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Janet Jackson Keeps It Real for MTV (Variety)
Janet Jackson is getting into the reality TV business, developing a music competition with 25/7 Prods. for MTV. The untitled project, which has already started casting, will feature Jackson as she mentors a group of aspiring singers and dancers. The project will be shot in the coming months as Jackson prepares for her world tour, which launches on Sept. 10.

Russert Was My Friend and Source (WaPo)
Robert Novak: I talked with Tim Russert on the telephone two or three times a month. Tim and I disagreed on tax policy and other issues, but we never debated over the phone. Instead, we exchanged political information, and I usually was the recipient. He supplied for use in my column news tidbits he could not use. During my half-century of journalism, he was the only colleague who was a source. NYP: Cindy Adams writes that the question is who will take Russert's Meet the Press chair? One name volleyed around is CNN's John King. A) He fits the part. B) His contract is up.

Black Women in Vogue (NYT)
For the July issue of Italian Vogue, Steven Meisel has photographed only black models. In a reverse of the general pattern of fashion magazines, all the faces are black, and all the feature topics are related to black women in the arts and entertainment. Meisel was given roughly 100 pages for his pictures.

CEO Helen Alexander Leaves Economist on 23% Profit Rise (Times of London)
Helen Alexander, the outgoing chief executive at the Economist Group, is ending her tenure on a 23 percent rise in profits to approximately $89 million. The profits increase for the 12 months to March 31 will allow the privately-held business to continue its policy of paying sizeable dividends.

TV Networks Brace for Potential Actors Strike (Reuters)
As Hollywood recovers from a tumultuous writers walkout that ended in February, U.S. television networks are bracing for a possible actors strike that could delay the upcoming fall TV season. Jitters over renewed labor unrest have mounted in recent days as contract talks between the Screen Actors Guild and the major film and TV studios have grown increasingly rancorous with little or no sign that a settlement is near.

Viacom: Should Sumner Take It Private? (Barron's)
Why is Viacom still a public company? Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield thinks Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone ought to consider that question carefully. Greenfield thinks that "given increasingly broad investor distaste for Viacom's management team and the lack of respect/confidence in the company's earnings prospects," Redstone should "seriously revisit our go-private analysis."

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