Two Cents

"It goes without saying she can't cover California politics."

NBC News President Neal Shapiro to The Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes on Maria Shriver's return to Dateline.

"Election night can be an awkward TV evening for a lot of viewers because, on the one hand, the citizen in us thinks we should watch the results, and on the other, it's usually really boring. At least until everyone starts messing up."

Rick Kushman, The Sacramento Bee, on the California recall election.

"[Arnold Schwarzenegger] is going to treat [California Lt. Gov.] Cruz Bustamante like Gray Davis treated Cruz Bustamante: as a superfluous third nipple."

Joe Getty of KSTE(AM) Rancho Cordova, Calif.'s The Armstrong & Getty Show.

"Obviously, decisions had to be made. A lot of people's livelihoods were wrapped up in the show. You have crews and writers and actors, people earning a living from the show. You had to make decisions."

Lloyd Braun, chairman of ABC Entertainment Television Group, on the network's decision to continue John Ritter's sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, to The New York Times' Bernard Weinraub.

"What is devastating is that across the country there are women fighting enormous obstacles in the TV sports world. Every time a network hires a beauty queen instead of a reporter, the obstacles become more overwhelming."

David Locke, for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, on ABC's hiring of former cheerleader Lisa Guerrero as a sideline reporter for Monday Night Football.

"Intellectual property is not some casual piece of our economy; it is the gut and gristle of it."

MPAA President Jack Valenti on digital piracy, to the editors of the Los Angeles Times.

"Because the media are everywhere—and inspire much resentment—their influence is routinely exaggerated. The mistake is in confusing visibility with power, and the media are often complicit in the confusion."

Robert J. Samuelson, The Washington Post, on the exaggeration of big media's power.