Administration: Press Can Be Prosecuted for Having Secret Files (WaPo)
The Bush administration said that journalists can be prosecuted under current espionage laws for receiving and publishing classified information but that such a step "would raise legitimate and serious issues and would not be undertaken lightly," according to a court filing.

Dow Jones to Combine Print, Online Versions of WSJ (AP)
The financial news publisher announced a new organization Wednesday, combining the print and online editions of The Wall Street Journal into one unit and naming new executives.

Mag Circ Bummer List (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: Magazines sell ads based on rate base. Rate base is circulation you guarantee to advertisers. If you miss rate base, your advertisers sort of have carte blanche to make your life miserable — demand cash or free ads. According to ABC, 11 mags missed their rate base in the second half of 2005.

Women's HealthPlans Increases to Base (Mediapost)
The magazine is planning to increase its rate base to 600,000 from 400,000, effective with the July/August 2006 issue — a 50 percent increase that is coming six months earlier than originally planned. It will increase the base again in January 2007 to 750,000.

Newpapers Go Awards Crazy (NYO)
Tom Scocca: Hollywood is ponying up for newspaper ads as the Oscars approach. The press, in turn, is creating a hospitable editorial environment for the movie ads — reserving space in print and on the web for writing about the Academy Awards, whether there's anything worth saying or not.

China Bans Media That Combines Humans and Cartoons (Variety)
In one of the more bizarre orders from China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, TV shows and films featuring human actors alongside animated companions will be banned. The order comes as China attempts to increase local production of Mandarin-language 'toons.

Digital Media: People's Site Is Less 'Sexiest' (MIN)
As eyeballs rushed to vaporize all previous e-commerce records in December, content suffered with double-digit fall-offs at many sites. Even people.com (down sharply in page views and unique visitors versus the Sexiest Man Alive-driven November) gave back some of its rapid gains in recent months. MIN: Budget Living owner ready to rebound with a new title.

Blogs Proliferate, but Who's Reading? (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: You're forgiven if you cling to the conventional wisdom that blogging enjoys an "unrelievedly" rich future. Forgiven, but maybe behind the curve. A Gallup poll reveals that "the growth in the number of U.S. blog readers was somewhere between nil and negative in the past year."

On America's Loathing for the White House Press Corps (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: When NBC's David Gregory is working the White House beat, he can be a very good and tenacious reporter. But when he stands up at one of those pathetic no-news-allowed White House press briefings, he is a role model for one of those kids in the sandbox.

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