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Pecker Re-Ups at AMI (WWD)
CEO David Pecker recently received a vote of confidence from American Media when it extended his contract for one more year, beginning April 18. Pecker's compensation will remain the same, with an annual base salary of $1.5 million, a possible annual cash bonus of up to $250,000, as well as country club dues, membership fees, and car and driver expenses.

BBC Reporters Arrested in Irish Paramilitary Probe (Reuters)
Irish police arrested 11 men including some BBC journalists over the weekend as part of a probe into paramilitary activity, the police and the BBC said on Sunday. "The journalists were working on a BBC Northern Ireland current affairs investigation and had full editorial authority under the BBC's guidelines," the BBC said.

The End of the Shared Media Experience? (AdAge)
Media's past was anchored in content people consumed at the same time in the same place, such as movies in theaters, or at the same time but in different places, such as shows on TV and radio and news in papers and magazines. Media is now shifting more and more toward an on-demand future.

Audiences Slip for Morning Shows and Newsmagazines (NYT/TV Decoder)
For three years in a row, ratings for morning TV have softened, a report entitled "State of the News Media 2008" done by the Project for Excellence in Journalism notes. The organization also found declines across the board for newsmagazines, with a 4 percent decline for the most popular of the breed, 60 Minutes on CBS. Also on CBS, 48 Hours declined 4 percent, ABC's 20/20 dropped by 11 percent, and NBC's Dateline fell by 8 percent.

Maria Shriver's Golden NBC Goodbye (LAT)
In the three years after she left her post at Dateline NBC, Maria Shriver collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the network as part of an exit deal, even as she pondered whether she could continue her journalism career while her husband was governor of California.

Murdoch vs. the Times (Portfolio)
Howell Raines: Murdoch will spend whatever it takes to undermine the Times' standing as America's leading general-interest newspaper. But my real fear is that Murdoch or some other unsuitable purchaser will then buy the Times through a combination of financial and psychological pressures on the strong, but hardly ironclad, Sulzberger family trust that controls the vast majority of the company's voting stock. There is no more important question in American journalism than the future of the Times.

Point of No Return: TV Confronts Post-Strike Challenge (TV Week)
For broadcast television networks trying to woo back viewers after the writers strike, the next few weeks may prove a turning point. The networks are returning to the first-run scripted programming they lost during the 100-day Writers Guild of America work stoppage. If viewers don't tune in, it may signal a change in viewing habits the networks will have a difficult time reversing.

Telemundo, Televisa in Programming Deal (LAT)
NBC Universal's Spanish-language Telemundo television network and Mexican broadcasting powerhouse Grupo Televisa are expected to announce a programming sharing agreement today that could lead to a closer alliance between the two. Televisa would be allowed to run Telemundo programs on one of its broadcast networks in Mexico as well as a separate cable channel.

If Content Is King, the Interview Must Be His Crown (Independent)
Rob McGibbon: One element of journalism has shown itself to be integral to the traditional media bundle on all its platforms and yet resistant to impersonation: the interview. When every news item and issue worthy of comment has been exhausted to death by the world and its Web sites by 9am, then what price do you put on a revealing and exclusive conversation with a leading politician or household celebrity?

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