updated twice below 

As I predicted when Johnston was kidnapped (a story I started following when it happened and which I tracked through its many ebbs and flows when the MSM did not), Hamas has lost no time freeing him and grabbing credit for it:

The leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said Johnston's freedom showed his Islamist movement had brought order to the Gaza Strip, where it seized power in a bloody coup last month.

He said: "We have been able to close this chapter which has harmed the image of our people greatly. The efforts by Hamas have produced the freedom of Alan Johnston."

Meshaal regrets the episode:

"We had expressed our regret in the name of the Palestinian people at the abduction of the respected journalist Alan Johnston, which represented an offence to our people.

"Today we celebrate with Johnston’s family, the BBC and our people the freedom of Alan Johnston,” Mashaal said.

I eagerly await Alan Johnston's mash note to Hamas.

UPDATE 1:  That was quick. CNN just carried part of a news conference with Ismail Haniyeh and Alan Johnston. Anderson Cooper was the height of caution as he discussed the live footage with his colleage Ben Wedeman. Cautiously, Cooper reminded the audience that of course Johnston was still in the hands of Hamas and that he was in front of the camera with the "dismissed" Palestinian prime minister.

Then the camera and mic stayed on Johnston, and Cooper and Wedeman fell silent as Johnston talked about how he had feared for his life, how he thought this would go on and on, how his abductors felt quite comfortable with their situation until a few weeks ago, when Heroic Hamas took control of Gaza and provided safety and security to all its people blah blah blah.

To which CNN's Wedeman enthused that Johnston was obviously no worse for the wear, because he was talking so volubly–and Wedeman got all excited about his scoop, now "confirmed" by Johnston, that Johnston's kidnappers were somehow in league with Fatah.

And so does CNN act as the eager public relations representative of Hamas.

Is everyone comfortable with that? I'm not. Because the MSM seems to have learned nothing since Jill Carroll, swathed in full hijab, was "interviewed" by Iraqi intermediaries upon her "release" from captivity in Baghdad.

This is what I mean when I say that it's not the content of the stories that makes "hard news." A "report" on Alan Johnston's release such as the one by Ben Wedeman, which serves to smear Fatah on Johnston's say-so and on Hamas's behalf, isn't hard news. It's sensationalism. 

UPDATE 2: Here's a link to the AC 360 transcript, which isn't complete as of this writing (the show just ended). 

A new day has dawned: the words "Muslim" and "terrorism" may not be uttered in the same breath by officialdom in Britain, where—thank goodness!—the War on Terror is no more.

Gordon Brown has banned ministers from using the word “Muslim” in ­connection with the ­terrorism crisis.

The Prime Minister has also instructed his team – including new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith – that the phrase “war on ­terror” is to be dropped.

The shake-up is part of a fresh attempt to improve community relations and avoid offending Muslims, adopting a more “consensual” tone than existed under Tony Blair.

Blair, for his part, was rather more pointed in his language on the eve of his departure from office last week (but hasn't been heard from since the new round of terrorist incidents in London and Glasgow, as far as I can determine):

'The idea that as a Muslim in this country that you don't have the freedom to express your religion or your views, I mean you've got far more freedom in this country than you do in most Muslim countries,' Blair told Observer columnist Will Hutton, who presents the documentary.
'The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."'

Not content to blast Islamist-inspired faux grievances, Blair also took aim at the biens-pensants of Britain:

 'When I'm trying to change the law in order to make it easier to deport people who engage in terrorism - the idea that that's an assault on hundreds of years of British civil liberties is completely absurd. Some of what is written on this is loopy-loo in its extremism.' 

And some of what is said by British officialdom is "loopy-loo" in its bland, bored generalizations about those "criminals" who commit terrorist acts, and its craven gratitude toward the "community leaders" who condemn those acts:

Let us be clear: terrorists are criminals whose victims come from all walks of life, communities and religious backgrounds. Terrorists attack the values that are shared by all law-abiding citizens. As a Government, as communities and as individuals we need to ensure that the message of the terrorists is rejected. I very much welcome the strong messages of condemnation that we have heard throughout the weekend from community leaders across the country. It is through our unity that the terrorists will eventually be defeated.

As Gateway Pundit reports, the AP is equally straightforward in its reporting on the terrorists:

Diverse group allegedly in British plot
By DAVID RISING, Associated Press Writer

Young Muslim immigrant medical professionals in Britain—a very diverse group indeed!

There comes a time in the life of every defender of infotainment when she reaches her limit. This is mine. 

What does it really mean to be an American? What is independence? It's not about being left or right — it's about choice between right and wrong.

Celebrate your independence with Glenn Beck — in a CNN special event, "We The People," all this week at 8 p.m. ET.

Celebrate my independence with a self-professed rodeo clown?

Why, I'd rather watch the Rev. Al Sharpton host Hardball!

Dang—missed it!