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Couric Morphs Into 'Mercurial Diva' (NYT)
Alessandra Stanley: NBC executives seem to think that viewers have grown bored with Today and want more gimmicks and pizzazz. Nothing could be further from the truth.

New Pope to Media: Remember 'Ethical Responsibility' (Catholic News Service)
In his first major audience, a smiling Pope Benedict XVI met with 3,000 international journalists and thanked them for their work during the papal transition period.

Boldface Bloggers (NYT)
Arianna Huffington is starting up a website, the Huffington Report, that will feature blogs from celebrities like Arthur Schlesinger, David Mamet, Nora Ephron, David Geffen, and Walter Cronkite.

Writers Petition Oprah (NYDN)
"The American literary landscape is in distress," Word of Mouth, an association of female authors, tells Winfrey in an open letter signed by Amy Tan, Mary Gordon, Maureen Howard, and some 150 others.

Fox Likely to Take Sweeps (Mediaweek)
On the strength of American Idol, buyers believe Fox will edge past CBS to win the adults 18-49 viewer race for the sweeps period (April 28-May 25)—and for the season as well. That could leave CBS and ABC duking it out for second place, while NBC takes fourth.

Romanian Media, Arab Community Call for Reporters' Release (AP via Jerusalem Post)
Hundreds of Romanian journalists, members of the country's Arab community and supporters gathered in downtown Bucharest Sunday to call for the release of three Romanian journalists and their translator kidnapped in Iraq.

Google Aspiring Beyond Text Ads (LAT)
With a plan to help companies splash their names on targeted pages around the Web, the company has an ambitious new goal: to become the Internet's ad agency. Bloomberg via Variety: What's good for Google is likely to be bad for traditional media, especially radio and television. Mediaweek: Yahoo! now one of media's big boys. Marketwatch: The big picture at Imax, the large-screen movie company, is looking bright, writes Jon Friedman.

Drudge at 10: Now He's Fun (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: As he approaches his 10th anniversary as an online clearinghouse for forthcoming news stories, unreleased books, tabloid yarns, and unconfirmed, sometimes bogus, rumors, Matt Drudge, 38, is now treated more as an amusing diversion than a threat to journalistic integrity.

Albomination (LAT)
David Shaw: The Detroit Free Press published a Page 1 apology which promised an investigation of how Mitch Albom's violation of basic journalistic ethics happened. But many journalists—and Freep readers—have called for Albom's dismissal.

PBS Chief on Criticism (NYT)
Ken Ferree, the new Corporation for Public Broadcasting chief executive, denies that he is moving to make PBS more conservative, addresses recent criticism from Democrats, and speculates on how TV can be more innovative.

Brown to Become U.S. Citizen (Page Six)
WaPo columnist and CNBC talk show host Tina Brown, who has lived in New York for over 20 years, is finally becoming a U.S. citizen.

He Doesn't Like to Watch (Salon)
It's TV Turnoff Week and its mastermind explains why thousands of culture jammers might be disrupting a sports bar near you. Guardian: Anti-TV guerillas wield new zapper.

CEO Stars, in Martha's Shadow (NYT)
Laura Rich: Susan Lyne, the former president of ABC Entertainment who took over as president and chief executive of the company in November, has helped orchestrate projects to develop a 24-hour radio network, a syndicated daytime TV show, and a spinoff of The Apprentice.

Publishing Houses Decide Size Matters (NYDN)
Three big book publishers plan to introduce and promote a new paperback format—a slightly taller size, with larger type on better paper—to provide aging baby boomers with an easier read. NYT: Print-on-demand companies are successfully positioning themselves as respectable alternatives to mainstream publishing.

WaPo Heavyweights Head to Capital Hill Beat (Washingtonian)
Harry Jaffe: The paper is throwing everyone but Bob Woodward at its Capitol Hill beat. Counting reporters and columnists, the Post has eight writers who cover the House and Senate.

Readings Glut in NYC? (NYT)
Meg Wolitzer: Fiction and poetry readings are as much a New York staple as takeout menus wedged under apartment doors, but readings have become ingrained in our urban life, and so we have begun to take them for granted.

TV Makes You Smarter? (NYT)
Steven Johnson: Forget what your mother told you, today's prime-time shows are giving you a cognitive workout. Mass culture is getting more cognitively demanding, not less; you have to pay attention, make inferences, track shifting social relationships.

Newspapers Struggle to Avoid Own Obit (CSM)
Randy Dotinga: The antics of plagiarizing and lying newspaper reporters have scarred the media's credibility, recent industry scandals raise questions about circulation numbers, and free websites are siphoning off millions of dollars in vital classified ad revenues from newspapers.

Billboard Makeover (NYT)
The weekly bible of the ever-changing music industry has undergone a redesign, with a less cluttered cover and expanded coverage of topics like marketing and unsigned bands.

Pro Sports Still Thrive in Era of Media Fragmentation (WSJ)
Michael J. Wolf: In an era when fragmentation, multitasking and digital video recorders undermine traditional television business models, sports have become one of the last bastions of engaged mass audiences.

O'Reilly Getting Flack From Righty (Page Six)
Conservative radio host Michael Savage, who was fired by MSNBC in 2003 after referring to a caller to his show as "a sodomite" who should "get AIDS and die" recently burned more bridges by calling O'Reilly a "Leper-Con who poses as a conservative" and Sean Hannity a "Republican bootlicker."

—David S. Hirschman