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Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced (NYT)
A public-service award was one of two Pulitzers won by the L.A. Times; the Wall Street Journal also won two, including the award for beat reporting, while The New York Times won one award. NYT: Complete list of winners. E&P: Only two prizes awarded for Iraq coverage. E&P: In N.J., governor's downfall leads to newspaper's glory. E&P: Cheers at Oregon's Willamette Week after Pulitzer win. E&P: Winning cartoonist happy to learn he'd "done something good." E&P: Plain Dealer's Connie Schultz thrilled to win as a columnist who's a woman, a feminist, from a working-class background, not syndicated, and on a newspaper she feels deserves more prominence than it has. WaPo: Post reporter Steve Coll won the nonfiction prize. Guardian: Prize winners get $10,000. WaPo: Delights & Shadows, a collection by U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, won for poetry.

Media Devote 35,000 Stories to Pope (AP via ABC News)
Major news media around the world devoted 10 times as many stories to Pope John Paul II's death as they did to the re-election of President Bush, according to an analysis released Monday. NYDN: Pope's books spike in sales. Salon: The pope and his made-for-TV papacy did more for the world at large than for his own church. But the cameras loved him to his final act, writes Richard Rodriguez. USAT: Publishing's papal onslaught. Reuters: Pope funeral poses logistical challenge for media. Hollywood Reporter: News execs scramble over funeral—and wedding.

Gore Unveils Plan for Cable Channel (Boston Globe)
Former vice president Al Gore joined investors yesterday to announce the creation of Current, a cable TV channel that will target younger viewers with a blend of news, culture, and videos from viewers. LAT: Cable channel aims to attract young viewers with short videos and a tie-in with Google.

Satellite Radio Altering Airwaves (NYT)
The new medium of satellite radio is fast emerging as an alternative, and broadcasters are fighting back. NYP: Yankees, XM radio reach multi-year marketing agreement. VV: FCC prudes get vaguer, but satellite radio's no answer, writes Douglas Wolk.

Boston Herald Cutting 24 From Editorial Staff (Boston Globe)
The paper's publisher Patrick J. Purcell said yesterday that he wants to eliminate nearly one-quarter of the 145 union newsroom jobs to save $2 million at the financially troubled paper.

Fox Reality Channel to Launch Next Month (Guardian)
Fox Reality, the first channel devoted entirely to the genre, will air a continuous stream of favorites such as Joe Millionaire and Temptation Island.

AOL Founder Case Buying Wisdom Media (AP via Business Week)
Steve Case, the founder of America Online and the former chairman of Time Warner Inc., announced Monday that he is buying the assets of a company that makes health and wellness programming.

Cable Static Over Indecency (LAT)
The creative innovation and sexual explicitness that have distinguished the cable business are placing it at the center of the nation's cultural hot zone: the debate over indecency. Hollywood Reporter: Indecency is a "criminal act," says Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner III, R-Wis.

D.C. Examiner Publisher Steps Down (WaPo)
James McDonald said he is leaving to start his own publishing venture but will remain a consultant to Clarity Media Inc.

Online Ads Surge (Guardian)
Internet advertising spending rose 60 percent in 2004, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the World Advertising Research Center, and the Internet Advertising Bureau.

NBC Gets RAW (NYDN)
Media giant NBC Universal was the muscle-flexing champion yesterday, wresting control of World Wrestling Entertainment's high rated show for its USA cable channel.

ABC Could Still Score NFL (Mediaweek)
Don't count ABC out just yet as an NFL telecaster under the new TV rights agreement beginning with the 2006 season.

A Fond Farewell to Joyce Wadler, Gossip (Salon)
Elizabeth Spiers: In all my gossip column-hopping I never found anything quite like Boldface Names under Wadler's tenure, which began in January 2003 and ended on Friday.

Anchors Disappearing (AP via CNN)
A remarkable amount of TV news star power has dimmed over the past eight months: Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and, just last week, Ted Koppel.

TV Becoming More Self-Referential? (NYT)
David Carr: All kinds of Hollywood procedurals are sprouting on television, offering shows that render the entertainment business in all of its tawdry glory.

Talk TV Owes Debt to Radio? (Slate)
Jack Shafer: The best article I've ever read about the contemporary cable TV-news business is David Foster Wallace's story about an L.A. talk-radio host in the April Atlantic. Although Wallace doesn't make the link directly, it's obvious that Fox News Channel and its imitators have incorporated many of talk-radio's basic lessons into their architecture.

'Liars,' Libel, and Liability (LAT)
Editorial: The most surprising decision the Supreme Court rendered last week was their one-line refusal to take up a case hitting at the core of First Amendment freedoms, putting reporters' right to accurately report what public figures say in jeopardy.

Blogs 'Hardly the Future' of Journalism? (Bangor Daily News)
Katherine Heidinger: It's just ridiculous to think the reading public will ever discard its hands-on, intimate, physical connection with newsprint. It's preposterous to think blogs are the future of journalism.

—David S. Hirschman