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Parsons Fending Off Icahn, Doubters (WSJ)
Dick Parsons has been devoting considerable time and resources to fighting off Carl Icahn while also trying to keep the world's biggest media company on an even keel. His biggest challenge has been to convince investors that his course will lift the company's stock price. Not everyone is convinced. NYT: Bid for TW breakup is said to falter. LAT: Sources say Icahn has decided against his previous plan of nominating a full slate of directors to replace Time Warner's 14-member board.

Wasserstein to Pass on Observer Buy (NYP)
New York Observer's editor-in-chief Peter Kaplan had pitched financier Bruce Wasserstein's people weeks ago, and there was preliminary interest. But now, says one close to the situation, "It is seen as too much of a distraction to New York magazine."

Fox Draws Large Audience for Cheney Mea Culpa (Mediaweek)
Fox News Channel averaged 2.1 million viewers Wednesday evening when Vice President Dick Cheney gave FNC's Washington managing editor Brit Hume an exclusive about his role in a weekend hunting accident and the subsequent delay in going public with the news. PressThink: Cheney took the opportunity to show the White House press corps that it is not the natural conduit to the nation-at-large, writes Jay Rosen. White House Press Briefing: Reporters continue to press McClellan on Cheney hunting incident.

Blog Bubble About to Pop? (Slate)
Daniel Gross: Every day, thousands of people around the world launch blogs, but as businesses, blogs may have peaked. There are troubling signs — akin to the 1999 warnings about the Internet bubble — that suggest blogs have just hit their top.

Spin to Sell for 'Significantly Less' Than $5M (Folio)
Dylan Stableford: The music title will sell for about $5 million, sources say. But one source said that the actual cash value of the transaction would be significantly less. Even at $5 million, the deal illustrates another drastic devaluation of a once-revered print brand.

Details Finally Names New Executive Editor (WWD)
Sixteen months after the magazine's executive editor, Andrew Essex, left to start Absolute, EIC Dan Peres has finally named a replacement. He notified his staff yesterday that Bill van Parys was coming over from Jane, where he was executive editor and a founding staff member.

CBS Boss Moonves Eying Movie Biz? (NYP)
CBS boss Les Moonves is seeking to join the Motion Picture Association of America, an overture that is sure to increase speculation that the broadcaster has designs on launching a film business.

News Corp. Aims to Make MySpace Safer (WSJ)
Social-networking site MySpace has taken off among teens, but has come under fire for exposing children to risque content and sexual predators. In response, News Corp. is scrambling to make MySpace a safer place. NY Sun: A spate of highly publicized assaults against girls who allegedly met their attackers on Myspace has caused some of the New York's private schools and parents to take notice.

Sopranos Uses Google Maps to Promote New Season (Ad Age)
HBO is out promoting the return of The Sopranos through a variety of mediums but is likely to be the first advertiser to have paid the search giant to use its map technology for promotional purposes.

In Death Throes, Newspapers Dumb Down Further (Salon)
Farhad Manjoo: To try to save the newspaper industry, publishers are staking their businesses on what would seem to be an unlikely prospect — the idea that young people will come back to newsprint if they're given something that can compete with today's flashy media.

Internet Muckraker Challenges China's Censors (Reuters)
Li Xinde says muck-raking campaigners like himself are undermining the country's barriers to free speech every day. Li is one of just a handful of Internet investigative reporters, exposing corrupt officials and injustice on his China Public Opinion Surveillance Net. NYT: Journal shut by Beijing censors will return.

The Gasbag Gap (The Nation)
Eric Alterman: Journalism is just about the only field whose practitioners routinely justify themselves on the basis of the fact that they receive criticism from "both sides." The possibility that they might be screwing up in two (or more) ways simultaneously appears to be beyond their imaginative capabilities.

—David S. Hirschman