Martha Puts $8.9M CT Home On Block; Donahue-Thomas Finalize $25M Sale Of Theirs [FishbowlNY]
Martha Stewart's long-rumored split from her Connecticut residence is official. Her 9-room, 3-bedroom, 3,168-square-foot, 200-year-old Colonial in Westport is listed by William Raveis real estate at $8,995,000. The property includes a heated pool, converted carriage house, "extensive flower and vegetable gardens" and something called a "party barn." FBNY: 15 pictures inside Stewart's estate.

'Is This Worth The Costs?' [TVNewser]
"The roadside blast in Baghdad on Monday that killed two CBS News crew members and seriously wounded a third has deepened concerns among television network executives about the risks their crews face trying to cover the Iraq war, some arguing that television reporters may be even more exposed than those in print journalism," Bill Carter writes in Wednesday's NYT.

HMV Officially Makes The Buy [GalleyCat]
Has the saga finally ended? Will WHSmith counter-offer? It's all so exhausting to keep up, but Reuters reports that HMV will finally, finally buy Ottakar's for a cut-price 62.8 million pounds (or a measly 285 pounds per share) to help its own books chain cope with stiff competition from supermarkets and the Internet.

Disney Hall Turns a Corner [UnBeige]
How does that little piece of tin foil fit in to L.A.'s future? At last night's AIGA/LA presentation, its designers gave a comprehensive overview of Walt Disney Concert Hall, how well it works for the L.A. Philharmonic, and what's in store for the Silver Queen.

Nieman Fellows Announced [FishbowlDC]
Harvard's Nieman Foundation announced their 2006-7 fellows and a few local folks were honored: Gina Acosta, editorial page copy editor at the Washington Post; Claudio Sanchez, national education correspondent for National Public Radio; Andrea McCarren, investigative reporter at WJLA-TV.

MGM: Sony Seems Short On Synergy [FishbowlLA]
Bizarre news today over at MGM: It's dumping its distribution arrangement with Sony and headed to Fox. That's more than a little odd, because Sony owns a fifth of MGM. MGM dumping Sony shows that Sir Howard Stringer has the tiger, er, lion, by the tail all along: Sony paid $3 billion last year so it could access MGM's massive library, not so it could be in the movie business with MGM. Now, the opposite has happened.

SalesRants: Tales From the Field [MBToolBox]
An undercover magazine ad exec reveals what it takes to get that all-consuming commission and quarterly bonus.