The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded this Friday. And rumor has it that a certain tow-headed Californian whose name rhymes with Bark Tuckerberg is in serious contention to win.

From the LA Times:

It may seem unlikely, but on Wednesday Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, made some provocative comments that fueled speculation Zuckerberg could be a contender for the prestigious award.

“For me and the committee it is quite obvious if you look at the world today and see what is happening out there,” Jagland said in an interview with the Associated Press. “What are the major forces pushing the world in the right direction?”

Read more

Person We’re Most Jealous Of Today: Deborah Netburn. That lucky so-and-so got get her fangirl on at Wondercon last week, where she heard Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and X-Files creator/deity Chris Carter talk about the new X-Files film coming out this summer. Well, actually, she didn’t get to hear much. “The fans screamed throughout the whole 45 minutes.”

And You Thought Insurance Companies Just Got In The Way Of Life-Saving Medical Procedures: Turns out, they also have a terrible effect on Indie films. Maybe Hillary should refocus.

Never Mind: Former GE exec Beth Comstock is now current GE exec Beth Comstock. The marketing chief who was sent to NBC Universal HQ two years ago, never really fit in, so she’s back at her previous post. That’s gotta be kinda weird for her.

No longer is the Web just the neglected stepchild of the newsroom. In today’s fast-paced world of online journalism, the Web is king (or whatever).

That means journalists have new responsibilities, new sets of skills, and, of course, new titles. The kind Ms. Deborah Netburn answers our query as to what, exactly, her job is:

My actual title in our system is writer online, but I’d say I’m an entertainment reporter for latimes.com. Does that mean picture beat reporter? well, yes. 80 percent of the time.

That sounds like “blogger” to us, but we won’t quibble. Gracias, Deborah! Keep up the good work.

Funniest Lede: Deborah Netburn wins the kiss with this lede about how depleted our TiVos have become during the writers’ strike: “Boop. Boop. Boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop. BONK.” OK. It was funny to us.

Fin: Jill Grey has filed for divorce after 25 years of marriage to Paramount Pictures head Brad Grey.

I’m Mad As Hell And … Whatever: Tom O’Neil is embarrassed by the Golden Globes fiasco. Again, we gotta ask, is it really a shock that the network would forgo “news” for fluff?

Live Girls! Nude! Nude! The LAT is clearly smitten with Diablo Cody — it’s as though no one there has ever gotten this close to a stripper before. In what we think might be the third story about her this week, the Juno scribe appears in the lede of another one of those weird Deborah Netburn picture-book things.

A Lede We Liked: OK, so it kinda wrote itself, but we want to give Josh Friedman props for this lovely lede: “No one in Hollywood quite knows where The Golden Compass is pointing, though it appears to be south of blockbuster status.”

Guess Sam Zell’s Getting It After All: The $8.2-billion deal to sell the Tribune Co. to Sam Zell is nearing completion. What does this mean for the state of the industry? Who knows? But apparently it’s good for Wall Street: Trib stock jumped nearly 8% at the news.

We Weren’t Wasting Time. We Were Doing Research: Need convincing that Deborah Netburn and Patrick Day have the easiest jobs at the paper? Read what they get paid to do.

End In Sight? After four days of silence, the AMPTP put out a press release announcing it has offered new proposals for digital revenue. The WGA has asked for time to examine the proposals. Both sides agreed to meet again beginning Dec. 4.

A Cheat-Sheet For Your Office Pool: Reporter Josh Friedman kicks off a new weekly feature that predicts weekend box office take. No word on how many shots Friedman has to take each time he’s wrong.

Did You Lose Your Job Because Your Media Company Wanted To Make Itself More Profitable Before A Buyout? Then you’ll want to read this story. Nothing like shot of schadenfreude for breakfast.

The China Syndrome: Reporter Richard Verrier kinda sorta suggests that all that antifreeze in our tooth paste may pay off for the music industry. With concern at an all-time high over China’s shady business practices, now may be the time that Congress really cracks down on the People’s Republic of Bootlegging. (BTW we pirated this image from filmjunk.com)

WTF? We go on vacation for two weeks, and the Los Angeles Times starts offering “Pop Culture Talking Points?” And Mr. Bean makes the cut? Deborah Netburn, we demand an explanation.

Lonely Girl 15 creators get another crack at turning their storytelling skills into cash, according to Deborah Netburn in the LAT. Bebo.com will host Lonelygirl15 Presents…KateModern, with a 19 year old British student, her friends, family and some occult-ish forces.

Sounds a great deal like Hex on the BBC.

Also sounds like Kate Modern, which sounds like Tate Modern. No one said they were very original.

Miles Beckett, Greg Goodfried and Mesh Flanders are looking for writers and directors in London, where Beckett will executive-produce. They’re all excited that there’s enough money to do the web series, which will debut in early July.

Read more

Not content with Richard Rushfield’s harassment of an innocent child, the LA Times sends Deborah Netburn on a trip to Riverside in search of Ashley Ferl, the American Idol crying girl.

Nothing happens. Didn’t talk to her. Talked to colorful local characters. Found teenager who claims to know Ashley. Drove back, wrote story.

FBLA wonders if this story is meant to remind readers how dull local news can be.

And of course, Ashley wasn’t hanging around boring old Riverside. She went to New York to beon the Today Show.

FBLA loves that the LA Times found people who love, love, love Studio 60. Aaron Sorkin blasted writer, Deborah Netburn and others by name for daring to critize his show, and for interviewing the low-life losers who don’t think it’s funny, insightful, or the product of the most creative genius on the planet.

One of the aforementioned losers, writer Ken Levine, has extended the olive twig to Sorkin, writing

I do have empathy for Sorkin. It’s not easy creating in a negative environment. But I think he makes it harder on himself by being so defensive. There’s no witch hunt. No one is attacking him personally.

Read more