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New Video of Abducted Journalist Jill Carroll (CSM)
"I'm here, I'm fine," said Carroll on the tape. "Please, just do whatever they want, give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time; please do it fast. That's all." Carroll was taken last month by militants demanding the release of all female prisoners in Iraq.

FCC Sees Pay-Per-Channel Savings for Consumers (Reuters)
Cable and satellite television bills could fall by as much as 13 percent if consumers could choose only the channels they wanted to watch, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday, reversing its earlier conclusions.

NBC Gets Al Michaels, Disney Gets a Rabbit (Miami Herald)
In exchange for allowing Michaels to move to NBC's Sunday night NFL package, Disney received several pieces of compensation: Friday rights to the next four Ryder Cups; expanded video highlights of the Olympics for ESPN; and... rights to the 1927 cartoon series, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit.

Oprah Channel Aims to Close Satellite Radio Gender Gap (WaPo)
Men account for about two-thirds of the 9.3 million satellite subscriptions nationwide, but XM and its rival, Sirius Satellite Radio of New York, expect to attract more women as they purchase cars equipped with satellite radios.

Time Inc. Ready to Launch Online Lad Mag (NYP)
The project, which was envisioned as a weekly magazine but scrapped, is being edited by former Maxim and Details Editor Mark Golin. It will be online only and will debut with advertisements from beer, automakers and fashion advertisers.

Happy Ending for Knight? (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: If the Knight Ridder Inc. sale saga were to have a Hollywood ending, it would look like this: The McClatchy Co. and the New York Times Co. team up to outbid a consortium of private equity firms to buy the company's 32 dailies.

Danger Abounds for Mexican Journos (NYT)
Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places to practice journalism, outside of Iraq. Drug dealers and corrupt police officers regularly kill those who write about them, leading most reporters to censor themselves, journalists say.

VF's Nude Photos Truly Revealing About Culture (LAT)
Robin Abcarian: For a magazine celebrating Hollywood, the combination of the dressed male and the naked heterosexual woman is merely a metaphor for how things are, have always been and will probably always be.

Feds Probe Possible 'Ponzi Scheme' Web Sites (WSJ)
Authorities are investigating dozens of what are called "autosurf" Web sites that have cropped up on the Internet. The sites piggyback on a legitimate trend — the surge in Internet advertising — by promising generous returns to members who agree to view their ads.

Cargo Covers Mix it Up (WWD)
Despite clear evidence that a cover with a hot female boosts sales for the title, editor in chief Ariel Foxman is resisting pressures to make Cargo look more like a "lad" magazine on the order of Maxim and FHM.

Cartoon Flap About More Than Freedom of Speech (The Nation)
Editorial: This magazine has historically been committed to freedom of speech, and we remain vigilant in its defense. The cartoon scandal is about much more than freedom of speech. At its heart the controversy is about power, and the responsibility that comes with power. Marketwatch: Cartoon outrage vindicates Newsweek, writes Jon Friedman.

—David S. Hirschman