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New Video Shows Plea From Kidnapped Reporter Jill Carroll (AP)
The U.S. journalist, weeping and veiled, appeared on a new videotape aired Monday by Al-Jazeera. The Arab television station said she appealed for the release of all Iraqi women prisoners. CSM: "Anyone with a heart will feel distressed that an innocent woman like Jill Carroll would be treated in the manner shown in the latest video aired by Al Jazeera," said Monitor Editor Richard Bergenheim. NYT: The 30-second video clip bore a date stamp of Jan. 28 in the upper-left corner.

Time Inc. Cuts 66 (Mediaweek)
A total of 66 Time Inc. staffers were laid off yesterday, and packages to others are also expected to be offered, a spokesperson for the company confirmed. Time magazine, Money, and Sports Illustrated are among the titles affected by the layoffs. FT: Icahn proposes new TW chief. NYT: About three dozen other editorial employees who are protected by the Guild are being offered buyouts and will have until Feb. 13 to decide whether to accept them.

Playwright Wendy Wasserstein Dies at 55 (NYT)
Wasserstein, who chronicled the feminist struggles and successes of the baby-boomer generation in such wryly observant works as The Heidi Chronicles and The Sisters Rosensweig, died of lymphoma yesterday. WaPo: Feminism has never exactly been thought of as a laugh riot, but somehow Wendy Wasserstein managed to locate its funny bone. Fishbowl NY: Remembrances of Wasserstein.

Woodruff, Vogt Show Improvement (ABC News)
Doctors, colleagues and family members received positive news about the progress of World News Tonight co-anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt, who are responding well to treatment. Public Eye: Media overcovering Woodruff story? WaPo: Col. Bryan Gamble, the hospital's commander, said both men would have been killed had they not been wearing body armor.

Burnett, AOL Create Web Game Show (LAT)
Further proof that the world of Internet entertainment is fast becoming as competitive as television came Monday, when reality TV impresario Mark Burnett and America Online announced an interactive web program that—to some in Hollywood—sounded very familiar. Guardian: "Internet is the new prime-time," says Burnett.

Times-Pic EIC Named 'Editor of the Year' (E&P)
E&P is honoring Jim Amoss, editor of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans for directing his newsroom in its remarkable coverage "before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina hit" the editor's hometown of New Orleans last August.

CNN Reporter Amanpour Calls Iraq War a 'Disaster' (CNN)
"Whether you take the number of journalists killed or wounded, whether you take the number of American soldiers killed or wounded, whether you take the number of Iraqi soldiers killed and wounded, contractors, people working there, it just gets worse and worse," said Christiane Amanpour. FishbowlDC: Amanpour, others creating "Cronkite Moment?"

Did Moscow Paper Smoke Out Frey First? (Page Six)
Moscow-based newspaper The eXile is crying foul over the Smoking Gun website's scoop that unmasked former Oprah Winfrey pet James Frey as a literary laughingstock, claiming that Smoking Gun got the idea to launch its probe into Frey's rehab memoir from a story in the eXile. GalleyCat: Ladies still love cool James.

One-Man 'Team' (LAT)
Ditching the traditional duo of an on-air reporter and a behind-the-scenes photographer for the one-man-band approach has been done for years at small TV stations, and it's commonly used by 24-hour news channels. But the practice is spreading among local broadcast TV news affiliates.

On Ted Koppel's Lame Debut as Columnist (Slate)
Jack Shafer: It should be said that Ted Koppel possesses skills and talents that many don't. His ability to master new subjects and conduct tough but fair interviews that inform has always impressed me. But he's not even as good at column writing as the columnists at the low-status Copley News Service.

Mags' Heady Car Service Days Numbered? (Ad Age)
Simon Dumenco: The magazine industry has transformed itself into a business that's entirely dependent on revenue from product-obsessed titles, training consumers not to read, but to shop. When fashion marketers figure out interactivity, well, mag world, say goodbye to your Town Cars!

Media Desperately Seeking Mojo (CNN/Money)
Experts expect more media makeovers in the near future. "The industry is so fiercely competitive. Everyone is focused on how to maximize profits and best use assets," said Rik Toulon, a partner in the entertainment practice at law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. "It's pretty frenetic out there."

Barry: Newspapers Are Dead (SF Chron)
C. W. Nevius: Everyone has heard about cutbacks in the newspaper business, from the big names on the East Coast to the papers in your driveway. And if there is anyone who typifies the rapid pace of change in the business and its effect on how you get your news, it is former columnist Dave Barry. USAT: Newspaper execs finally open to new ideas.

Vogue Looks to the Living Room (WWD)
Now that Mama Vogue, Teen Vogue, and Men's Vogue are available in the U.S., all the Vogue family needs is a place to call home. And that's exactly what it'll get if Vogue Living materializes.

A Look at Fashion Mags' Spring Previews (MIN)
Without Europe, this winter would have produced a Valley Forge-like "freeze" on the business, because American fashion--which has provided the ad muscle in recent years—is either flat or down in most magazines. And retail is off to a slow start, with several inserts that ran in March 2005 not continued.

Harvard Student Paper Schools the Big Boys (CJR Daily)
Edward Colby: If the Harvard Crimson is right in their story about a Dean's departure, their reporters' work is a reminder, in our fast-paced media environment, that nothing can beat relationships with trusted (and trusting) sources diligently cultivated over time.

The Dislocated Hipster (NYDN)
Richard Huff: Try as I might, I just don't get Jon Stewart. I don't think he's all that funny and he's vastly overrated. I realize he's gotten loads of critical acclaim. Yet watching The Daily Show for me is like being on the outside of an inside joke.

—David S. Hirschman