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AOL Uploads Slate of TV-Style Shows (Variety)
AOL is now officially a TV network. In a network-style upfront presentation Tuesday, the Web giant announced a slate of programming with a full lineup of content from Hollywood vets. The slate announcement, coming at the start of the upfront season for ad buyers, is meant to position AOL as an ad player along the lines of a TV outlet. Mediaweek: Among the five programs in the works are iLand, a reality-styled competition where contestants will vie for a chance to live on and eventually own a tropical island. LAT: The first of the AOL programs, Ye Olde Shrek the Third Royal Tournament, will begin April 26. USAT: AOL boss predicts the site will be No. 1 on the Internet again.

In Praise of the Insensitive Reporters at Virginia Tech (Slate)
Jack Shafer: There's a thin line between responsible journalism and outrageous sensationalism, and bloodfests like the one in Blacksburg tend to erase it. As reporters intrude into the lives of the grieving to mine the story, they should be guided more by a sense of etiquette than ethics. If they don't risk going too far, they'll never go far enough. E&P: The editor of Virginia Tech's newspaper on scooping the major media. WWD: In Touch's cover focuses on Virginia Tech, not celebs. Radar: NBC tries to hunt down VT students using Facebook page. WaPo: Students create memorials for friends on Facebook. USAT: From D.C. to Blacksburg, networks stayed on top. DISCUSS: How has the media handled the Va. Tech shootings?

NBC Falls to Its Lowest Weekly Audience in Nielsen History (AP via LAT)
It was a lost week in the television ratings for NBC. The network, which dominated TV in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, averaged only 6.8 million viewers in prime time last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's believed to be lowest weekly average that NBC has recorded during a TV season since the advent of Nielsen's "people meters" 20 years ago and likely ever. WaPo: You know things are bad at NBC when Howie Mandel is the main attraction. NYP: NBC Universal integrated media chief Beth Comstock is being criticized by company insiders who question her decision to make iVillage.com a cornerstone of the media giant's digital strategy, and say matters have been made worse with the launch of a TV show tied to the brand.

YouTube Revenue-Splitting Could Start as Early as Next Week (Variety)
Content creators who upload their videos to the site will be offered the option of having short ads shown at the beginning or end, with the resulting revenues split 50-50, according to Howard Lindzon, founder of Wallstrip, a finance-oriented site that distributes videos through YouTube. Key to the new venture will be making sure that those who upload video actually own the rights to it.

CBS Comes Very Near Replacing Imus with Barnicle (VV)
Keach Hagey: If you're thinking that Don Imus will never resurrect his tattered career, don't bet against him. Look at the curious case of Mike Barnicle during last week's Imus saga. When Imus was merely suspended, CBS's boneheaded first move was to tap Barnicle to fill in. A longtime Imus guest, friend, and joke-lifter, Barnicle made headlines as recently as 2004 for mocking a black woman on the air. FishbowlNY: Russell Simmons has called a closed door meeting of record industry leaders and hip-hop moguls to discuss the Imus fallout.

Bill Keller: Why Is This Pulitzer Different From All Other Prizes? (Gawker)
"Shouldn't the Polk Award Lydia Polgreen accepted last week for her courageous and incisive coverage of Darfur fill us with the same pride as the honors handed out today?" said New York Times executive editor Bill Keller in a speech after the Pulitzer Prizes were announced. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm just saying prizes, like newspapers, are put out by human beings."

They Came to Baghdad ... and Now They're Getting Out (NYO)
Andrew Wong is due to complete his 10th rotation in the New York Times Baghdad bureau, after which he plans to leave the Iraq war zone for good. Other members of the Times class of 2003 have already left Iraq: Sabrina Tavernise is now bureau chief in Istanbul, and Dexter Filkins is writing a book. In June, John F. Burns, the grizzled Baghdad bureau chief, plans to move to the London bureau.

Web is Giving Eggheads Something to Watch (WSJ)
A number of Web efforts are under way to provide more-cerebral alternatives to TV online. Call them YouTubes for wonks. These shows aren't for viewers with short attention spans, or who come expecting glossy but dumbed-down packages, like those increasingly found on the commercial cable channels that profess interests in history, science and the like.

No Offense Intended With Choice of Little as WHCA Entertainer, But Still an Outcry (NYT)
In hiring an impersonator practiced in an old-school approach to comedy, meant to entertain but not offend, the White House Correspondents' Association has, however, provoked left-leaning political activists, who see his assignment as a retreat from last year's dinner. Then, Stephen Colbert delivered a stinging roast of President Bush and, to a lesser extent, the White House press corps.

Free Press Battle Looms in Hatfill Case (NY Sun)
A court battle that could result in substantial fines for news organizations and jail time for reporters is looming, after lawyers for a former Army scientist investigated in connection with the deadly anthrax mailings in 2001 signaled plans to demand the names of confidential sources for news stories about the anthrax probe.

Advisory Firm Supports NYT Co. Directors (AP)
"While we understand the frustration with the company's share price performance over the last four years, we also recognize that the company is operating in what is an extremely challenging business environment for print media generally, and that it is doing a number of things right," Proxy Governance chairman Jim Melican said in a statement.

Newsday's Wall of Blame (NYP)
At the newspaper, nervous staffers are delivering a big thumbs-down on the deal — at least if the graffiti on the wall is to be believed. A wall in the features department had turned into a protest posting — before the brass decided to spackle over it. The wall was replete with phrases blasting Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons and the company's new owner Sam Zell.

Fox News Takes Vonnegut's Bait, One Last Time (CJR Daily)
Gal Beckerman: Fox News Channel's obituary of Kurt Vonnegut was delivered in a three-minute segment Monday by James Rosen. Challenging as it may have been for Rosen to present an appropriately complex picture of a man and an artist who happened, yes, to be a diehard liberal, it probably shouldn't have rendered the portrait of failure and imbecility that Rosen delivered.

Moguls Feel the Pull of Web TV (HuffPo)
David McCourt: Until Internet television, Hollywood never faced genuine competition. But the death of the Hollywood distribution model could be vividly seen when, a year ago, DreamWorks, once the most talked-about Hollywood studio, was quietly sold for $1.6 billion. Within a few months, that same $1.6 billion is what it cost Google to buy YouTube.

CBS Shouldn't Try to 'Brand' Couric (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: Let the anchor's work speak for itself. NBC does that, and it's why Brian Williams has been No. 1 in the ratings for most of his tenure. ABC does it too, and that's why Charles Gibson is gaining fast on Williams. But CBS continues to promote Couric as if she was on the same level as its prime-time stars Charlie Sheen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.