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Getty Images to Be Acquired by Private Equity Firm in $2.4 Billion Deal (UnBeige)
Getty Images has entered into an agreement to be acquired by the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman in a transaction valued at approximately $2.4 billion, which includes the assumption of Getty's existing debt. The deal will give Getty shareholders $34.00 in cash for each share of common stock, a price that represents a 55 percent premium over the closing price on January 18. NYT: Hellman's bid is the largest proposed buyout of an American company announced so far this year. With tighter credit markets making financing much more difficult to obtain, the purchase price will be split about equally between equity and debt.

Oscars Draw Record Low TV Ratings (Reuters)
Films about psychopaths, greedy oilmen, and corrupt lawyers failed to click with moviegoers, and they proved a turnoff to U.S. television viewers as this year's Oscars show hit record low ratings. The 80th anniversary edition of the Academy Awards, dominated by European stars and films that played poorly at the box office, averaged 32 million viewers, entering the record books on Monday as the least watched Oscar telecast ever. WaPo: Without a certain magazine bash, Oscar parties lack that special Vanity.

Glam Media Raises $84.6M for Expansion (Hollywood Reporter)
Women's online network Glam Media hit another milestone Monday, announcing a further $84.6 million round of financing led by German publishing powerhouse Herbert Burda Media. The Burda deal values Glam at $500 million and adds weight to its claim of being the largest female-oriented network on the Web. Folio:: The funding is also set to be used for strategic acquisitions in four areas: the international media space, global content anchor properties, networks or media ad-focused companies, and technology providers to help the company "build out [its] ad platform for display, video, targeting, and placement."

Hedge Funds Buy Up Times Shares (NYP)
Harbinger Capital Partners is tightening its grip on The New York Times and chairman Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr. The investment firm yesterday raised the stakes in its bid to land four directors on the board of the Times by upping its holdings in the company to just over 19 percent.

Pakistan Cuts Access to YouTube Worldwide (NYT)
YouTube was back up two hours after Pakistan, in an act of information provincialism, inadvertently made the video-sharing site inaccessible to users around the world Sunday afternoon. The blackout left network administrators and Internet activists wondering on Monday how Pakistan's actions, meant to restrict only its own citizens from accessing YouTube, could have such widespread reverberations.

Changing of the Guard at Brant (WWD)
Monday marked the first day of a regime change at Brant Publications, where Fabien Baron and Glenn O'Brien began their new jobs as co-editorial directors of its titles, Interview, Art in America, and The Magazine Antiques. The day also marked the end of Ingrid Sischy's era as Interview's editor-in-chief.

WaPo Reporters Win Top Prize for Walter Reed Stories (E&P)
"The Washington Post series exposing the outrageous conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is precisely the kind of journalism the Selden Ring award was created to honor and encourage," judges wrote in announcing the award for Dana Priest and Anne Hull.

Ousted Editor: 'Gawker Shouldn't Be a Depository for the Latest Viral Video' (FishbowlNY)
According to ousted Gawker editor, Maggie Shnayerson, the site has "changed dramatically" since her arrival in September 2007. "You have [Nick Denton acting as] publisher and an editor, and I think that's a conflict of interest," she told us by phone Monday afternoon, adding that "he's trying to make Gawker much more mainstream, but I'm not sure if [Gawker] works as a HuffPo."

Perez Hilton Could Play New Role: A&R Man (NYT)
Mario Lavandeira, known to millions of fans as the gossip blogger Perez Hilton, has a habit of humiliating celebrities he dislikes by doodling explicit images across their photos on his Web site. But he has also long used perezhilton.com to rave about his favorite new music. And now the results of his effusive postings have attracted the notice of a major record label.

U.S. Forces Detain Iraqi Journalist (AP)
U.S. troops detained the news editor of a prominent Shiite-run television station and his son in a raid aimed at disrupting Iranian-backed militia groups, the military said Monday. Hafidh al-Beshara, the news editor and manager of political programming for Al-Forat TV, and his son were taken into custody after American forces, acting on a tip, stormed their house in Baghdad.

HBO Launching YouTube Channel (B&C)
HBO announced that it is launching an official branded YouTube channel. The channel will feature full episodes of recently launched psychoanalyst series In Treatment, as well as clips from most of the network's original programming, including Flight of the Conchords, Entourage, The Wire, Extras, and Real Time With Bill Maher.

MSNBC Serves Political News With a Side of Opinion (LAT)
For MSNBC, long the laggard of the cable news world, the early start to the 2008 presidential race meant the chance for another reinvention: fashioning itself as "the place for politics." Intense campaign coverage in the last year expanded the audience of the third-place cable news network, which has struggled for much of its 11 years to find a cohesive programming strategy.

Maxim Record Review: 'An Educated Guess' (Folio:)
Maxim isn't exactly a bastion of journalistic integrity. Nor a bastion of music criticism. But according to the Black Crowes (you know, "Twice as Hard," "Jealous Again," Kate Hudson's ex-husband, beards) the magazine burned whatever credibility it had left by reviewing the band's upcoming album without actually listening to it.

Digg, Wikipedia, and the Myth of Web 2.0 Democracy (Slate)
Chris Wilson: Social-media sites like Wikipedia and Digg are celebrated as shining examples of Web democracy, places built by millions of Web users who all act as writers, editors, and voters. In reality, a small number of people are running the show. According to researchers in Palo Alto, one percent of Wikipedia users are responsible for about half of the site's edits.

Washington Times 'Scare Quotes' Are History (Washington City Paper)
John Solomon took over the Washington Times on Jan. 28. But he arrived yesterday, via a message from the paper's copy operation. The news: No more scare quotes. Under the regime of Wesley Pruden, the Times, unwilling to acknowledge gay marriage, treated the term in its pages as gay "marriage." Likewise, there were no illegal immigrants, just "illegal aliens"; no gays, just "homosexuals."