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Amid Muslim Riots and Rage, Danish Cartoonists Go Into Hiding (Times of London)
The twelve Danish cartoonists whose pictures sparked outcry have gone into hiding under round-the-clock protection, fearing for their lives. The cartoonists have been shocked by how the affair has escalated, and have since tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the pictures from being reprinted. BBC: Jordanian editor arrested for publishing cartoons. NYT: Adding newsprint to the fire.

News Corp. Plans to Launch CNBC Rival This Year (AP)
"We're in pretty intense discussions with the biggest cable companies, and making quite considerable progress," chairman Rupert Murdoch said. "You can expect something fairly soon." Newsweek: Rupe makes some smart bets and emerges as a leader in digital media. Guardian: News International, the British newspaper arm of Murdoch's media empire, has offered to print the daily and Sunday editions of its arch-rival the Telegraph in the hopes of creating an overwhelmingly dominant force in UK newspaper printing, with well over 50 percent of the daily market.

ABC's Iraq Strategy Under Fire (WaPo)
Soon after ABC's Bob Woodruff and his cameraman were badly wounded by an Iraqi roadside bomb, a media debate erupted as well: What was the network doing sending a top anchor into a treacherous war zone? Was this some sort of grandstanding or ratings ploy? USAT: Journos' families fear for loved ones in Iraq. CJR Daily: Untold stories pile up in Iraq, writes Paul McLeary.

GMA Producer on the Way Out? (Lowdown)
Lloyd Grove: Looks like the knives are out for Good Morning America executive producer Ben Sherwood, with television insiders predicting that he'll be kicked out—or upstairs—in the near future.

Bowl Censors: You Can't Get No Satisfaction (AP)
They may not have flashed any body parts—except for Mick Jagger's well-toned stomach—but the Rolling Stones made ABC glad editors were on duty for the Super Bowl halftime show. NYT: Super Bowl ads keep largely above the lowbrow level. NYT: ABC's final Super Bowl broadcast was rote, herky-jerky, and only occasionally interesting, writes Richard Sandomir.

Administration Will Say Media Distorted NSA Spying Program (AP and E&P)
Time magazine, having obtained documents relating to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony today, revealed that the official will say that press accounts about the spy program "are in almost every case, in one way or another, misinformed, confused or wrong."

Feminist Author Betty Friedan Dies (AP via Yahoo)
Betty Friedan, whose manifesto The Feminine Mystique helped shatter the cozy suburban ideal of the post-World War II era and laid the groundwork for the modern feminist movement, died Saturday.

NBC Music Competition Will Air Exclusively Online (Time)
The network has decided to jump into the already-crowded music competition fray in a slightly different fashion. NBC has announced plans to produce StarTomorrow, an Internet series that will let audiences select the country's next big band or singing group using their computers.

Nets to Put Original Content Against NBC Olympic Coverage (Mediaweek)
The broadcast networks will aggressively program against NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympic Games beginning Feb. 10, hoping to make inroads with first-run, regularly scheduled shows rather than repeats. Mediaweek: TV Guide, NBC ink Olympics content deal.

Squirming in Spotlight, Media Companies Ramp Up PR Efforts (Variety)
Spinmeisters at the major media companies can't seem to get out of their own way these days. Under the microscope of the press and shareholders, traditional media is facing the need for ever-more sophisticated methods of PR.

Sirius Poised to Fall Back to Earth (New York Mag)
John Heilemann: Maybe, after more than a decade in commercial purgatory, satellite radio's time has come and there's nothing but blue skies ahead. But a less auspicious storyline—featuring an onslaught of new competitors and technologies—may be unfolding both for Sirius Satellite Radio and for Mel Karmazin.

Teen People Makes Nice With Simpson Girls (WWD)
The magazine's upcoming Ashlee Simpson cover, said to be slated for the June/July issue, is a make-good of sorts necessitated by friction over the December/January cover.

Yahoo, AOL to Charge 'Postage' for Some Email (NYT)
Companies will soon have to buy the electronic equivalent of a postage stamp if they want to be certain that their e-mail will be delivered to many of their customers.

Study: Web Users Read Fewer Books Than Magazines (NYT)
The finding by Jupiter research contradicts the long-held assumption that periodicals are more vulnerable than books to competition from the Internet.

Bravo to Launch Broadband Gay Channel (NYT)
The Bravo network is expected to announced today that it is joining with PlanetOut Inc., the largest gay media company in the country, to start a new broadband channel on the Web aimed specifically at gays and lesbians.

'Truthiness' Teller (Newsweek)
Stephen Colbert loves this country like he loves himself. Comedy Central's hot news anchor is a goofy caricature of our blustery culture. But he's starting to make sense.

Trouble Brewing for Frey in Hollywood? (LAT)
James Frey rocketed to national attention as the memoirist who was anointed, then eviscerated, on The Oprah Winfrey Show. But before that, Frey spent nearly a decade in Hollywood, hanging out at industry barbecues, hustling movie ideas and co-producing a few indie flicks.

PBS' Worst Show, Now on Fox (Slate)
Jack Shafer: Viewed or read in transcript, the tedious Editorial Report is enough to make you forgive Bill O'Reilly his transgressions. No wonder Fox buried it in the schedule.

—David S. Hirschman