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Barbara Walters Writes a Memoir (NYDN)
Barbara Walters could give Katie Couric some tips on surviving the venomous arrows of colleagues. Back in 1976, Walters, too, jumped from the Today show to anchoring the evening news. Walters was teamed with the venerable Harry Reasoner. "The blood was so bad between us that Harry's cronies on the crew took to using a stopwatch to note my airtime" so that Reasoner got his share, Walters writes.

David Blaine Sets Breath-Holding Record on Oprah (NYT/TierneyLab)
John Tierney: David Blaine broke the Guinness world record for breath-holding today by staying underwater for 17 minutes and 4 seconds on The Oprah Winfrey Program. It was quite a feat, particularly considering what Oprah did to his heart. After he filled his lungs with pure oxygen, his heart rate remained at 130 during the second minute of the breath-hold and then stayed above 100 for much of the time.

Major Exec Shakeup at Meredith (Mediaweek)
Several top executives at Meredith Corp. are changing jobs in a major shakeup as the company throws more resources behind corporate and cross-platform sales. Jack Bamberger will give up corporate sales to focus exclusively on Meredith 360, the company's 18-month-old marketing unit. His new title will be chief innovation officer. Joining him will be Jeannine Shao Collins as VP of client solutions.

How Do We Fund Journalism in the Future? (Guardian)
Roy Greenslade: The key question that cropped up throughout the future of journalism conference in Sydney was about whether journalism can be funded if newspapers — or broadcasters — collapse due to the loss of ad revenue.This strikes me as the nub of a fascinating debate. We journalists have got used to the idea that our trade, craft, profession, whatever, is inextricably linked to the making of profit.

Viacom and CBS May Be Compelled to Reunite (Mediapost)
Diane Mermigas: Some on Wall Street and in Hollywood are asking the question out loud: Can Sumner Redstone afford not to reunite Viacom and CBS? CBS' core television and radio may not be able to generate new digital revenues fast enough to offset an inevitable fall-off in broadcast revenues in nonpolitical 2009. That's when the company could go from a slow-growth to a no-growth story.

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