The Media Week in Review

So what happened in the media world last week? As SARS worries floated in the spring air, reporters wound down from the Iraq war, television geared up for May sweeps, and everyone got a little self-reflective. Lawsuits, scandals, hirings, and firings marked the week, while the FCC moved closer to its June deregulation vote and Tina Brown debuted her new CNBC talk show with a lot of excitement but only a few viewers.

Columnists continued to assess the effects of the Iraq war on journalism, while television networks said they expected that coverage from the Persian Gulf, though reduced, would continue for a long time to come. Slate columnist Jack Shafer thought the system of embedding, while successful, could be improved for future wars, and an article in the American Journalism Review questioned whether the unparalleled access and riveting live coverage from Iraq actually produced a complete picture of the war. New York magazine media editor Simon Dumenco described how he managed columnist Michael Wolff's trip to the Gulf, and some asserted that the reality of reporter deaths had tempered romantic notions of war journalism. Colin Powell said Thursday that American troops appeared to have acted in self-defense when they killed two journalists working for Spanish television and Reuters in Baghdad, and the U.S. government laid further groundwork for a major Arabic-language satellite television network, which will broadcast to the Middle East. In the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, satellite dish sales soared.

The debate continued over the FCC's imminent decision on whether to relax media-ownership restrictions, scheduled for a June 2 vote. While independent television producers urged regulators to delay the vote, at a meeting of the Newspaper Association of America, FCC chairman Michael Powell made the case that further deregulation would make the media more democratic. But a diverse array of critics lined up to fight FCC on the new regulations: Los Angeles Times critic Michael Hiltzik asserted that the deregulation strategy was an self-interested ploy by the media conglomerate; Boston Globe columnist Mark Jurkowitz profiled four activists waging "a lonely battle against consolidation in the name of what they say is diversity, fairness, and public interest". In the left-leaning Counterpunch, Iain Boal decried the proposed laws, arguing and that further deregulation would only hinder independent broadcasters and line the pockets of big media. And even mogul Barry Diller slammed the expected new laws, arguing that a concentration of media power is bad for the viewer.

The annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner predictably paired up some odd couples among the high and mighty, as members of the Bush administration mingled with often-critical members of the press. The New York Observer's Sridhar Pappu observed Tina Brown and Steve Brill sitting together, both erstwhile icons of '90s media glamour. In her London Times column, Brown herself noted the lack of glitz at the dinner and theorized that the administration shunned star power. Former Saturday Night Live star (and outspoken liberal) Al Franken lobbed a barb at Defense Department hawk Paul Wolfowitz. In his speech at the dinner, President Bush shunned the usual comedic schticks and instead praised NBC's David Bloom and Atlantic Monthly editor Michael Kelly, both of whom died last month while embedding with troops in Iraq.

MSNBC correspondent Ashleigh Banfield ripped the cable networks' "glorious" coverage of the war in Iraq and later in the week was taken to task for her words by NBC News President Neal Shapiro, who "bawled her out" for including her own network in her criticism. Some speculated, however, that Banfield—whose contact is up at year's end—delivered the speech in a calculated attempt to get noticed by CNN.

In Seattle, a joint-operating agreement between the city's two major newspapers came under question as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer sued the Seattle Times. Frank Blethen, whose family controls the Times, charged that P-I owner Hearst is using the agreement to "bleed" his paper, which has a larger circulation. In an analysis of the dispute, The Wall Street Journal predicted that the spat would likely result in one of the papers biting the dust.

In Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune did some soul-searching as a scandal erupted over the revelation that two reporters had sold information to the National Enquirer for $20,000. The two were fired. Rival paper Deseret News had a field day covering the scandal, and the week ended with the Tribune's editor, James E. Shellady, resigning over the flap.

The New York Times had its own scandal, too. Reporter Jayson Blair resigned over allegations that he had more-or-less copied large passages from an article that had appeared in a Texas newspaper and presented them as his own work. Times executive editor Howell Raines issued an apology to the paper's readers; an investigation of Blair's work will continue despite his resignation. However, London's Guardian took a lighter approach to the "scandal," riffing that in the U.K., and at the tabloids especially, it is a "badge of honour" to be able to present a piece of work first published in a rival paper as its own.

Tina Brown's new, quarterly chat show, Topic A, the premiere of which been delayed by the war, debuted on CNBC, with signifigant buzz in the papers. The show drew fairly positive reviews—across the ideological spectrum, from The Weekly Standard to Slate—but only a smattering of viewers, a mere 74,000, according to Nielsen.

The Canadian Senate commissioned a study to determine whether Canadians are being well served by the hundreds of traditional and new-media information providers. In the Arab world, the quick end to the war brought a time of media reflection, as viewers reacted to the way that they were obviously misled by their news broadcasters during the war. The Chinese government passed a measure which would fine news organizations giving out false information about SARS. And a new law in the Ukraine made it illegal for government officials to "deliberately intervene in the professional work of journalists."

The revolving door: West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, one of TV's best known writers, announced he is leaving the Emmy-winning NBC show. New GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson began to define his nascent regime, firing longtime writers James Ellroy, Joe Queenan, and Terry Rafferty. Reports surfaced that Mort Zuckerman was looking to trim staff at the New York Daily News, and Reader's Digest announced the layoff of 200 staffers in an effort to cut costs. Greg Gutfeld, the controversial editor in chief of Stuff, stepped down, and The New York Times ran a profile detailing Gutfield's unusual exploits. Craig Moon, executive vice president of Gannett's newspaper division, was named president and publisher of USA Today, and a New York Post article reported that NBC was grooming Jeff Zucker to be the company's chairman.

More than three years after the internet bubble burst, Slate, Microsoft's web magazine, announced it had actually become profitable. Betting that the reality-TV phenomenon isn't just a passing fad, a group of television executives announced they'll launch a new cable network, Reality Central, in January. Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera, whose reporters had been banned from the New York Stock Exchange in March, was told it would be readmitted, effective today. Nerve.com editor-in-chief Michael Martin addressed the sexual orientation of Details magazine, recently called into question by both Maxim and Radar, and argued that the magazine's cynicism actually brands it as "asexual."

David S. Hirschman is mediabistro.com's news editor and a freelance writer and editor. You can click here to the Daily Media News Feed by email.