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Longtime ABC Anchor Bill Beutel Dies (AP via FoxNews)
Beutel had a long stint as television news anchor and host of the show that became ABC's Good Morning America. His trademark signoff "Good luck and be well" closed WABC's nightly local newscast for more than 30 years. NYT: Though Beutel's tenure at ABC's Eyewitness News stretched from 1970 to 2001, his on-air personality was most strongly defined in the first 16 years. NYDN: Beutel was a "father figure."

Atlantic's Murphy, Langewiesche Join Vanity Fair (Mediaweek)
Two longtime Atlantic Monthly contributors, former managing editor Cullen Murphy and national correspondent William Langewiesche, will join Condé Nast's Vanity Fair. Murphy will become a contributing editor while Langewiesche will become international editor. NYT: VF adds some gravitas.

New York Times Admits Abu Ghraib Story Was Wrong (NYT via IHT)
After the online magazine Salon raised questions about the identity of the man in an iconic photograph from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, the man acknowledged that, while he was at the prison, he is not the man in the specific photograph. WaPo: "The Times did not adequately research the man's insistence that he was the man in the photograph" and "should have been more persistent in seeking comment from the military," the paper said in an editor's note.

Will Dow Jones Wire Editor Succeed WSJ ME? (NYP)
Speculation is that recently appointed Dow Jones chief executive Rich Zannino and new Wall Street Journal Publisher Gordon Crovitz want Paul Ingrassia, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner, to come on board now to replace Paul Steiger in the top editor slot.

Hachette Shut Out of Ellies Again (WWD)
Not since 2000, when Premiere was a finalist in the reviews and criticism category, has a Hachette Filipacchi magazine been nominated for a National Magazine Award, and not since 1993, when American Photo took home a general excellence award, has one of them won. Slate: Dark horse Virginia Quarterly Review is burning up the magazine world. Marketwatch: Jon Friedman gets behind the New Yorker's Ellies "snub."

NBC Contemplates Today Without Couric (WSJ)
NBC is making plans aimed at keeping the Today show on track if Katie Couric decides to bolt soon for CBS, which has reportedly offered her about $15 million a year to take over Dan Rather's anchor chair at the 30-minute Evening News and to contribute to 60 Minutes.

Nets Will Fight FCC on Indecency Fines (Mediaweek)
Regulators said they wanted to clarify indecency law as they levied nearly $4 million in fines. But the action last week by the commission left TV execs and First Amendment lawyers apprehensive and confused — and the networks defensive, defiant and possibly heading for a court showdown.

News 'Scoop' Is Increasingly Found Online (USAT)
Peter Johnson: Has the home page eclipsed the front page as the go-to place for breaking news and highly touted exclusives? News executives say yes, that on many days and for many stories, their dot-com properties have started to supersede their traditional news products.

Bill O'Reilly and the Culture of Fear in Cable News (NYer)
In the past, the distilled essence of cable news seemed to be CNN's high-energy, low-production-value coverage of the first Gulf War. Today, the essence is O'Reilly, who is firmly planted in his studio, and who begins his show each night by leaning into a camera that is tightly focused on his upper body.

David Gregory's Star Born on Blogosphere (CQ)
When Gregory called Don Imus' broadcast from the president's road trip to India and giggled as he tried to speak Hindi, Imus cracked, "Are you drunk?" From that point on, half of blog-reading America became aware of Gregory as a public figure. USAT: NBC's David Gregory gets caught in political battle.

Da Vinci Code Case Wrapping Up (Boston Globe)
Closing arguments continue today in the copyright case in which two authors charge that author Dan Brown stole from their work to produce his blockbuster novel. During testimony last week, Brown acknowledged reworking other writers' material but rejected claims that he copied work for his book.

Knight Chain Dies Before Its Time (NYT)
Only a handful of days have passed since he announced the deal to sell Knight Ridder, but P. Anthony Ridder, the company's chairman and chief executive, already has ghosts to contend with. NYT: The McClatchy Company's deal to acquire Knight Ridder does not include keeping the San Jose Mercury News, which calls itself "the user manual for Silicon Valley."

—David S. Hirschman