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We've got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump...
Gore Vidal is 83. David Obey is 70. Sen. Bingaman is 65. Gov. Bob Riley is 64. Al Sharpton is 54. Almost all of you were planning on watching the debate last night. Check out today's White House Photo of the Day from Time. Today's "Angry Journalist" rant of the day: "I'm angry because my co-worker is a moron!"
The New York Observer reports, "Mike Nizza, blogger behind The New York Times' The Lede, is moving over to The Atlantic to do Web projects. Nizza had been a Web producer at The Times since 2000, and was a key player into the growth of nytimes.com. He left the producing ranks in 2007 to became a blogger for the paper's news digest blog after founding blogger Tom Zeller left for National Geographic."
The Washington Post reports, "McLean-based Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, said it drew on a revolving credit line to ensure it has funds to repay its commercial paper. Companies sell commercial paper, which matures in nine months or less, to help pay for day-to-day expenses, including payroll and rent. The action was taken in response to credit-market disruption, Gannett said. The publisher of USA Today said it has significant credit available under a $3.9 billion revolving credit line, in excess of its $2 billion in commercial paper outstanding. Standard & Poor's said it may lower Gannett's BBB+ corporate credit rating, the eighth-highest investment grade, and its A-2 commercial paper rating. The ratings company cited the worsening decline in newspaper advertising."
AJR reports, "The economic and technological forces behind the collapse of newspapers"
A CNN release announced, "As the clock winds down toward Election Day, CNN political contributor and national radio talk show host Bill Bennett delves into the deeper issues that affect Americans today. The one-hour special, titled Beyond the Politics with Bill Bennett, will air Saturday, Oct. 4, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. The discussion will look past the stories of the moment to focus on the fundamentals of American society and its ideals. Joining Bennett in the discussion will be Amy Holmes, a CNN political contributor; David Gerlernter, a computer science professor at Yale University; Steve Waldman, the editor-in-chief of Beliefnet.com; and Alan Wolfe, a professor of political science at Boston College. Bennett will ask tough questions about Americans' confidence in their elected leaders and the future of the nation. A second Bill Bennett-hosted special is scheduled to air Saturday, Oct.11, at 6 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 12, at 2 p.m."
The AP reports that Fox News anchor Shepard Smith is among six people being inducted into the University of Mississippi Alumni Hall of Fame.
A release announced, "USA TODAY, the Nation’s top-selling newspaper, has launched nearly 200,000 online topics pages on its web site USATODAY.com. Topics pages can be found at topics.usatoday.com or by following links in story pages on USATODAY.com."
Washingtonpost.com's Comic Riffs features an interview with "Alt-Political Cartoonist" Ted Rall.
Calibre reports, "The Washington Times Engages Inform Technologies to Enhance Online Experience in Major Website Redesign"
Gawker reports, "How Not To Turn Alt-Weeklies Into Crappy Blog Clones"
Brand Republic reports, "Wall Street Journal US election news available on Yahoo!"
A release announced, "Counting down to the historic Vice-Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, iVillage, the first online community of women, launched 'Voice Your Choice': www.ivillage.com/voiceyourchoice to give women a place to connect about the election with vibrant message boards, links to insightful blogs and related content, and open forums for discussion."
The Boston Phoenix reports, "Given the media's reputation for self-absorption, it's remarkable how little attention the press has paid to the crackdown on journalists during September's Republican National Convention. While the exact tally varies from source to source, it seems that close to 50 journalists were detained or arrested in St. Paul (out of approximately 800 arrests total) while covering protests outside the convention. Some of them were treated gently and released quickly, but others were held at length or roughed up by the police."
The Pew Weekly News Interest Index shows, "Interest in news about the U.S. economy skyrocketed last week, with 70% of Americans following economic developments very closely, up from 56% the previous week. From a historical perspective, interest in news about the current economic crisis, while not quite as high as interest in the Challenger disaster or 9/11, rivals interest in other major news stories of the past 20 years."
National Journal reports, "The Director Of Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism Discusses The Changing Dynamics Of Covering The Race"
The Hartford Courant reports, "As William F. Buckley Jr.'s only child, satirist and former White House aide Christopher Buckley is poised to inherit a fortune worth tens of millions of dollars. But as Buckley waits for the estate of his late father to go through probate court in Stamford, a former Random House publicist is fighting in a Miami courtroom to increase the $3,000 a month in child support he pays for the special-needs son he fathered with her."
Forbes' James Bradywrites, "Wall Street isn't the only hurting industry in town. Madison Avenue's annual 'Ad Week' just ended, with media, clients and ad agencies confronting their own woes without a Washington bailout in sight"
B&C reports, "Media-Stock Gains Lag Behind Wall Street Rebound"
Bloomberg reports, "U.S. media and entertainment companies have 'generally healthy' liquidity and will be supported by predictable revenue and high profit margins in the current credit crunch, Fitch Ratings said in a report."
