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The Plague of Cast Overpopulation on TV (Slate)
Matthew Gilbert: Heroes has become a character factory, and it's not alone. Grey's Anatomy now has 11 regular characters. So does ABC's Brothers & Sisters. Like so many lamentable practices in TV today, mass-casting — using lots of actors to draw lots of viewers — traces its root to reality television. And as usual, Survivor was the pioneer.

Promoting Books Using Video (Ottawa Citizen)
YouTube may have the power to make a star out of a skateboarding English bulldog, but can it create the next literary sensation? Some book publishers would like to think so. Taking the "show don't tell" mantra to heart, they're creating short films and video clips, known as book trailers, to woo potential readers.

ABC Digital Chief: The Network Still Matters (Forbes)
The ABC name can serve as "a navigational beacon" for Web surfers, Albert Cheng, Disney-ABC Television Group's executive vice president of digital media, said. Moreover, "as a broadcast network, we invest a lot of money in creating great stories," Cheng said, arguing that "we need to build the assets on all different platforms" to cover the production and programming acquisition costs.

The Week Bulks Up Online (Mediaweek)
Felix Dennis' tightly edited news digest has launched a new Web site that will attempt to do every day what the magazine does on a weekly basis. Readers will be notified in the next two weeks via email and cover wrap that TheWeekDaily.com has replaced TheWeekMagazine.com, Now, a dedicated online staff will distill the day's news and related commentary, drawing from a cross-section of news sources.

Online Advertisers May Gain From Downturn (FT)
Online advertising spending is widely predicted to continue its strong growth even if a US economic downturn squeezes the advertising sector as a whole. Pressure on companies to cut costs if the economy softens could even hasten the switch in spending from traditional media to more targeted and measurable digital forms.

Rather's Suit 'Theatrical' (HuffPo)
Jay Rosen: If I were to underline one thing about Dan Rather's $70 million suit against CBS, it's the theatricality of it, which is also the key to understanding Rather himself. He's intending to do this over, not only Rathergate but the real story of Bush in the Air National Guard. I'm with those who think he is crazy.

Q & A With Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh (Jewish Journal)
There is an enormous change taking place in this country in journalism. And it is online. We are eventually — and I hate to tell this to The New York Times or the Washington Post — we are going to have online newspapers, and they are going to be spectacular. And they are really going to cut into daily journalism.

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