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ABC Reveals Big Drops in Newspaper Circ in Spring 2007 (E&P)
Blame the big metro papers — again. The Audit Bureau of Circulations released the spring numbers this morning, revealing more plunges in daily and Sunday circulation. As in the past, the losses are steep while gains are minimal. This is the fifth consecutive reporting period that overall newspaper circulation experienced big drops.

Some Tribune Leaders Forgo Bonuses Linked to Buyout (LAT)
Several top officers of Tribune Co. have joined chief executive Dennis J. FitzSimons in limiting or declining their slice of a "transaction bonus pool" related to the company's $8.2-billion bid to go private. FitzSimons opted out of the pool, which was set up to pay $6.5 million to 32 unnamed executives if the transaction closed as planned.

Time Warner Investors Eye Icahn's Influence on Bottom Line (WSJ)
Doing battle with dissident investor Carl Icahn worked wonders for Time Warner Inc. This coming week, investors will get a progress report as the media company releases first-quarter earnings. Icahn's view that the company should be broken up still has currency in some quarters on Wall Street. That's unlikely to happen while Richard Parsons remains at the helm.

Satellite Radio Critics Slam Karmazin's $31M Pay Package (NYP)
As if the pending merger between satellite radio operators Sirius and XM didn't face enough hurdles, news of Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin's $31 million pay package has provided even more ammunition for the combination's critics. With CEO compensation becoming a hotly-debated flash point among institutional shareholders, Karmazin's pay is certain to catch the attention of regulators.

NYT to Boycott Future Correspondents Dinners (TimesSelect via TruthOut)
Frank Rich: After last weekend's correspondents' dinner, the Times decided to end its participation in such events. But even were the dinner to vanish altogether, it remains but a yearly televised snapshot of the overall syndrome. The current White House, weakened as it is, can still establish story lines as fake as "Mission Accomplished" and get a free pass. Radar: Who's next?

Rosie a 'Hot Commodity' (NYP)
The opinionated diva who quit her job as co-host of The View last week is a TV maestro who could mean big bucks for the next studio that signs her up, TV industry experts say. On her personal Web site, Rosie admitted this week that she has thought about hosting an issues-oriented show with audience participation, a la Phil Donahue. Also, "Late night interests me," O'Donnell wrote. DISCUSS: What should Rosie's next move be?

Ellies Looking More Like Oscars? (MIN)
Celebrity presenters on hand at the ceremony tomorrow include Kevin Bacon/Edie Falco/Carrie Fisher and two who are "magazine-endemic": Spy co-founder-turned National Public Radio commentator and New York magazine columnist Kurt Andersen, and author/Time correspondent Michael Weisskopf, who lost his right hand during a 2003 ambush in Iraq.

Radar Claims Article Was Stolen by Chilean Mag (NYT)
The pop culture magazine has accused a Chilean magazine of plagiarizing its article "Toxic Bachelors," which depicted celebrities like Colin Farrell and Matt Dillon as cads. Then again, Radar, which has been published on and off over the last few years, freely concedes that it borrowed the "toxic bachelors" concept from other sources, like a book by Danielle Steele and the Sex and the City TV series.

For NBC News President, a Week In the Hot Seat (WaPo)
In the space of seven days this month, Steve Capus found himself in the maelstrom of two emotionally-charged, fiercely-debated controversies: whether Don Imus should remain on the air and whether Seung Hui Cho's final recorded words should be broadcast to the world. In the face of an enormous backlash over Cho's video, Capus flew to Chicago last week and defended himself on Oprah.

Zinczenko Is the 'Prince of Magazine Publishing' (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: In publishing today, success can hinge on how well a company can create brand awareness. Zinczenko has become a media magnet, whether it's for building a strong franchise at Rodale, or for formerly dating Grindhouse co-star Rose McGowan (who appears on the cover of the current Rolling Stone), or for memorably telling Jon Stewart at a magazine-industry function that "fit is the new rich."

A Blogger With Accreditation at the U.N. (NYT)
Matthew Lee, a well-known gadfly who often presses banks to revise their policies on mortgage loans to the poor, is the only blogger at the United Nations with media credentials, entitling him to free office space and access to briefings and press conferences. There had been a second accredited blogger, but he was ejected last month after distracting too many briefings with off-topic questions.

Sex and the City Partners Fall Out Over New Series (Page Six)
After 13 years of friendship and huge success from their partnership on Sex and the City, Darren Star and Candace Bushnell are not speaking. Star was approached by Bushnell in 2005 to turn her novel Lipstick Jungle into another hit television series. But because Star couldn't come to terms with her, he created his own version of Bushnell's pilot and sold it to ABC. Both were picked up.

In NOLA, Times-Pic's Local Coverage 'Astonishing' (NYT)
David Carr: The Times-Picayune — long a journalistic also-ran that gained renewed stature in the '90s — has become a beacon of tough questions, vigorous reporting and high-quality, relentlessly local coverage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Halberstam's Legacy (New Yorker)
George Packer: David Halberstam's reporting in Vietnam drew on sources who risked and sometimes lost their careers. In Iraq, no high-ranking soldier or civilian has been audacious enough to get fired for telling the truth, and it's almost impossible to imagine a young correspondent refusing to shake the hand of a commanding general in the Green Zone.

Creating Online Porn Becomes More Acceptable, Rarefied, Financially Challenging (NYT)
As pornography becomes a more mainstream product, it becomes an equally mainstream career. If anything, Kink.com may be an exaggerated example of just how ordinary pornographers will get, despite the wince-inducing grisliness of its content, which even by porn-industry standards is morbidly eccentric.