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ABC Scrambles to Reorganize News (NYT)
After learning of Peter Jennings' illness and Ted Koppel's announced departure, executives are trying to piece together a plan for the future.

Report Blasts Education Dept. for 'Payola Pundit' (NYT)
The report, by the department's inspector general, found no evidence of unlawful or unethical behavior in connection with Mr. Williams's contract but criticized top department officials for "poor management decisions" and lax oversight.

Media Execs to Discuss Decency (AP)
Wardrobe malfunctions, radio shock jocks, and Saving Private Ryan will be hot topics among TV and radio executives at the annual National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.

Giant Editor Remy Steps Down (Mediaweek)
In a memo to his staff, editor-in-chief Mark Remy explained that after serving as an "editorial booster rocket," he is "peeling off to fall back into the sea of freelancing."

Barnicle Out as Herald Regular (Boston Globe)
Mike Barnicle, who joined the Boston paper with great fanfare 13 months ago, will soon stop writing his regular column for the paper. The move will save the tabloid some money at a time when it is facing a fiscal crisis.

Fox Appeals to Fans to Save Arrested Development (NYT)
The network has set up a site where visitors are urged to sign an "Arrested Development Loyalty Oath."

A 'New Media Era' (NYP)
Brian Anderson: The old media regime allowed the Left to get away with simply dismissing conservative arguments as bigotry and extremism (a habit I dub "illiberal liberalism" in my book). New media have made that tactic a bust.

Souped-Up Fiction (NYT)
Charles McGrath: The maximalist writers' work is suffused with an awareness that in our multimedia culture, books are an old and threatened technology. When it comes to writing, they seem to be saying, even too much may not be enough.

Publishers Putting Bloggers Between Covers (USAT)
From Washington tell-alls to people on the front lines of Iraq, bloggers are jumping on the publishing bandwagon in a trend that industry insiders say benefits both writers and publishers. National Journal: Something real is happening in the middle ground between blog and establishment, and quality is emerging in places, writes William Powers. WaPo: For every story, there's now an online epilogue, writes Howard Kurtz.

New Pedagogy for Writers' Program (NYT)
Lan Samantha Chang, the new director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, plans to bring her strong ideas about teaching and her love of fiction to the position.

Gonzo Nights With HST (NYT)
Rich Cohen: In the course of a night last year, Hunter S. Thompson ingested cocaine, pills, marijuana, which he smoked in a pipe—the smoke was soft and tangy and blue—chased by Chivas, white wine, Chartreuse, tequila, and Glenfiddich.

The Weekly That Was (Guardian)
Jeff Koyen: The hippies who served as the vanguards of counterculture have themselves become the establishment. The youthful badasses of New Journalism are now doddering veterans of old media, forever offering war stories but no longer in the fight.

Network News Anchor Not Ready to Go Yet? (LAT)
David Shaw: Talk is widespread that the day of the anchor as the single "God-like" voice is over. That may be true. But I think it might be a bit premature to write off either the evening network news programs or the single-anchor format.

Redstone's Eye-Popping Viacompensation (LAT)
Media giant Viacom Inc. paid its chief executive, Sumner Redstone, $56 million in total compensation in 2004, an increase of 58 percent from the year before, even as the entertainment giant's share price declined 18 percent last year.

Wonkette Not Going to WaPo as Gossip (Washingtonian)
Harry Jaffe: News of Cox's hire turned out to be idle gossip and dead wrong, the product of muddy conversation on a radio show taken as fact.

Meeting Ms. Right (Time)
John Cloud: She is quite possibly the most divisive figure in the public eye. But love her or hate her, you don't know the real Ann Coulter.

Novelists Addressing 9/11 (CSM)
Elizabeth Owuor: The emotional ruins of 9/11 are finally finding expression in the world of fiction. The tragedy is the backdrop for just over half a dozen novels, all published in the past year, and at least five more books are due out this spring and summer.

Most Dangerous in China: An Editor (NYT)
Hu Shu Li, the founding editor of a business magazine, has put together an aggressive young staff who have zeroed in on government and corporate corruption

—David S. Hirschman