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Andy Rooney Regrets Racist Comment in Recent Column (NYT)
The humorist and commentator Andy Rooney has made a career out of being a grumpy old man, most frequently at the end of 60 Minutes on CBS. But his latest rant, in the syndicated column he writes for Tribune Media Services, drew fire last week for crossing the line from crotchety to racist.

Mark Cuban to Join Dancing With the Stars? (E! Online)
Cuban, who made his fortune in the dot-com business and is ranked number 407 on Forbes' list of the world's richest people has signed on as a contestant for the next season of the show. As far as dancing cred, Cuban reportedly worked as a disco dance instructor when he was in college.

German Journos Mock Wrinkled Rockers (Reuters)
Rock stars from the 1960s and 1970s have been hitting Germany's lucrative concert circuit but many of the grandpa-generation acts have provoked withering reviews. "The question is 'why are they bothering?'," said Harald Peters, culture editor and music critic of the newspaper Welt am Sonntag. "Some of these groups are just plain burned out. Others are just old and boring.

Two Out of Three Anchors Join Colbert in Wrist Stunt (NYT)
Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert broke his wrist before a taping of The Colbert Report in June, and has since made "wrist violence" a source of comedy for his character, embarking on a celebrity cast-signing tour and promoting bright red "WristStrong" bracelets. Brian Williams and Katie Couric both played along. But Charles Gibson did not.

O'Reilly Asserted 'Most Journalists Give Money to Democrats' — But Study Refutes Him (Media Matters)
On The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly stated: "[A]ll the money from the elites. We know that journalists — most journalists give money to Democrats." However, the study O'Reilly was apparently referring to showed that of the small fraction of journalists who donated money at all to campaigns, more gave to Democrats than Republicans — not that "most journalists give money to Democrats."

TV, Radio Look for Record Ad Money in Election (Reuters)
The presidential election is 14 months away and with as many as 17 candidates now running, U.S. television and radio broadcasters are elated at the prospect of billions more in advertising dollars. Wall Street analysts predict television stations alone could bring in a record $2 billion to $3 billion from the 2008 election cycle, up from $1.6 billion in 2006 and $900 million in 2004.

Men's Magazines Turn the Page on Their Adolescence (Financial Times)
Some supporters argue that Men's Vogue may benefit as male readers snap out of an adolescent spell. "I think the men's magazine category is going through a maturity stage, and I think Men's Vogue could be well positioned for that," says Andrew McLean, president of Mediaedge:cia, a division of the WPP global advertising group. Indeed, after taking the industry by storm in the mid-1990s, men's magazines featuring bawdy humour and scantily clad B-list starlets seem to be waning.

Sponsors Are Winners in Online Contests (LAT)
Advertisers will spend $4.3 billion by 2011 on user-generated content sites, including YouTube and Flickr, up from $450 million in 2006, according to research firm EMarketer. "People become their own marketing team, but they're marketing your brand," said Nadia Nascimento, a project manager at Memelabs of Vancouver, Canada, which designs and runs online contests. "They're very creative about the way they go about doing this."

Twin Cities Editor Planning Online Daily (NYT)
Joel Kramer, the former editor and publisher of The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, is expected today to announce plans for an online, nonprofit daily newspaper for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, the country's 14th largest media market. Mr. Kramer will seek freelance agreements with writers, with one fee for blog-style reports and a higher fee if editors decide to expand coverage and require further work.

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