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Couric Will Start on 60 Minutes Right Away (Fox 411)
Roger Friedman: The word from TV's most venerated news magazine is that CBS anchor-to-be Katie Couric will be part of a new generation overhaul of the program now that Mike Wallace is retiring and Morley Safer is being given a sort of emeritus status. Ad Age: Simon Dumenco listens in on a CBS rebranding meeting as execs plan to transform a morning talk show host into a serious newscaster. Lowdown: Flowers and good feeling reigned at Michael's yesterday, where CBS News interim anchor Bob Schieffer called new arrival Katie Couric "the best thing that's ever happened" at his division. FBNY: Couric and Schieffer's lunch at Michael's was first reported yesterday by our own Laurel Touby.

AOL Loads Up With Reality Shows and Comedy (NYT)
For the chief executive of AOL, Jonathan F. Miller, the gold rush of 2006 is a reality show featuring an interactive treasure hunt on AOL.com. The show is being developed by Mark Burnett, and AOL is hoping to benefit by tapping into new ad revenue as marketers shift from television to the Internet. Guardian: AOL draws on blog posts for new poster campaign.

Google Defends Compliance With Chinese Media Laws (AP via LAT)
Google is trying to raise its profile in China after waiting until January to launch its Chinese-language site Google.cn. Activists have criticized the company for blocking searches for material about Taiwan, Tibet, democracy and other sensitive issues on the site. Guardian: China warns against "unhealthy" sites.

Spotlight on Pulitzer Board Recusals (E&P)
As the group gathers to conduct its annual two-day review of the newspaper industry's best work, one piece of the procedure is likely its most important rule — anyone with a conflict of interest involving a finalist in any category must leave the room when that category is discussed.

VNU Shareholders May Reject Sale (NYP)
Shareholders of Dutch media giant VNU, the owner of Billboard magazine and the Nielsen television ratings service, are closer to breaking up a $9.2 billion takeover plan following an abrupt move by the company to postpone its annual meeting.

Iraqi Shiekh Helped Secure Jill Carroll's Release (ABC News)
Sheikh Sattam al-Gaood was one of three people specifically thanked by Carroll's family after her release. He was once one of Saddam Hussein's closest business associates, and now says he is a proud leader of the Iraqi insurgency: "They are an honest resistance. And sometimes they do mistakes."

Lawyer: Stern, While Sleazy, Probably Didn't Break Any Laws (Boston Phoenix)
Harvey Silverglate: It is all too obvious what was going on here: billionaire Ron Burkle was instructed to try to put certain words into the target's mouth. Just as obviously, the sting failed: writer Jared Paul Stern resisted the bait and stuck to his proposal rather than adopt Burkle's "protection" arrangement.

West Wing's Sorkin Featured Prominently in Call-Girl's Memoir (Page Six)
As the show prepares to air its final episode next month, a former high-priced New York call girl has penned a salacious tell-all that includes her two years of allegedly kinky, crack-fueled dalliances with the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin.

A Cameraman in Abu Ghraib (Public Eye)
Brian Montopoli: Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, an Iraqi cameraman working for CBS News, had been filming a celebration at a university in Mosul when a car bomb went off. When he went to film the aftermath, he was shot by a sniper and then American troops decided he was a "terrorist".

Giant Hires Vibe Founding Ed, Four Others (FBNY)
Giant, the men's magazine that has seen plenty of turnover in its short existence — including an apparent sudden exodus of editorial staff — named Vibe founding editor Scott Poulson-Bryant as its editorial director.

Vanity Fair's Artful Borrowing (WWD)
The cover photo of this month's issue was "inspired" by Ballet Society, a 1948 portrait by Irving Penn of George Balanchine and three collaborators. The issue's letters page contains a reader's note that the March cover was similar to Edouard Manet's 1863 painting, Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe.

Muslim Hardliners Attack Playboy Offices in Indonesia (Reuters)
About 300 hardline Indonesian Muslims vandalized a building housing the office of Playboy magazine in a protest against its publication in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Protesters threw rocks at the front lobby, breaking the windows of the building in the south of Jakarta.

Redundancy Built Into TV Show To Protect Against Failure (The Onion)
Satire: To insure against a total comedy-systems failure like the one that caused the Coupling disaster, producers of the new NBC sitcom The Silver Lining said their show has built-in redundant comedy devices which will idiot-proof the show against failure.