Late Night Lion Johnny Carson Dead
The droll, puckish, near-effortless comedian who dominated late-night television as host of the Tonight show for 30 years, died yesterday in Los Angeles. Salon: "If he liked you, America liked you." NYT: The joke-writing continued after the curtain went down. USAT: Carson defined late-night TV and launched careers. LAT: Carson carried Tonight to previously unimagined heights and made late-night TV an enduring institution. WaPo: We've had 13 years to get over saying a painful goodbye to Johnny Carson. Now we have to start all over again, writes Tom Shales.

Safire Over and Out
William Safire: Why am I bidding Op-Ed readers farewell today after more than 3,000 columns? Two bits of counsel might help explain the path I'm now taking. NYT: Safire on how to write a column.

Powell: FCC-Ya!
The departure of Michael K. Powell from the Federal Communications Commission in a few weeks will lead to profound and subtle policy and personality changes for the agency. LAT: Powell's successor will join a panel that must make key decisions on ownership, indecency, digital TV, and telecom.

New NBC Deal for Katie?
NBC has begun talks to extend the contract of Today show anchor Katie Couric, which would preclude any chance of her jumping to CBS. USAT: NBC tries to douse Katie-to-CBS rumor.

AJC Ed Named 'Editor of the Year'
Julia Wallace was honored by Editor & Publisher for "bringing the passion, discipline, and top newsroom talent that has transformed Dixie's most storied daily."

Iran Pulls Plug on Web Dissidents
About 20 online journalists and bloggers have been jailed. Some say they were tortured and forced to publicly denounce their work.

Ex-CBS Journo Blasts Corporate
In his forthcoming book Bad News, Tom Fenton, who retired last month as a foreign correspondent for the network, castigates TV news for failing to cover the rest of the world.

Getting Aceh Back On Air
Indonesia-based journalist Imelda Reynolds describes how a team of volunteers is trying to get Aceh's devastated television and radio stations up and running again.

Bushies v. Press (Round 2)
Harry Jaffe: Preseason odds on who's going to prevail, who will be the President's pets, and who's most likely to break through the Bushies' barriers.

Journos For Sale
Ed Wasserman: Armstrong Williams' sin exemplifies a corruption that is all but routine in the arena of opinion and commentary.

News Sites Back in Vogue
Media companies, many of which were badly burned by internet investments before, are aggressively bidding for some news websites with growing online ad business.

Military Channels Vie on Cable
Three cable channels now feed news, information, and entertainment about the armed services into millions of living rooms.

Insidious Product Placement
David Shaw: Worried about digital video technology allowing viewers to skip commercials, advertisers are pushing sales messages through product placement on many television series.

'Little Armadillo' Propels Conde Nast UK
Jonathan Newhouse is the driving force behind the British version of Glamour, now the best-selling monthly magazine in the United Kingdom.

New Ed for S&S Latin Unit
Atria Books, part of Simon & Schuster, said literary agent Johanna Castillo will come aboard as senior editor to acquire books for a not-yet-named list to debut next year.

Brit Tab Duped
Two aspiring musicians fooled the Sun into running a hoax story about two unknowns being signed by a fictitious record label linked with Eminem.

Churches Spar With Media Over Ads
Jane Lampman: Churches and religious publishers reaching out to the "unchurched" are finding that some media are rejecting their advertising dollars.

Rugged Dispute Over Firing
Jeanine Pepler plans to sue the Rugged Land publishing house, charging she was fired as its publicist only because she came down with cancer—a claim the publisher denies.

Bloggers' Influence Raises Ethics Worries
Anick Jesdanun: Questions are being raised about whether blogs are becoming a new form of journalism and are in need of more formal ethical guidelines or codes of conduct.

—David S. Hirschman