Prison as PR (WaPo)
Tina Brown: The Jail Thing is working so well for Martha Stewart it may become the PR strategy of choice for other public figures who have run afoul of the image police. NYT: Martha gets a new body in Newsweek. LAT: When you've got good PR, you don't need shame, writes Margaret Carlson.

Rather Unfitting? (USAT)
Peter Johnson: Farewells aren't supposed to come on the heels of a panel criticizing your highly controversial story that cost four colleagues their jobs. Yet for Dan Rather, who steps down from The CBS Evening News next Wednesday, that's the way it is. WSJ: Peggy Noonan's formula for how to revive CBS News.

CNN Slump (NYP)
CNN's ratings dipped 16 percent overall and 21 percent in prime time during February, according to Nielsen Media Research, as some of the cable news channel's biggest stars lost viewers.

Let it Beeb (NYT)
The British government approved a further 10-year Royal Charter guaranteeing compulsory public financing of the BBC.

MSNBC Divorce? (NYP)
Microsoft and NBC are discussing a deal in which NBC Universal would take over Microsoft's stake in the venture, while Microsoft would maintain access to some of NBC's content for use over the Internet.

Payola Pundit Picked Up (NYT)
Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator embroiled in controversy after being paid to promote Bush administration policies, will soon be heard daily on New York radio.

Broadcast TV Ad Revenues Up in '04 (AdAge)
While 2004 was another banner year for the broadcast networks, with ad revenue up 12.1 percent, from $10.5 billion in 2003 to $11.7 billion last year, fourth-quarter figures show just how tepid the market has been in recent months.

AOL Aims High (NYDN)
The web company is making tracks in Hollywood as it gears up for a radical shift in strategy that will soon make much of its content free on the Web.

Media and the BTK Killer (LAT)
Now that a suspect has been charged, Wichita journalists reveal secret details and question keeping information from the public.

The Trouble With Oscar (USAT)
Each year, Hollywood's grandest ritual lures an audience to its red-carpeted doorstep with the promise of stars at their most glamorous and unrehearsed. And yet, most years the show is condemned and criticized.

News Missing From the News? (NYT)
Frank Rich: Memories of Hunter S. Thompson's and Dan Rather's best work—not to mention the coincidental timing of their departures—only accentuate the vacuum in that cultural category we stubbornly insist on calling News.

An Offer She Couldn't Refuse? (MSNBC)
Is Victoria Gotti out of her day job? The mob-heir-turned-tabloid-reporter-turned-reality-show-star (on Growing Up Gotti) no longer has her gig writing for the Star, according to Jeannette Walls' well-placed source. [Second item.]

AMC Gets Most Emmy Nods (NYDN)
All My Children earned more nominations than any other program on the air when bids for the 32nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were released yesterday.

A Life in Letters (WaPo)
The vast library belonging to TV journalism pioneer Howard K. Smith goes on the block.

TV Ads the Only Way to Reach L.A. (LAT)
Television spots by L.A.'s mayoral candidates have been at times irreverent, earnest, and even puzzling, as candidates try to captivate a largely uninterested electorate in a race that has been overshadowed by outside events.

Build Your TV (SFBG)
Annalee Newitz: As the FCC and the entertainment biz get ready to end home recording as we know it, a bunch of radical geeks are working on a solution or two.

He Stoops to Conquer (Boston Phoenix)
Dan Kennedy: Is Jon Stewart too smart for his own good? Not as long as he keeps up the dick jokes.

Opposition Mag Editor Killed in Azerbaijan (AP via Seattle P-I)
The editor of a magazine critical of Azerbaijan's government was shot and killed Wednesday in the lobby of his apartment building, police and colleagues said. Reuters: Opponents of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said they planned to turn the journalist's funeral into a popular protest.

HST's Final Word: Counselor (Rocky Mountain News)
Hunter Thompson's body was found in a chair in the kitchen in front of his typewriter with the word "counselor" typed in the center of the page, leaving us all to ponder the word's possible signifigance.

Pop Up Peeve (Wired)
Adam L. Penenberg: Most people block pop-up ads when they can, so why do some media sites continue to inflict them on their visitors?

—David S. Hirschman