New Yorker Gets 10 Ellie Nods (NYT)
For the eighth year in a row, The New Yorker dominated the nominations for the National Magazine Awards, which were announced on Thursday. NYDN: Vanity Fair roars back with seven nominations.

Viacom Fights Against Its Own Size (NYT)
Viacom chief Sumner Redstone spent a decade building one of the biggest media companies in the world, but is now considering a breakup of that empire. LAT: Stock value propels Viacom split plan. NYT: Viacom will still offer mixed-media ad packages. Business Week: In media, breaking up is easy to do. Hollywood Reporter: Big media in spinoff zone.

Gourevitch Named Paris Review Editor (NYT)
Philip Gourevitch, a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and the author of an acclaimed account of the effects of the 1994 massacres in Rwanda, was appointed yesterday as editor of The Paris Review.

Letterman Kidnap Plot Foiled (USAT)
A painter working at David Letterman's Montana ranch was charged Thursday with plotting to kidnap the talk-show host's toddler son and nanny and hold them for $5 million ransom.

FCC Licensing Freeze for LPFM Radio (LAT)
Federal regulators issued a six-month freeze Thursday on new low-power broadcast licenses after allegations that three Idaho companies made $800,000 last year selling the government-issued permits to religious broadcasters.

In Touch and Go (NYP)
In Touch may be surging on the circulation front, but its staff seems to be fleeing in droves. Eight people have left in the past few weeks, with seven of them wooed to the new Inside TV celebrity magazine that is being produced by TV Guide.

Times Disputes Circ Questions (E&P)
Catherine Mathis, vice president of corporate communications at The New York Times, wrote that Prudential Equity Group's recent report on newspaper circulation contained both a flawed methodology and a number of material inaccuracies and errors.

Iraqi Press Political, Opinionated (USAT)
Under Saddam, the handful of newspapers in Iraq were tightly controlled. Now there are nearly 200 newspapers in the country, reflecting a broad spectrum of viewpoints. Most are political and opinionated.

Sides Gird for Chronicle Contract Battle (E&P)
An initial San Francisco Chronicle proposal for a new Newspaper Guild contract seeks cutbacks in sick and vacation time, changes to rules for freelancing and leaves of absence, and a new expanded drug-testing policy.

The Final Chronicle of Dan Rather (WSJ)
Daniel Henninger: The golden era of the network anchorman ended when FOX and MSNBC joined CNN with constant news programming. With that, the news dominance of CBS, NBC and ABC washed out to sea. Still, the glory days of the network news anchors were really something to behold.

Fake Cable Labels Writer an Iraqi Spy (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to produce a document accusing journalist and activist William Arkin of serving as a spy for Saddam Hussein.

Times' Specious Anonymice (Slate)
Jack Shafer: In a Todd Purdum article yesterday, the writer allows a source to speak on the condition of anonymity "so as not to steal the spotlight," an excuse that ranks right up there with "not wanting to muss one's hair" as a valid reason to give a source anonymity.

High Times Back to the Bud (Boston Phoenix)
After a brief stint as a slick, celebrity-driven version of The Nation, the pot-appreciation magazine High Times is back to its roots—and readers are inhaling deeply.

CNN Gives Bloggers Respect (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: The "reality" television that I try not to miss is CNN's Inside the Blogs segment. It has been a staple on Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics program since its debut on Feb. 14.

Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility (The Nation)
A transcription of excerpts from the January conference at Harvard University which featured 50 journalists, bloggers, news executives, media scholars, and librarians trying to make sense of the new media environment. CSM Editorial: What is a journalist?

British Journalism and Hooters (Slate)
Sarah Lyall: Even aside from the "Page Three Girls," British newspapers show plenty of flesh, and feminism in the U.K. is sometimes seen as an alarming throwback to the excesses of the non-leg-shaving, bra-burning 1970s.

Trials of a Royal PR Man (Guardian)
As a former royal spin doctor and press-complaints supremo, Mark Bolland made a lucrative career dealing with reporters. But the man who took the rarest of jumps from public relations to become a newspaper columnist admits that the craft of journalism was sometimes "difficult."

Miami's Lame TV News (Miami New Times)
Brett Sokol: Miami's TV stations devoted eight times more coverage to accidental injuries such as car wrecks, and 12 times more coverage to sports and weather forecasts than they did to covering all of Miami's local elections combined.

—David S. Hirschman