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Struggling Air America Sold; Franken Leaving (AP via CBS News)
The liberal talk radio network has reached a tentative agreement to be sold to Stephen Green, the founder and chairman of SL Green Realty Corp. The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would depart next month. NY Sun: New York politician Mark Green seems poised for another comeback, courtesy of his older brother Stephen. NYT: Mark Green said yesterday that the sale would usher in a new phase for Air America, focused on digital content distribution like Internet programs and podcasts in addition to radio. NYP: Part of the reason Air America is in bankruptcy is because Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, which carried the network's programming on certain stations, froze Air America's assets after it claimed it was owed money. Huffington Post: Eat the Press evidently had this news first yesterday.

Tim Russert: I'm Not the Source of Plame CIA Leak (AP)
NBC News reporter Tim Russert said he did not tell vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby that a prominent war critic's wife worked at the CIA, as Libby has claimed. Russert, who spoke in events at Tulsa and Oklahoma City, said he expects to be called to testify in Libby's federal perjury and obstruction trial in Washington. CNN: Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer testified that Libby told him that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative three days before the date Libby claims he received the information from a reporter. E&P: Judith Miller will be first up to testify today at the Libby trial.

TV Vets Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun Form Production Company (LAT)
Two of the television industry's biggest names are forming a company to produce TV programs, movies and Internet entertainment, according to four people familiar with the plan. Berman, who stepped down this month as president of Paramount Pictures, is teaming up with Braun, the former ABC Entertainment chairman who until December was head of Yahoo Inc.'s media group. Variety: BermanBraun will likely try to incorporate an Internet component into projects from their conception. Same goes with advertising partners, who may be brought on at the beginning of a project's creation rather than after it's already scheduled for broadcast.

What, Exactly, Is WSJ Trying to Say About Bartiromo? (Slate)
Jack Shafer: Having dumped the compost, planted the seed, and fertilized and watered the earth, the Journal leaves it to nobody's imagination what species the flowering Todd Thomson-Maria Bartiromo friendship, relationship, and contact is without actually coming out and writing anything that 1) they can't prove and 2) invites a libel suit. NYP: Bartiromo pitching Charlie Rose style show to CNBC. FishbowlNY Poll: Which "Money Honey" is the hottest?

Time Takes Author of Time Tome (Radar)
In light of Time Inc.'s recent employee dump, steady gigs at its flagship magazine are hard to come by. But 28-year-old Yalie Isaiah Wilner found a rather circuitous route into the august weekly's musty arms: He wrote a book about it. Wilner, author of The Man Time Forgot: A Tale of Genius, Betrayal, and the Creation of Time Magazine, has been hired as a consultant on Time's forthcoming redesign.

Wounded Reporter Kimberly Dozier Visits CBS News (AP via USAT)
Dozier made her first visit to CBS News' headquarters on Monday since being seriously wounded last spring by an Iraq car bombing that killed her camera crew. "It's overwhelming," the correspondent told the newsroom, according to CBSNews.com. She is still undergoing therapy to repair legs badly injured by shrapnel, and faces more surgery. TVNewser: "Thunderous applause" for Dozier.

Top Chef Finale Spoiled Again (Eater LA)
Between 3:00PM and 3:15PM EST a "Top Chef 2" article was posted on the Food & Wine magazine Web site, but was quickly taken down. Why? Because it's a full-on interview with the Top Chef winner. [Note: Do not click on either of the links above if you do not want to know the winner of the reality show's final episode before the program airs on Wednesday.]

Clear Channel's Biggest Shareholder to Vote Against Buyout (AP)
Fidelity Management & Research, which owns nearly 11 percent of outstanding Clear Channel shares, plans to vote against the proposed $18.7 billion private equity buyout of the radio giant. The offer for the nation's biggest radio station operator is considered by Fidelity to be "a significant discount to the true value of the company," said the person familiar with Fidelity's position.

Readers Strike Back (Salon)
Massive online feedback has rocked writers and changed journalism forever. This brave new world is filled with beautiful minds and nasty Calibans and everything in between. Its benefits are undeniable. But do they outweigh its insidious effects?

Martha Lures Editor Away From MacBain (NYP)
Louise Blouin MacBain's magazine empire suffered another blow yesterday after the editor of the startup magazine Culture & Travel bolted to take the top editor post at Martha Stewart Living. Michael Boodro, who helped launch the mag this spring, assumes a title that has been vacant for several years. WWD: "I'm leaving because it's an extraordinary opportunity," Boodro said Monday. "It's one of the most beautiful magazines on paper today and it covers subjects I've been interested in my entire career."

Feeding Frenzy for a Big Story, Even if It's False (NYT)
Jeffrey Kuhner, whose online magazine Insight published the first anonymous smear of the 2008 presidential race, is hardly the only editor who will not reveal his reporters' sources. What sets him apart is that he will not even disclose the names of his reporters. But their anonymity has not stopped them from making an impact. Newsweek: Jonathan Alter on what the bogus report on Barack Obama reveals about the media food chain.

Earl Maucker of South Florida Sun-Sentinel Named 'Editor of the Year' (E&P)
In a profile in the February issue of E&P, the trade mag says that Maucker was selected for his leadership role in growing readership and integrating marketing efforts, as well as his nurturing of aggressive watchdog journalism that was recognized with three finalists spots in the 2006 Pulitzer Prizes.

Nickelodeon Launches Online Playground (Mediaweek)
Nicktropolis, which goes live on Nick.com and Nicktropolis.com on Jan. 30, is sort of a Second Life for tweens: Kids can create a virtual identity for themselves — a 3-D video game-like character which they create, picking out what color hair it has and what kind of clothes it wears, for example. Then kids can take that avatar to visit various virtual locales within Nicktropolis.

Soccer Story in New York Times Kicks Off Hollywood Fight (WSJ)
Scott Rudin urgently chased the movie rights to the heartwarming story of refugee kids playing soccer in small-town Clarkston, Ga. Four days later, he vented about being on the losing end of the pricey auction, showing how sticky things can get when real people are sucked into the Hollywood vortex.

Simon to Simon: Won't You Accept My Sincere Apology? (AdAge)
Simon Dumenco makes fun of the current pop-culture conventions surrounding celebrity mea culpas by providing the full text of his "statement from his press conference where he apologized for his recent unfortunate use of hateful language" toward American Idol judge Simon Cowell.