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Gingrich Blasts CNN, ABC Over Ex-Wife's Tale: 'I Am Astounded That CNN Would Take Trash Like That And Use It To Open A Presidential Debate' (TVNewser)
At the start of Thursday night's GOP debate at the North Charleston Coliseum, moderator John King asked Newt Gingrich about the ABC News interview in which Gingrich's second wife claims that Newt asked her to engage in an open marriage. Not only did he deny it, he bawled out King and CNN for daring to ask about it. Yahoo! News / The Ticket: "The destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that," Gingrich said. HuffPost: Gingrich: "Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary, a significant question in a presidential campaign, is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine. My two daughters wrote the head of ABC and made the point that it was wrong, that they should pull it, and I am, frankly, astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate." TVNewser: "I have been covering politics for 25 years," King told Anderson Cooper after the debate. "I understood that if I asked the question, he was not going to be happy with it, and he was going to turn on me. Knew that coming in. It was my judgment, my decision, and mine alone. If we're going to deal with it, let's deal with it up front, let's not try to sneak it into the middle of the debate somewhere. And people at home either agree with that or disagree with that. You make the decision, you ask the question, and this is politics." HuffPost: Speaking on a CNN panel, King said he had a friendly conversation with Gingrich after the debate was over. He called it a "damned if do you, damned if you don't" situation. "Is it an issue I'm happy came up?" he said. "Of course not." But he came firmly down on the idea that, since people were talking about Gingrich's past, the issue was worth raising. Yahoo! News / The Ticket: Marianne Gingrich said late Thursday that she is standing by the explosive allegations -- revealed in an interview with ABC News -- that her ex-husband asked her to agree to an open marriage before their divorce. NYT / Media Decoder: The television interview of Marianne Gingrich was initiated back in November, when ABC News was looking into an old federal investigation that involved the family. Mediaite: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lit into the media for their coverage of Gingrich's ex-wife's claims that the former Speaker of the House asked for an "open marriage," telling Sean Hannity on his radio show, they "overplayed their hand." CNET / Privacy Inc.: All four Republican presidential candidates Thursday denounced a pair of controversial Hollywood-backed copyright bills, lending a sharp partisan edge to Wednesday's protest against the legislation by Wikipedia, Google, and thousands of other websites. TheWrap.com / Media Alley: Keith Olbermann is anchoring Current TV's election coverage, and he's doing it his way. CJR / The Swing States Project: In 2004, it was the Swift Boat ads. Today in Ohio, we've seen the Swift Beard ads.

Online Ad Spending To Pass Print For The First Time, Forecast Says (AdAge / MediaWorks)
Online advertising spending will cruise past print in the United States this year for the first time, according to a new forecast by eMarketer. TechCrunch: The engine of Google's business is search advertising, but its display advertising business is becoming a very large business. During Thursday's earnings call, CEO Larry Page said Google's display advertising business is at an "annualized run rate of $5 billion." ReadWriteWeb: U.S. advertisers spend nearly $40 billion per year for online advertisements, but 31 percent of their ads are never seen. Folio: The vCE (Validated Campaign Essentials) Charter Study, which focused on 12 national brands like Allstate, Chrysler, and Ford, finds that "in many cases, ads are delivered but not in-view or on target, and, therefore, never had a chance to make an impact."

Newsday President Terry Jimenez Replaced By Publisher Fred Groser (NY Observer)
Terry Jimenez has stepped down as president of Newsday Media Group, Cablevision local media president Tad Smith told staff Tuesday. He has been replaced by Fred Groser, who has been publisher of Newsday and commuter freebie amNewYork for the past two years.

As Seacrest Makes Deals, A Potential Role On Today Still Looms (NYT / Media Decoder)
When Ryan Seacrest called Thursday to talk about his investment in HDNet -- the cable channel that will, with his help, become AXS TV later this year -- we had to ask about his possible presence on another channel.

Team Katie Outlines Its Battle Plan (B&C)
Katie Couric's new talk show is the highest-profile entry in next year's crowded talk-show field.

