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Miller, Cooper Strike Deal to Avoid Jailtime (E&P)
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald won't challenge Judith Miller and Matt Cooper's request for a stay while they file an appeal to the Supreme Court. The agreed timeline keeps them out of jail—for now. WaPo: If the Supreme Court agrees to hear their case, the sentences would be automatically stayed again until it rules, based on the deal struck between Fitzgerald and the reporters' lawyers.

Star Crossed (NYP)
After losing a high stakes bidding war for photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Star magazine used doctored photos to recreate the stars' romantic rendezvous on its cover. NYDN: Since Us Weekly locked up its photo scoop last weekend, the three other celebrity weeklies had plenty of time to produce competing stories that will all be on sale by tomorrow.

Study: Vast Majority Say News Is Biased (E&P)
A national survey conducted by the Missouri School of Journalism's Center for Advanced Social Research has found that 85 percent of those polled detect bias in news reporting.

Couric on Today Expunge (USAT)
Katie Couric says she played no role in the ouster last week of her show's producer Tom Touchet or in the firing of three of his predecessors in the past five years. USAT: Today needs to "get back to what the hallmarks of the show have always been: strong journalism on an agenda-setting news program," says Jeff Zucker. Newsday: Couric jokes to Eric McCormick about a possible future opening at the show.

Tribune Co. Sued By Man Misidentified As Mobster (Chicago Tribune)
A Chicago businessman who was incorrectly identified in a photograph in the Chicago Tribune earlier this week as an organized crime figure filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against the newspaper's parent corporation.

Media Seek Access to BTK Records (AP via Newsday)
Six media organizations, including The Associated Press, filed court papers Wednesday seeking the release of sealed documents in the BTK serial killings case.

U.K. 'Office' Star Lands HBO Deal (NYDN)
Ricky Gervais and his production partner Stephen Merchant have signed a deal for Extras, a comedy that will air first on BBC Two and then HBO.

Air America Under Investigation for Bush 'Gunshots' (Drudge Report)
Government officials are reviewing a skit which aired on the network Monday evening—a skit featuring an apparent gunshot warning to the president. Salon: He's good enough, he's smart enough, but doggone it, will people vote for him? To find out, Al Franken is moving his radio show back home to Minnesota to get ready to run for Senate against incumbent Norm Coleman.

Huffington Puffery (Guardian)
Parody: Tim Dowling provides a preview of the possible posts by celebrities on Arianna Huffington's new blog. WaPo: When Joni Mitchell starts to write a song, the thought of the gauntlet of press—"which got dumber and dumber and dumber and shallower and shallower and shallower and more and more hostile"—chases away her muse, writes Tina Brown.

Overseas Press Club Awards for NYT, Koppel (NYT)
Times reporter Dexter Filkins won the top award, for a series of articles written as he spent eight days in Falluja with a Marine unit that took 36 casualties in street-by-street warfare.

Courant Reporter Detained in Sudan (Hartford Courant)
Brad Clift, a photographer for the paper documenting the plight of refugees in Sudan, was detained by security forces and placed under house arrest Tuesday.

D.C. Talk Radio Audience Way Down (WaPo)
The latest quarterly audience ratings spell it out: Washington talk stations—both on the right and on the left—saw their audiences dwindle during the January-March period, according to Arbitron Inc.

The New Old Journalism (Wired News)
Adam Penenberg: With newspapers hemorrhaging readers and people migrating to the web for their daily news fix, should we consider changing the way we teach journalism?

Fresh Books in Aisle Five (NYT)
Supermarkets, long the domain of paperback romances, pulp thrillers and astrology guides, are the new frontier of book selling.

Bloggers and 'Journalist's Privilege' (CNN)
Julie Hilden: Those who doubt that bloggers should share journalists' legal privileges should consider that bloggers already share journalists' legal risks.

Italian Journo Disputes Pentagon Report (Democracy Now! via AlterNet)
Amy Goodman: In the wake of a Pentagon report that clears the United States of any wrongdoing in the shooting of reporter Giuliana Sgrena and the killing of an agent, Sgrena isn't satisfied—and neither are the Italians on the commission.

Delays Cost Beeb Iraq Scoop (Guardian)
The BBC claims it had received a leaked copy of the attorney general's advice on the war in Iraq but held off reporting it because of doubts about its authenticity.

State-Run Chinese Media Blast Anti-Japan Protests (NYT)
A top Chinese state-run newspaper said in a staff editorial this week that the wave of popular protests against Japan were part of an "evil plot" with "ulterior motives."

—David S. Hirschman