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William F. Buckley, Erudite Voice of the Conservative Movement, Dies (WaPo)
William F. Buckley Jr., the intellectual father of the modern American conservative movement, who helped define its doctrines of anti-communism, military strength, social order, and a capitalist economy, died yesterday at his desk. Buckley was a magazine editor, syndicated columnist, television and radio talk show host, novelist, and a witty and gifted orator and raconteur. In 1955, at the age of 29, he founded National Review. WaPo: What a grand and grandiloquent monster of genial and mischievous self-creation William Buckley was, writes Henry Allen. NYT: Buckley found time to write more than 50 books, varying from sailing odysseys and spy novels to dissertations on harpsichord fingering and celebrations of his own dashing daily life. He edited at least five more. NY Sun: Buckley was, in all things, a leader and a mensch, something for conservatives — and liberals — to remember as they seek role models for the future. NY Sun: Buckley was "a stupendous American," writes Emmett Tyrell. Slate: Buckley outlived the conservativism he created.

MPA Digital Conference: LOLCats Ease Pain of Pushing Mag Content Online (FishbowlNY)
Much like MPA's October confab in Florida, the program at yesterday's MPA Digital Conference was heavy on the "you should be doing this already, you entrenched print industry." Only this time, it was social networking and user-generated content freaking out the magazine folk: You've got to be making widgets to disseminate your content on all the social networking sites — Facebook, MySpace, and infinite others. MPA: Winners of 2nd annual MPA Digital Awards announced. FishbowlNY: Facebook's chief revenue officer says the newspaper industry "has been pretty forward-leaning." FishbowlNY: "Magazines are not about providing cafeteria-style content." Folio:: Newsweek's D.I.Y. video revolution. Folio:: Magazine publishers thinking they can build their own mini-Facebooks to tap the social networking buzz should stop now, says Owen Van Natta, Facebook's CRO. Folio:: CondeNet, Meredith, and Time Inc. are on an e-media rollercoaster. Folio:: YouTube hunting for mag partners.

Democratic Debate Most-Watched Program in the History of MSNBC (TV Newser)
In addition to being the third-most watched debate of this election cycle, Tuesday night's Democratic showdown in Cleveland was MSNBC's most-watched program in the 11-year history of the network. In a head-to-head 9 p.m. match-up, the debate was second only to Fox's American Idol. It ranked as the fourth most-watched program in Total Viewers on all of TV that night.

NBC's Quarterlife Bombs After Moving From Web to TV (Hollywood Reporter)
The ambitious experiment of transitioning Internet series Quarterlife to TV was a failure, says the show's co-creator Marshall Herskovitz. A day after the drama about a twentysomething blogger and her circle of friends debuted on NBC to dismal ratings, the prolific writer and producer told an audience at Harvard Business School that the leap to broadcast television should never have been attempted. Variety: NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker swung by Harvard Business School on Wednesday and, in an unusually unguarded on-stage interview, offered some predictions for the media company's future, an update on its Hulu joint venture, and some insight into recent deals with companies like Apple.

Chief Leaving About.com (NYT)
The chief executive of About.com, The New York Times Company's lucrative information and advice site, said Wednesday that he would leave the company next week. The departure of Scott Meyer comes as the company is under intense pressure from a major shareholder to increase its investment in Internet operations like About.com.

NYT Supreme Court Reporter Linda Greenhouse Accepts Buyout (IHT)
Linda Greenhouse, who has covered the Supreme Court for The New York Times for 30 years, said Wednesday that she has accepted a buyout package from the newspaper. Greenhouse joined the Times in 1968 and started covering the court in 1978, making her career there longer than any of the current justices except John Paul Stevens, who came on in 1975.

Nielsen Establishes Hispanic Advisory Board (Multichannel News)
Nielsen has formed the Hispanic/Latino Advisory Council, an independent advisory group to help inform and enhance the rating company's efforts to recruit, measure, and accurately report on U.S. Hispanic TV households, officials said Wednesday. The first meeting of the HLAC is scheduled for March 4 in New York. NYP: Neilsen shakes things up with new publisher.

Disney Takes Big Plunge Into Online Video (LAT)
Walt Disney Co. has returned to its short-form roots with the debut of a digital studio that will develop original content for the Internet. Stage 9 Digital Media, quietly in the works for two years, will be unveiled today with the premiere of Squeegees, a comedy series about window-washer slackers, on ABC.com and YouTube. It is the first of a planned 20 online programs currently in development.

Sam Zell Comes to Washington (Politico)
Michael Calderone: After Sam Zell's fiery talk with Tribune's D.C. bureau on Tuesday, LA Times bureau chief Doyle McManus spoke to a handful of staffers. Doyle equated it to a "suicide bombing." "If that's a message they wanted to send, they succeeded," a staffer present said. E&P: Chicago Tribune D.C. bureau chief welcomes Zell's "challenge."

Blogonomics: When a Salary Becomes an Advance (Portfolio/Market Movers)
Felix Salmon: No one at Gawker gets paid simply to do their jobs any more (except maybe the "site leads"): instead, that monthly paycheck is now being thought of as nothing more than an advance against pageview-driven income. If you don't get a bonus, that means you're not earning out your advance, and you're liable to get fired. It's a subtle distinction, but an important one.

NYT Cribs a Couple of Lines From Miami Herald (Slate)
Jack Shafer: Times managing editor Jill Abramson says that the piece's author, Alexei Barrionuevo, concedes that he lifted the two passages. Barrionuevo had been working on the story for a couple of weeks and realized at the end of the process that he needed definitional passages about the drug "paco" to distinguish it from crack cocaine. She says that instead of consulting his notes, which he claims contained the information, he relied on Google.

NBC Revamping Fledgling NBC Direct With Pando Networks Deal (B&C)
NBC is working with Pando Networks, a peer-to-peer content-delivery-technology company, to revamp its NBC Direct service. NBC Direct launched in beta last November following the announcement that NBC would pull out of iTunes. NBC responded to the loss of iTunes by inking deals with Amazon Unbox for video delivery and joining forces with News Corp. on video site Hulu, as well as launching NBC Direct.

Fall TV Shows Must Spring Forward Quickly for Pilot Season (USAT)
With the writers' strike formally ended, the pressure is on to salvage the traditional spring development season so viewers can see the typical new fall season. Writers, producers, and agents are shuttling between meetings this week to see which of dozens of potential series will be hastily developed in time for the traditional unveiling of new fall schedules in May.

WaPo Site Will Get a Major Facelift (E&P)
Joe Strupp: For years, washingtonpost.com has been blazing a trail for newspaper Web sites, winning awards and breaking ground in everything from databases to its online chats. So why is it undergoing its biggest redesign ever? Simple: In today's Web world, even the best sites can't stand still.

New Tool Brings Better Ad Targeting in Local Papers (AdAge)
A media-buying firm claims to have cracked the code on buying print ads at a sub-ZIP code level. Interpublic Group of Cos.-owned Newspaper Services of America has developed an analytical tool to help clients — which include Home Depot, Sears, CVS, and Bridgestone — target consumers through a narrower geographic lens than has been previously available.