Mitt Romney

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney says he has accepted an apology from an MSNBC host who joked about a Christmas picture that included the 2012 Republican presidential candidate’s adopted, African-American […]

In a coda to the often contentious relationship between Mitt Romney’s staff and the press, news outlets are preparing to file a formal complaint to the Romney campaign contesting some of the seemingly inflated charges that were billed to them from the campaign trail.

The latest TV celebrity to come out in support of a presidential candidate.

Unlike other presidential campaigns, which typically outsource their ad reservations and placement to specialized firms with large teams that know how to make the most of the complicated FCC payment procedures, Romney does all his TV buying in-house through a lean operation headed by a single chief buyer.

The Republican presidential candidate reiterates his desire to eliminate funding for the Public Broadcasting Service if he wins the election in November. He also says that some business regulations are essential. “You can’t have a free market work if you don’t have regulation,” he said.

Mitt Romney has slapped down about $360,000 for his first week of Wisconsin TV ads, signaling a serious if not overwhelming play for the traditionally Democratic-leaning state. A source tracking the 2012 air war said Romney has reserved $361,216 on broadcast TV statewide from Sept. 12 to Sept. 18.

The GOP presidential nominee has seldom addressed issues specific to Hollywood, but his campaign has said that he will offer robust protections for intellectual property; still, in a presidential debate he came out against the Stop Online Piracy Act, the anti-piracy legislation that was sidelined in January amid protests from Internet activists and the tech industry.

Denver CBS affiliate KCNC reporter Shaun Boyd was told that an interview with Mitt Romney came with the stipulation that there would be no questions about abortion or Todd Akin. The station eventually agreed, but told viewers of the terms in the intro to the piece.

Paula Derger: “Elimination of funding would have almost no impact on the nation’s debt. Yet the loss to the American public would be devastating.”

The Republican presidential candidate says: “There are programs I would eliminate … the Amtrak subsidy, the PBS subsidy, the subsidy for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities. Some of these things, like those endowment efforts and PBS I very much appreciate and like what they do in many cases, but I just think they have to strand on their own rather than receiving money borrowed from other countries, as our government does on their behalf.”

Mitt Romney will hold interviews today with ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News and CNN that will run this evening, sources say. The network interviews, which will be taped this afternoon, will air during the nightly news casts.

NBC-owned WTVJ Miami is reportedly continuing to air a Mitt Romney ad that the network has asked Romney to pull, prompting charges of hypocrisy. But the situation isn’t particularly surprising since broadcasters are legally required to run any ads candidates present — as is. NBC and former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw asked Romney’s campaign to drop the ad — which consists almost entirely of a clip from a 1997 Nightly News broadcast discussing then House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s reprimand for ethics violations.

PBS President Paula Kerger said Wednesday that she recognizes the United States has to make tough budget decisions but defended PBS as an effective public-private partnership. She said viewers should oppose Mitt Romney’s call to end funding of the noncommercial programmer.

The GOP presidential candidate tells supporters in Iowa that he wants advertisements on Sesame Street.

NAB President and former U.S. senator from Oregon Gordon Smith yesterday released  a statement saying former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney “has a proven job creation record as governor and in the private sector.”