Excessive TV Commentary at Papal Funeral? (USAT)
Robert Bianco: TV's cable and broadcast newscasters believe no momentous occasion is complete unless they talk over it. They're not merely witnesses to history; without them saying so, apparently, history doesn't happen. NYT: In the pause between papacies, journalists have two tasks: to assess the last pope, and to guess who will take his place, writes Kenneth Woodward. NYT: Even anchors stay behinds cameras at Vatican, writes Alessandra Stanley.

Boston Herald Fires Columnist in Ethics Dispute (Boston Globe)
The paper ended its relationship Friday with Charles D. Chieppo, an op-ed columnist who was also working as a promotional writer for Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's administration.

Pulitzers Cast Blind Eye on Iraq (LAT)
Tim Rutten: More than a few brows were arched this week when not a single award in a print category went for journalism of any sort connected to the ongoing war in Iraq. NYT: After winning a Pulitzer for photography, the Associated Press come under fire for using Iraqi stringers.

Last Stand for Russia's Free Press (Guardian)
Nick Paton Walsh: As another daily newspaper disappears without a trace, there is question whether liberal publications will be able to survive.

AMI Title Joins Celeb Fest (Mediaweek)
Joining Time Inc.'s 11-year-old InStyle and five-month-old Life&Style, published by Bauer Publishing, will be American Media Inc.'s Celebrity Living, which will begin testing five weekly issues starting April 23.

TLC Adjusts After Trading Spaces Crashes (AP via SFC)
Doomed by overexposure, imitation and changing tastes, the network's home design show Trading Spaces has lost much of its audience, leaving executives to pick up the pieces.

Peacock Takes Stock (Variety)
As ad buyers prepare to shell out at upfronts, NBC lays out its plans to fix its fall performance. Mediaweek: Cable will target off-net syndication upfront pot.

Cable's Queer Eye (NYT)
After testing the political and marketing waters, both Comcast and Viacom are proceeding with their cable channels aimed at gay viewers.

Web Giants' Different Angles on News (LAT)
As Yahoo Inc. editors plan updates this week to their popular online news service, a computer program at Google Inc. tirelessly scours the Web for items to display on the company's competing news site.

Radar Starts on Web (NYT)
Radar magazine, which folded two years ago and is being revived in May, is taking the unusual step of starting a Web site before publishing the magazine

Sy: It's Okay to Lie--Just Not in Print (New York)
Chris Suellentrop: Every writer understands that there is a gap between the print persona and the actual self, but The New Yorker's Sy Hersh subscribes to a bright-line test, a wider chasm than is usually acknowledged, particularly in today's multimedia age.

Our Ratings, Ourselves (NYT)
Jon Gertner: How technology is about to radically change TV-audience monitoring,and how that will transform advertising and, possibly, the very nature of television.

Former WaPo Diplomatic Writer Chalmers Roberts Dies (WaPo)
Roberts was a retired chief diplomatic correspondent of The Washington Post and the author of books on such topics as nuclear arms control and the joys of being a grandfather.

Media Promote 'Culture of Death?' (NYT)
Frank Rich: Between Terri Schiavo and the pope, we've feasted on decomposing bodies for almost a solid month now. Celebrity deaths have become a marvelous opportunity for beatific self-promotion by news and political stars alike.

The Blogging Billionaire (WaPo)
For millions of critics, activists, watchdogs, partisans and just plain opinionated folks, online commentary is a way of drawing an audience. Now, show-business types have taken up blogging, as well as high-tech entrepreneur and basketball team owner Mark Cuban.

Anchors Lose Moorings (Variety)
Backed by a resurgent primetime, ABC execs and many analysts assumed Peter Jennings would surge ahead now to go out on top. But that all unraveled last week when Jennings announced he would undergo chemotherapy for lung cancer.

Eye CBS=I See B.S.? (NYT)
The New York Times asked four television entrepreneurs, each of whom has caught lightning in a bottle, to describe how they would remake the CBS evening news.

News Flash: Journalists May Need to be Knowledgable (LAT)
David Shaw: Virtually everyone the news media cover complain frequently that we "just don't understand" what they do. That criticism is often valid, and that's what makes the Columbia's new J-School program newsworthy.

Ruth's Truths (Salon)
Former New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl talks about the disguises she used, the madness of $500 meals and why restaurants are the great levelers.

The Upside of Blogging (Slate)
Jack Shafer: When it comes to opinion pieces, bloggers have an edge over the pros, but professional journalists have it all over bloggers when it comes to reporting. Writer for writer, mainstream journalists possess more talent than bloggers, but because bloggers answer to no one, they are freer.

Schanberg to 'Clips' (NYP)
Sydney Schanberg whose Pulitzer Prize winning work in Cambodia in the mid-'70s inspired the movie The Killing Fields is the new media critic at the Village Voice.

—David S. Hirschman