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The Buzz on the Bus: Pinched, Press Steps Off (NYT)
The absence of some newspapers on the trail suggests not only that readers are being exposed to fewer perspectives drawn from shoe-leather reporting, but also that fewer reporters will arrive at the White House in January with the experience that editors have typically required to cover a president on Day 1. AJR: Every presidential campaign of recent memory has produced its share of Dewey-Defeats-Truman press embarrassments, but Campaign '08 has been particularly rich in bogus media narratives, writes Paul Farhi.

Behind in the Ratings, CBS News Hopes for Help From a Debate (NYT)
It is an axiom of political debates that lagging competitors always want them more than front-runners. CBS News, which lags well behind its competitors in most areas of television news, wants a debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the worst way. The network may get its wish this week.

$27B Clear Channel Buyout in Flux (NYP)
Tense negotiations between deep-pocketed private-equity firms and Wall Street banks over the $27 billion buyout of radio giant Clear Channel Communications last night devolved into finger pointing that could sink the deal. But while talks between the private-equity firms buying the company and the banks supplying the debt for the deal were tense, they had not completely broken down.

NYT Co. CEO Sees 38% Pay Cut — To 2.1 Million (AP)
New York Times Co. president and chief executive Janet Robinson received total compensation valued at $2.1 million in 2007 but got no stock options, reducing her pay 38 percent from a year ago, according to calculations by the Associated Press.

Drop in Ad Dollars in '07 Raises '08 Fears (NYP)
Madison Avenue ended 2007 on a down note, capping an already lackluster year for the ad business, a new report said yesterday. In 2007, ad expenditures grew a meager 0.2 percent, to $149 billion, compared with the previous year, according to figures from ad tracker TNS Media Intelligence. WWD: "Across the board, I don't think it's going to be an easy year for magazines, and publishers are bracing for it," said Shape publisher Sabine Feldmann. Mediaweek: Regardless of a recession, non-traditional media segments should continue to thrive this year and in the immediate future, says a new report issued by PQ Media.

Newspaper Biz Editors Defend Mortgage Crisis Coverage (E&P)
Business editors at several major papers say they properly warned of the looming subprime mortgage crisis. But a few admit some elements may not have been clear enough. "What none of us anticipated until last year was the ripple effect throughout the financial world of this exotic financing," said Larry Ingrassia, business editor of The New York Times. NYO: How Bush rolled the press on Bear Stearns and the subprime crisis.

CNBC Tallies Best Week in Five Years (TVNewser)
Last week was filled with financial news, some positive and some negative, and CNBC benefited from the focus. The financial network saw its best week since March 17, 2003 in total viewers, averaging 289,000. From 5 a.m.-7 p.m., CNBC's "business day" block, the network averaged 346,000. It was the highest take for CNBC since July 22, 2002.

Book Publishers Bullish on the Economy — As a Subject (LAT)
As the U.S. economy deteriorates and millions wrestle with questions about their faltering 401(k)s and when — or if — to cash out long-term stock investments, major publishers are scrambling to cash in. They're working feverishly to find the next "big book" that reflects a more sobering view of the economy and offers solutions to help Americans survive the current fiscal woes.

Fox&Frenemies: Wallace Sorry He Lashed Out at Colleagues (NYO)
"I didn't have any second thoughts about the substance because I still believe what I said was right," said Chris Wallace about his off-the-cuff upbraiding of fellow Fox Newsers on the air last week. "But after the fact, you do think to yourself — on a professional level with colleagues I very much like and respect — should I have done that off camera?" TVNewser: Chris Matthews: 'congratulations to Chris Wallace' for saying something.

Senior Al-Jazeera Staff Quit English Service (Guardian)
Al-Jazeera English, the global news channel launched as a sibling to the Arab-language service, has suffered its most high profile defections yet amid growing unease among staff about its future. Steve Clark, a former senior exec at ITN and Sky News and a driving force behind the launch of al-Jazeera English, resigned last week while David Marash, a former CBS Nightline presenter, has also quit.

Magazine Embeds Glow-in-the-Dark Ad on Cover (Folio:)
It's not embedded Swarovski crystals or shameless Nike plugs, but Vice has figured out a new way to sneak an advertiser's product onto its cover: glow-in-the-dark ink. The magazine's Canadian edition is running an ad for BMW 1 Series — visible only in the dark — on the cover of its latest issue. The ad appears on the magazine's entire print run — some 55,000 copies.

Hearst Buys Relationship Advice Site Answerology (Paid Content)
Hearst has bought out online relationships advice site Answerology.com. The site, based in New York City and founded in 2005 by Matt Milner, differs from other general Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers and Amazon's Askville, in that it is focused on relationships and marriage advice. In 2006, it received funding from investors including Jim Treacy, a former president and COO of Monster.com.

Revolving Door Newsletter: 03.25.08 — Satellites Collide as DoJ Approves XM-Sirius Merger (mediabistro.com)
Satellite radio is making the biggest news early this week (seriously) as the Justice Department finally approved the long-awaited merger between XM and Sirius. The $5 billion dollar deal's not final by a long shot — one enormous hurdle is FCC approval, which the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee is dead-set against, at least for now — but Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin's getting closer to his prize. LAT: Satellite radio merger sounds good — at first hearing.

NY Times: Now With Cliffs Notes (Portfolio/Mixed Media)
For 156 years, The New York Times has trusted its readers, more or less, to find what they're looking for. Not anymore. Yesterday saw the introduction of "Inside the Times," a new multi-page index of that day's highlights, in print and online, which runs on pages 2, 3 and 4 of section A. The purpose is "to help readers navigate and mine the paper and its Web site," according to an editor's note.

Passion Fuels Entrepreneurial Journalism (OJR)
Robert Niles: The biggest challenge facing the journalism industry today is not declining readership, the economy, or even the Internet — it is the increased competition that the Internet has made possible. Discussion communities, blogs, wikis, and other Web sites are drawing readers' attention from old media information sources. And advertising dollars are following them.

Just How Did John McCain Obtain What He Has in the Bank with the Press? (PressThink)
Jay Rosen: The source of McCain's presumptive credibility with journalists is his ease and sense of command during question time with the press. It was never that he was such a straight talker. Mostly, he was an open talker, unafraid of the risks, permitting reporters hours and hours of on-the-record Q&A, something that just didn't happen with other candidates and their tightly controlled scripts.