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Dow Jones Committee Condemns News Corp. Handling of Brauchli Resignation (FishbowlNY)
A report published on the WSJ's own site — essentially pitting News Corp. against Dow Jones in a moral mano a mano — asserts that the "special committee established to oversee The Wall Street Journal's editorial integrity said its members should have been informed earlier that the newspaper's managing editor, Marcus Brauchli, had been pressured to resign." But the damning article alone wasn't all... NYT: The committee "decided that there was no practical way to 'unresign' Brauchli and start the process over," the panel's chairman, Thomas J. Bray, said in a statement. But he said the panel "intends to exercise fully its role in the approval of a successor managing editor and to take the steps necessary to prevent a repeat of the process it has just been through."

NBC, CBS Seen Bidding for Weather Channel (Reuters)
CBS Corp. and GE's NBC Universal plan to bid for the Weather Channel in the second round of bidding due in early to mid-May, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Privately held Landmark, which has put the channel up for sale along with other businesses, could see it sell for significantly less than the $5 billion it had originally sought.

CBS Evening News Hits Another All-Time Low in Ratings (TVNewser)
NBC Nightly News wins the week in Total Viewers while Nightly and ABC's World News tie in the demo. ABC was up in Total Viewers week-to-week, while NBC and CBS were down. Ditto for the demo, ABC up, NBC and CBS down. The CBS Evening News lost 50,000 viewers from the week prior, setting a new all-time low for the broadcast.

Huffington Banned From NBC Over Russert Dis? (NYP)
Arianna Huffington claims that she was banished from NBC News shows because her new book, Right is Wrong, blasted Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert. Huffington heard that word had come down from on high that she no longer appear on NBC or MSNBC, where talk show hosts Keith Olbermann, Joe Scarborough, and Dan Abrams were all interested in booking her.

Television Segment Helps CBS Beat Forecast (NYT)
The CBS Corporation said Tuesday that its profit rose 14 percent in the first quarter, mostly on the strength of its television business. CBS, which also owns a major radio broadcaster and the Simon & Schuster book publishing business, reported first-quarter income of $244.3 million, or 36 cents a share, compared with $213.5 million, or 28 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. NYP: CBS chief Leslie Moonves received a vote of confidence yesterday from from chairman Sumner Redstone.

Ziff Davis Comes to Agreement on Its Ch. 11 Bankruptcy Proceedings (Paid Content)
Ziff Davis, the embattled business media firm, has finished up its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The plan provides Ziff Davis with sufficient cash to fund its exit from Chapter 11 as well as its ongoing business plan, it said. Additionally, the plan provides for two pools of cash for distribution to general unsecured creditors.

Franzen: Michiko Kakutani Is 'The Stupidest Person in New York City' (NYO)
Speaking at Harvard yesterday during a discussion with literary critic James Wood, Jonathan Franzen said that "the stupidest person in New York City is currently the lead reviewer of fiction for The New York Times." He was referring, of course, to Michiko Kakutani, who presumably got on Franzen's bad side with her brutal review of his recent memoir, The Discomfort Zone.

Rodale Promotion Leads to Internal Speculation of a Group Sale (Folio:)
This week, Rodale announced the promotion of Chris Lambiase to vice president and group publisher for its running and cycling titles. The promotion of Lambiase, effective May 12 — coupled with the departure of a popular executive in Hersam — has led to some internal speculation that the company may be prepping the Runner's World group for an eventual sale.

S&P Cuts Ratings on NYT Co. Citing Weak Ad Revenue (AP)
Credit-ratings agency Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Tuesday cut its long-term rating on newspaper publisher The New York Times Co., as its advertising revenue continues to fall. S&P cut its corporate credit rating and senior unsecured debt rating to "BBB-" from "BBB." "BBB-" is one notch above "junk bond" status.

David Blaine's Next Stunt To Be Conducted on Oprah (USAT)
Magician David Blaine today will try to break the world record for breath-holding during a live broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show, less than two years after going into convulsions during a similar attempt. The time he has to beat is 16 minutes and 32 seconds, a record set Feb. 10 by Switzerland's Peter Colat, according to Guinness World Records.

Lifetime, in Search of Makeover, Lures Klum, Gunn, and Gays (NYO)
Lifetime sees its poaching of Project Runway as the potential cornerstone of a massive rebranding effort. But some think the network better known for showing Golden Girls reruns and made-for-TV movies that usually involved some combination of a woman being stalked, a serial killer, and/or a cheating/abusive husband is simply too Middle America for Project Runway fans.

Days of Lavish TV Upfronts Are Gone (Variety)
Normally, a year's worth of pitches, scripts, development, pilots, casting, and production boils down to one week in May. Virtually the entire TV biz relocates to Gotham as the networks unveil their fall wares to advertisers. Agencies throw lavish parties to toast clients, nets throw bigger fetes to woo advertisers — then everyone gets on a plane back to Los Angeles. That won't be the case this year.

Daily Show Staffer Mines News for Laughs (WaPo)
Adam Chodikoff doesn't perform on the show or write the gags that pepper Jon Stewart's take on the day's news. But as the show's chief researcher and video wiz, he's the vital link in the program's comedic ecosystem. Chodikoff's job is to dig through the vast quarry of TV news footage to find the nuggets that form the program's pointed, often eye-opening "reporting."

Times Travel Section Plays Hide the Salami (Slate)
Jack Shafer: Sunday's New York Times Travel section pays obvious homage to the Austin Powers movies with a photo spread of vacationing nudists cavorting in their absolute uncovered glory — without showing much in the way of private parts. Eschewing fruit and balloons, Times photographer Adriana Zehbrauskas relies on well-placed appendages in the section cover picture.

Miley Cyrus Grasps Hollywood Mantra: Blame the Media! (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: Miley Cyrus is already savvy enough to grasp the bedrock of image-is-everything Hollywood: There's no business like ... damage control. It's as easy as blaming the media. After all, who will your loving fans believe: you, portraying yourself as a victim of media manipulation, or a pack of sleazy, do-anything-for-a-headline journalists?