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Media Jump Ship From Obama To Clinton (The Huffington Post)
In a blink of an eye, the media has jumped ship from the Obama campaign and become a crucial Clinton ally, pressing just the message — that Obama is a likely loser in the general election — that Hillary and her allies have been promoting for the past six weeks. The new tenor of media coverage is visible almost everywhere, from Politico, Time, and The New Republic to the Washington Post and The New York Times. TVNewser: Fox News finally lands Obama interview.

Microsoft Shows Gains, But Also Weaknesses (NYT)
Microsoft's pursuit of Yahoo may have run into some bumps, but its big software business is humming along smoothly. The company reported quarterly earnings Thursday that slightly surpassed Wall Street's expectations, and it provided an optimistic outlook for its 2009 fiscal year, which begins in July. Bloomberg: Microsoft Corp. declined 5 percent in extended trading. WaPo: Microsoft warned that there is no reason to raise its bid for Yahoo and that "speed is of the essence" for completing a deal.

The Worst Of Times (NYP)
The New York Times' newsroom is bracing for a bloodbath in the next 10 days. The word from inside is that approximately 50 unionized journalists have accepted the buyout proposal, and only another 20 non-union editorial employees have gotten on board. That means the ax could fall on as many as 30 editorial people.

CondéNet Acquires SFO*Media (MediaWeek)
Moving to build its online travel offerings, Condé Nast's online unit CondéNet announced that it has acquired travel blog publisher SFO*Media. The company's two blogs, HotelChatter.com and Jaunted.com, will continue to operate as standalone brands. CondéNet's travel site, Concierge.com, will cross-promote the blogs and sell ads on them.

Twenty-Three Boston Globe Staffers Accept Buyout (Romenesko)
Editor Marty Baron's memo to staff: The Globe has accepted a total of 23 applications for buyouts from the newsroom and the staff of editorial writers. As you know, there have been additional staff reductions this year through other means, such as ordinary departures and frozen positions. We have been able to avoid layoffs. Phoenix: Globe buyouts end anonymously.

Former ABC News Exec: 'Couric Has To Save Some Face' (TVNewser)
With CBS Evening News on life support, Katie Couric should walk away. Now. So says Emily Rooney, former executive producer of ABC World News Tonight, among others. "She should do it sooner than later. I'd do it now," says Rooney, media critic for Boston's WGBH. "What's she waiting for? Will it getter better after the election? After the inauguration? Of course not."

Hedge Fund May Have Found Answer To Taking Over Family-Controlled Media Companies (CNNMoney.com/Fortune)
The New York Times and Media General no longer seem so impervious. For that, they can thank Harbinger Capital Partners, an Alabama-based hedge fund. On Tuesday, the fund succeeded in getting two of its nominees elected to the Times board of directors. The Times was so fearful of a proxy battle with Harbinger that it endorsed the hedge fund's candidates.

Paste Places Ads In Page Number Footers (Folio:)
The latest magazine to carve out editorial space for ads: Paste, the Decatur, Georgia-based music magazine, which placed contextual ads for BMW's "1" Series next to various editorial page numbers in its April issue — wrapped, conveniently, by a BMW ad. "We didn't see a real conflict there," Tim Regan-Porter, Paste's president said.

Eliot Spitzer Tell-All Pitched At $350G (NYDN)
A book is being shopped around about disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and — like his call girl — it's high-priced. The starting bid for the proposal by Peter Elkind, Fortune writer and co-author of a book about Enron, was $350,000. His agent, Liz Darhansoff of Darhansoff, Verrill & Feldman, refused to confirm the figure, though she said she expected to have the deal wrapped up by Friday.

Time Hillbama Cover A TNR Redux? Well, No. (Portfolio/Mixed Media)
The New Republic is a little annoyed that Time used a cover concept, and cover line, reminiscent of its creepy "Hillbama" cover from last month. But Time's managing editor, Rick Stengel, says TNR has no cause for complaint. "If those wonderfully wonky folks at TNR (and I used to be one of them) watched a little more of the NBA, they would realize that the inspiration for this week's cover was the striking ad campaign the NBA is using for the playoffs." TNR/The Plank: TNR's complaint.

Three Studios' Venture Faces Digital-Age Test (LAT)
A partnership of Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate to launch a movie channel and video-on-demand service is a risky test of the promise of new media. The question is whether the joint venture will be able to yield the same enormous dividends that Hollywood studios have reaped for decades from pay-TV services such as HBO, Showtime and Starz.

Only 11 Top Newspaper Web Sites Report Increase In Time Spent (E&P)
A little more than one third of the top 30 newspaper Web sites reported an increase in the time spent per person in March, according to new data from Nielsen Online. Some big gainers: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Online, Village Voice Media, the Houston Chronicle, and Politico.

Postal Debate: Time Inc. vs. The Nation (Folio:)
Two magazine executives — each with vastly different publishing backgrounds — discuss the impact of last July's shape-based postal rate structure. Ten months into the new rate structure, here's a look at their different approaches and different experiences.

Blogging In Iran (Time/The Middle East)
Scott MacLeod: The Internet is wildly popular in Iran, and blogging has become a vital source of information and analysis due to the systematic rollbacks of press freedoms (such as they were) during the last few years. Censorship and self-censorship takes its toll, as does intimidation and imprisonment of bloggers.

SI's Gary Smith Is America's Best Magazine Writer (Marketwatch)
What separates Sports Illustrated's Gary Smith, 54, from other writers is his rare ability to tell a story in a moving way without crossing the line to mawkishness. Smith, who joined SI in 1982, treats everyone he writes about with dignity, and unlike so many writers who happily settle for easy, sensational hooks, he doesn't reduce his subjects to one-dimensional cartoon characters.