What's Behind The Grumbling At Rodale? (Fortune)
Rodale -- the independent publisher of lifestyle magazines Men's Health and Runner's World, as well as books ranging from the South Beach Diet to Howard Schultz's Onward -- has quietly suffered a stinging series of high-level departures. The reason, sources say, is frustration with CEO Maria Rodale, who took over in September 2009.

Condé Nast CEO Plans Meeting For Editors (WWD / Memo Pad)
Ever so slowly, the editors at Condé Nast are getting to know their company's CEO more and more. Early next month, for the first time, Charles Townsend will host a meeting for all Condé Nast editors-in-chief to give them a review of what's happening on the business side.

International Herald Tribune Names New Managing Editor (Poynter / MediaWire)
A replacement has been named for Thomas Redburn just one day after the International Herald Tribune announced that its managing editor would be returning to The New York Times, which owns the paper. Dave Smith will be the new IHT managing editor, according to a note from Redburn and executive editor Alison Smale.

Reuters Considers Magazine After Producing Issue For Davos (Poynter / MediaWire)
Reuters is seriously considering getting into the magazine business after producing a slick, 64-page proof-of-concept issue for next week's World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Esquire Uses Clinton To Lead Print Readers To Video (NYT / Media Decoder)
As Republicans battle to see who will win the presidential nomination, a familiar Democrat is turning up on covers of Esquire magazine's February edition: Bill Clinton.

Fitness Mag Comes To Cheerios Boxes (minOnline)
Back in the day, one of the crowning achievements in a sports career was seeing that star's face on a Wheaties cereal box. It is a different era now, when people's own physical state is of greater concern than athlete hero worship. But cereal boxes remain one of the major platforms from which to grab consumer attention. And so Fitness magazine partners with Cheerios for the next six months on a project that brings the magazine brand to millions of breakfast tables.

CBS Already Notching Sales For Next Year's Super Bowl (AdAge / MediaWorks)
Weeks before the kickoff for Super Bowl XLVI even takes place on NBC, CBS said it has already sold a few spots in next year's Super Bowl. Forbes: NBC pretty much sold out its Super Bowl ad inventory by Labor Day of last year, which is amazing in this economy. The network wisely held back a few units for stragglers who wanted in but were late to the party. Those advertisers ponied up as much as $3.5 million for 30 seconds of ad time on the big game telecast. In an era where some may proclaim that TV is dead, how does this example of super premium TV advertising command such a high price tag? LA Times / Company Town: This week, Volkswagen and Deutsch LA took the unusual step of releasing a "teaser" ad for its upcoming Super Bowl spot. "The Bark Side" is a commercial for the upcoming VW Super Bowl commercial. Adweek: History is placing a big wager on the Super Bowl, plunking down millions for a 30-second spot in the National Football League's showcase game. AdAge / MediaWorks: Watching the Super Bowl? Chevrolet's got an app for that. NYT / Media Decoder: The Chevrolet division of General Motors, one of many car brands that will be advertised during Super Bowl XLVI Feb. 5, is seeking to stand out by offering an app that viewers can use during the game to play games, interact with one another through Twitter, and win prizes.

Oprah Winfrey's Bodyguards Rough Up Indian Journalists (THR)
Oprah Winfrey's visit Thursday to the northern Indian holy city of Vrindavan (about 90 miles from the capital Delhi) ended up making news for the wrong reasons, with reports indicating that some of the talk show's bodyguards were involved in a scuffle with Indian journalists who were covering her visit.

USA Today Debuts Facebook Open Graph Application (AllFacebook)
Extra! Extra! Gannett's national newspaper jumped aboard the Facebook open graph applications bandwagon with the launch of USA Today + Me. 10,000 Words: Mark S. Luckie -- founder of 10,000 Words, and now full-time social media guy at The Washington Post -- invited readers to subscribe to the newspaper's staff on Facebook.

Fox Names Dan Harrison Executive VP Of Scheduling (B&C)
Dan Harrison is joining Fox as its executive vice president of scheduling, replacing Preston Beckman, who was recently named a senior strategist at Fox. TheWrap.com / The Box: Harrison will report to Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly and will be responsible for strategic program planning and scheduling.