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Air America Host Is Victim of a Violent Attack (Talking Radio)
Randi Rhodes was mugged on Sunday night on 39th Street and Park Ave, nearby her Manhattan apartment, while she was walking her dog Simon. According to Air America Radio late night host Jon Elliott, Rhodes was beaten up pretty badly, losing several teeth and will probably be off the air for at least the rest of the week.

Podhoretz Named Editor of Commentary, Effective 2009 (Commentary)
Announcement: We are delighted to announce that John Podhoretz has been named to succeed Neal Kozodoy in the position of Commentary's editor as of January 1, 2009. Podhoretz will join the Commentary staff this November. In the interim role of editorial director, he will assume particular responsibility for the development and expansion of our online editorial activities.

Scripps Splits Cable Networks, Newspapers Into Two Companies (WSJ)
E.W. Scripps Co. plans to split into two parts, becoming the second media company in recent weeks to isolate fast-growing assets from the troubled newspaper sector. The move would create one company with Scripps' highly profitable cable-television networks and its shopping comparison Web sites, and another with its newspapers and local television stations.

Murdoch and Newhouse Battle for Manhattan's West Side (NYO)
Rupert Murdoch has joined up with the real estate heavyweight The Related Companies in its bid for the Hudson Yards project on the far West Side of Manhattan. If the Related Companies wins the billion-dollar-plus bid, it would have the right to develop on land currently owned by the MTA, and News Corp. would move its offices from Avenue of the Americas to an area in the West 30s along 11th Avenue.

Brian Williams: A Niche Guy in a Mass Medium (Portfolio)
Jeff Bercovici: Brian Williams has been in the anchor chair longer than Charles Gibson. He was groomed for the job, while Gibson fell into it. Williams is younger and better looking than Gibson. He's more web-savvy. He inherited a newscast that was No. 1 in viewers. So why does World News Tonight regularly beat NBC Nightly News in the ratings?

Q&A with Janet Malcolm (Boston Globe)
Kate Bolick: One aspect of Malcolm's brilliance is her ability to breathe new life into seemingly "settled" issues. Whether writing about the well-documented relationship between Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes in The Silent Woman, or other literary/intellectual episodes, Malcolm spots a door nobody has tried to open before — some overlooked oddity or insight — and walks right through.

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