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Iranian President Wants CNN Ban Lifted (CNN)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked that a ban on CNN journalists in Iran be lifted and that the network be allowed to continue working in the country, according to a report by the official Iranian news agency.

Buyout Offer for VNU (Folio:)
The Netherlands-based global media company, has received a buy-out offer from a consortium of private equity firms for EUR 28.00 to 28.50 per share, or about $8.8 billion. NYP: If they can pull it off, the gang of private-equity firms gunning VNU NV will control a premier market research company that could give them a huge strategic edge in future takeovers.

Squabbles Over Evolving TV (LAT)
Beginning this month, many Comcast Corp. cable subscribers who miss an episode of the CBS hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation can pay to see it later. But when consumers fork over their 99 cents to see forensic investigators, who gets the money? And who controls the so-called VOD window?

Shuffle at Newsday Affects... Everyone? (Staff Memo via Gawker)
In a mind-boggling reorganization of the newsroom and editorial chain of command, a massive missive informed staffers yesterday of their new spots at the Long Island-based daily.

Update on Kidnapped Monitor Reporter Jill Carroll (CSM)
There are no major new developments in the case of the freelance journalist, who was abducted Jan. 7 in Baghdad. The paper's editor Richard Bergenheim issued the following statement: "We continue to pursue every possible avenue in Baghdad to locate Jill and secure her release as soon as possible.

O'Reilly Opens No-Spin Zone to Viewers (NYDN)
Want to go head-to-head with the Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly? Today, the network and O'Reilly kick off "Bloviate with Bill," a contest that will end with six viewers facing off against the man himself.

Davis Wins Golden Globe as Best TV Actress (WaPo)
Television winners at the awards show included Geena Davis for best drama series actress as the U.S. president in Commander in Chief, Hugh Laurie for drama series actor as a cranky, pill-popping doctor in House, and Steve Carell for best comedy series actor as an incompetent boss in The Office.

Articles in Haiku? (Celebrity Week)
Rosie O'Donnell plans to take another whack at the publishing business. She is in talks with "a very well known publisher" to bring back an updated version of Rosie, she revealed Friday while promoting her upcoming HBO special.

FT Into the Black (Guardian)
The paper will finally break even this year after suffering more than four years of losses, owners Pearson said today. In a trading update ahead of next month's results, Pearson said improved advertising revenues would pull the paper out of the red for the first time since 2002.

Judy Miller: On Tour (E&P)
The former New York Times reporter said in a lecture "there is a full-scale assault by the federal government now on journalists in order to get to people who disclose classified information without authorization. ... That's not a free and independent press."

Unusual Publishing Deal for HowStuffWorks (Publishers Weekly)
The search by book publishers to find ways to make money on the Web has led reference and children's book publisher Publications International Ltd. to strike a deal with HowStuffWorks that gives the online publishing company exclusive online rights to all of PIL's content.

Christopher Hitchens, Others Sue Bush Administration for Spying (NYT)
Civil rights groups (representing Hitchens among others) will file lawsuits against the administration over its domestic spying program to determine whether the operation was used to monitor defense lawyers, journalists, scholars, political activists and other Americans with ties to the Middle East.

U.S. Weeklies Cut Foreign Staff (IHT)
Staff reductions at Time and Newsweek and the outright closure of BusinessWeek's international print edition will almost certainly reduce the amount of news and analysis of global affairs.

Pulling a Huey (New York)
Kurt Andersen: New Time Inc. EIC John Huey volunteers, unsolicited, a summary of the difference between his two most important magazines. "Time magazine is about everything that matters. People is about things that don't matter but everybody cares about."

Al-Jaz Wants Bush Bomb-Quip Transcript (Guardian)
Lawyers representing al-Jazeera yesterday demanded to see a Downing Street record of a conversation between Tony Blair and George Bush in which the U.S. president said he wanted to bomb the Arabic satellite television station based in the Gulf state of Qatar.

Idea of Blogging Oversold (AdAge)
Simon Dumenco: There is no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger. Blogging is just writing—writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology. It's just software, people! The underlying creative/media function remains exactly the same. WaPo: Schools warn teen bloggers. Riverfront Times: Video blogging, or vlogging, is taking the web to the next level.

NYO May Be on the Block—Again (NYT)
According to David Carr's sources (who seem to have been harping on the idea for years), Arthur L. Carter, the owner of The New York Observer, may be ready to ditch the paper, which loses $2 million annually.

Are Newspapers Doomed? (Commentary)
Joseph Epstein: As early as 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville noted that even frontier families in upper Michigan had a weekly paper delivered. A.J. Liebling, The New Yorker's writer on the press, used to say that he judged any new city he visited by the taste of its water and the quality of its newspapers.

'Brangelina' Baby a Boon for Tabs (WWD)
People magazine can probably expect to reap a sizable newsstand windfall from its current issue, with the first official confirmation of Angelina Jolie's pregnancy, and Us Weekly's Jan. 9 issue appears to have been one of the five top sellers in the title's history.

Teen Vogue Teaches the Biz (Mediaweek)
Teen Vogue in October will offer readers a crash course on the fashion business at Fashion U, a three-day event in New York. The goal will be to have 1,000 participants attend seminars and lectures, conducted by Teen Vogue's fashion team.

Cronkite: Time to Leave Iraq (AP via Yahoo!)
Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq. Philly Inky: Cronkite's got a new main squeeze.

Product Placement Expanding (NYT)
The voices of American critics are growing more strident with the increasing emergence of products in plot. The Writers Guild of America, West, has been particularly vociferous in denouncing the practice.

Wholphin Stretches the Mag Concept (WaPo)
Peter Carlson: The quarterly DVD mag contains not articles but short films, new and old, American and foreign, fiction, documentaries and animation. It is put out by the folks who publish McSweeney's and the Believer.

Friedman's Take on Media Beat (PR Week)
"I try to write on the pop culture of the media beat," says Marketwatch columnist Jon Friedman. "I don't try to be a columnist of record. I don't worry about every single story that occurs. I'll give people what they want, hopefully, which is a bit of an edge—either humorous, critical, or biting."

Longtime Houston Chronicle Publisher Richard Johnson (NYT)
Johnson orchestrated paper's transformation from an afternoon paper to a morning paper and geared it to compete with The Houston Post, which has since closed. Years later, he engineered the sale of The Chronicle to the Hearst Corporation. AP via E&P: "He was an everyman," said Jack Sweeney, who succeeded Johnson. "He identified with everybody at the paper, no matter what his or her job."

Vindictive 'Wanker' Forgives? (Page Six)
"You don't turn round to Harvey Weinstein and call him a wanker and pin him up against a wall," says British actor Robert Lindsay, who blames a fight with Weinstein for his years of obscurity in the U.S.

—David S. Hirschman