “Today” was on par with its numbers from the first week in Beijing. “Today” averaged 6.50 million total viewers for the week of July 30, 2012 vs. 6.52 million for the week of Aug. 11, 2008.

The week before the games — July 23 — “Good Morning America” won in both total viewers and A25-54 viewers for the first time in nearly 17 years.

CNN’s heavy coverage of the Wisconsin shooting continues today. The network has Anderson Cooper, Randi Kaye, Ted Rowlands, Poppy Harlow and Brian Todd on the ground in Wisconsin.

Cooper will host “AC360″ from Oak Creek, WI, again tonight. On yesterday’s program, he sat down with the wife and son of Satwant Singh Kaleka, the Sikh Temple president who died in the shooting. Watch: