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Covering the Pope's Death (NYT)
Alessandra Stanley: Television coverage of the Pope's death was carefully planned by news networks, yet it still left room for unscripted emotions. USAT: TV coverage got it right, writes Robert Bianco. USAT: Succession is the story now, writes Peter Johnson. LAT: Papacies are judged by standards foreign to most Americans and their media, writes Tim Rutten. NYT: Papal death an opportunity for Arab news media to show their wider reach. AP via E&P: Vatican press office adapts to information age.

Schieffer Wants to Keep CBS Anchor Spot (NYT)
Bob Schieffer, who had been told initially to expect to warm the anchor chair for about three months, until early June, said he would not be surprised if he were asked to stay longer in his temporary post. WaPo: "Greatest Generation" leaving the anchor desk, writes Howard Kurtz. Chicago Tribune: Koppel's nuanced approach to interviewing may become history in broadcast journalism. L.A. Weekly: Former Nightline executive producer Leroy Sievers laments the death of serious TV news.

The Folio 40 (Folio)
After a four-year hiatus, the mag revives its list of the magazine industry's leading innovators and influencers, reflecting all the industry's disciplines and sectors.

No Profit Yet at New York Mag (NYT)
Under Bruce Wasserstein and Adam Moss, New York magazine is getting critical attention and creating buzz but newsstand sales are uneven.

Gloves Off in Cable Feud (NYP)
Court TV is ratcheting up its battle with A&E Networks and will unveil its own version of The Sopranos today. The channels have been sparring over A&E's plans to launch a new network titled "The Crime and Investigation Channel."

What Rupert Wrought (New York)
In 1976, an Australian newspaper baron named Rupert Murdoch bought the New York Post—a fading liberal tabloid in a fading liberal city. Thirty years later, that tabloid defines the world we live in. How the future of New York (and America) was shaped in a single summer.

Miller Back on WMDs (The Nation)
Russ Baker: Given the consequences of Miller's shilling for Bush Administration unilateralists during the run-up to the UN-opposed Iraq invasion, it seems remarkable that her editors would grant her a similar role in covering the complex Oil for Food scandal. East Bay Express: Judith Miller currently occupies a bipolar status among her peers, writes Justin Berton. E&P: Returning home to Las Vegas, Miller reveals a new WMD problem, writes Greg Mitchell: Somehow she misses what one of her colleagues calls the "crucial flaw" of the new museum.

Seeing Red (Mediaweek)
Save for the launch of ELLEgirl in 2001, Hachette Filipacchi in recent years has avoided starting new titles. But now that the economy appears to be perking up again, the company is gearing up for three major launches, including thirtysomething women's lifestyle title Red.

Bias at Billboard? (NYDN)
Lloyd Grove: A lawsuit claims that Billboard magazine, the so-called "Bible of the Music Industry," is guilty of racially profiling its employees.

Cable TV Wants to Be More (SFC)
Over the next several years cable television will incorporate an increasing number of Internet features such as music downloads, video games, and instant messaging. Globe and Mail: Canadian cable-television companies will reach some milestones this year as they enter the telephone market, and their subscriptions for digital service surpass their satellite rivals.

The Limbaugh Code (Slate)
Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America was ranked eighth on the New York Times list of bestsellers this week, yet it has been reviewed virtually no place and written up by almost no one.

Tab War (New Yorker)
Ben McGrath: It can no longer be said that the Daily News, traditionally the more restrained of the city's rival tabloids, lacks a fighting spirit.

Seeing Through Covert Ads (NYT)
Rob Walker: TV viewers know the grammar of marketing so well that product placement becomes the entertainment.

How the Schiavo Case Evolved Into Huge News (AP via Newsday)
The story was able to "ripen slowly and gradually" as the cultural climate and media technology evolved around it, said Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.

'Toon Insights Applied to Women's Programming (Ad Age)
Betty Cohen, the founder of Cartoon Network and newly announced CEO and president of Lifetime Television, says the time for truly innovative, cutting-edge women-geared programming has come.

The Sound of One Head Talking (NYT)
Drawn by the flame of the klieg lights and the television money that powers them, lawyer-commentators have been a fixture at widely publicized trials at least since William Kennedy Smith was tried and acquitted of rape in Palm Beach, Fla., in 1991.

Journos and 'Quote Machines' (AJR)
Marck Francis Cohen: They're everywhere, a handful of scholars and pundits with an opinion for every reporter's phone call. Is there anything wrong with turning again and again to the usual suspects, or should journalists try harder to diversify the expert pool?

Cross-Promo Takes Newsweek Downmarket? (NYT)
Nat Ives: It must have come as a surprise to some readers of In Touch Weekly when the magazine implied that they could get more information than they already had in their hands.

—David S. Hirschman