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How Burkle and Stern Both Got Stung (NYO)
For more than a year, Ron Burkle had been drawn into an ever-thornier relationship with Page Six. He was a recurring figure in the gossip section, but despite his wealth and power, he had hardly any pull — his contact information was not even in the column's Rolodex. NYO: "It's funny," Jared Paul Stern said. "You know, I am optimistic that by the time all this is done, really, I won't be damaged goods. I'll be better known — and, if anything, at least back where I started, if not better." NYT: Burkle and Stern in dance of tips and turns leading to scandal. E&P: Stern wonders why other journos aren't defending him.

Jann on Jann (WSJ)
"I'm a neat freak," says Jann Wenner. "It seems to me that an orderly desk is reflective of an orderly and organized mind, you know? And there's a level of immaturity to people who just can't clean up after themselves. And I don't think it has anything to do with creativity."

Business Week Insider Trading Scandal (NYP)
The Feds yesterday arrested two young Wall Streeters and a mole at a Business Week print shop for running a Trans-Atlantic insider trading scam that enlisted investment bank colleagues and a stripper to rack up $6.7 million in ill-gotten gains.

In Wake of Page Six Debacle, NYT Will Kill Boldface Column (Variety)
The paper created Boldface Names, a daily column that ran in the paper's metro section, in part as a response to the success of Page Six. But it struggled to define itself as a section that would feed the appetite for gossip created by the tabs while speaking with the broadsheet's voice.

Another Author Accuses Da Vinci Code Writer of Plagiarism (The Times of London)
Mikhail Anikin, a Leonardo da Vinci expert in the Hermitage museum's Western European art department, said he would give Dan Brown one month to apologize and give up half his revenues from the book or he would take him to court in Russia and the U.S. to seek all his earnings from the novel.

In Bid for KR Papers, Burkle Hires Ex-Inky Editor (LAT)
After leaving the Inquirer in 1996, James Naughton served for seven years as president of the Poynter Institute. As Knight Ridder shareholders agitated for a sale, he led a group of company alumni pressing for ownership that would invest in news coverage at the expense of short-term profit. Fortune via CNN: Newspapers are not dead, says McClatchy's Gary Pruitt. So why doesn't he want the Philadelphia Inquirer?

Al-Jaz Eyes June Launch for English Version (Guardian)
Al-Jazeera International could launch globally as early as June, its managing director Nigel Parsons revealed. Parsons told a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch that the service needed to undergo technical tests on what he said was going to be "the most complicated broadcasting operation ever".

Publisher Shake-Up Coming at Condé? (WWD)
There is mounting speculation that CEO Charles Townsend is planning a publisher shuffle when he gets back from vacation next week. The reorg, if it happens, will likely open up a job for the currently homeless Lance Ford, who was publisher of Cargo until it folded last month.

Creepy Caller Targeting View Host (NYDN)
According to Elisabeth Hasselbeck's colleagues on ABC's The View, she's being "stalked" by an anonymous caller.

Pulitzer Board Meets to Pick 2006 Winners (E&P)
For one week a year, the seven-story journalism building at Columbia University is the central focus of the U.S. newspaper world. That is where the 18-person Pulitzer Board meets this week to pick the winners of the organization's 14 journalism awards.

Oprah Hearts Moolah (People)
This week, Winfrey told a Baltimore audience, "I have lots of things, like all these Manolo Blahniks. I have all that and I think it's great. I'm not one of those people like, 'Well, we must renounce ourselves.' No, I have a closet full of shoes and it's a good thing."

NYT and WaPo Criticized for Admissions Coverage Hype (Inside Higher Ed)
Admissions experts say that, for the vast majority of students, thinking that college is harder to get into this year is, in fact, "in your head," or at least your headlines. Critics charge that newspapers' coverage of the process focuses too much on the most selective schools.

Amy Sohn Trades Sex Column for Chic Motherhood (NYO)
In the '90s, when women still had the power to shock bored magazine readers with tales of their seemingly glamorous dating lives, Sohn was one of the sex column genre's pioneers. Today she is ensconced in Brooklyn, married with a 9-month-old daughter.