Media News

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Hands Still Wringing at Journal As Robert 'Head of Content' Thomson Takes Reins (NYO)
For the past two weeks, Robert Thomson, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has been busy not being the paper's editor. It hasn't been easy. Since April 22, Thomson, who was forced to describe himself in an interview with The New York Times as the interim "head of content" for the paper, has had nine meetings to soothe the fraying nerves of his orphaned editorial staff.

Yahoo Investors Awaiting Microsoft Word (NYP)
Disgruntled Yahoo shareholders have just eight days to put up a slate of candidates to replace Jerry Yang, but they desperately need some assurance from Steve Ballmer that he is still willing to negotiate a deal. Some of Yahoo's largest shareholders continued to ponder whether to launch a proxy contest to unseat the board yesterday as they watched Yahoo stock become more expensive. LAT: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday the company isn't pursuing other deals following the withdrawal of its $47.5 billion takeover bid for Yahoo. Guardian: Fourteen years after founding Yahoo, Yang has eight weeks to save it.

Weather Channel in Sex Storm (TSG)
As The Weather Channel's owner negotiates a multibillion-dollar sale of the cable outlet, the network's lawyers are angling to keep secret the details of a blistering arbitration ruling in favor of a former anchorwoman who charges that she was subjected to unrelenting sexual harassment by her male co-anchor, who was "romantically obsessed" with her and frequently made crude remarks like, "Will you lick my swizzle stick?"

Tina Picks Web Design Firm for New Project (NYP)
Tina Brown has turned to legendary avant-garde design firm Number 17 to handle her new yet-to-be-named Web venture, a news-aggregation service that is being backed by her longtime friend, media mogul Barry Diller. Brown is currently working on The Clinton Chronicles, a book about Hillary Rodham Clinton — but she's also trying to get this next venture launched.

Sue Johanson Ending Talk Sex on Oxygen After Six Seasons (AP)
Sunday night is getting less steamy. Oxygen's Talk Sex call-in show with colorful septugenarian educator Sue Johanson is ending its run after six seasons, the network announced Tuesday. The final show airs at midnight Sunday. Her final show will count down the year's top 10 sex toys.

Top Shows Hit Ratings Lows: Was It the Strike? (USAT)
Spring has sprung leaks in big-network lineups. Ratings shortfalls for some top series have sparked Hollywood hand-wringing on the eve of next week's fall schedule announcements. Such shows as ER, CSI: Miami, My Name Is Earl, The Simpsons, and Supernatural hit all-time lows in recent weeks, and others — including Grey's Anatomy and Cold Case — are down sharply from last spring. Variety: TV viewers have been gravitating toward comedy — at least relative to other prime-time fare.

CBS Radio Rolls Out Digital DJ Application (AdAge)
CBS Corp. has announced the formation of the CBS Radio Digital Network, a new division of its CBS Radio group. This follows CBS Radio's news in March that it would power the AOL Radio player. One of the first projects to emerge from this new partnership is an application called Play.It, which will allow listeners to create their own personalized Internet radio station with iTunes-like functionality.

Revolving Door Newsletter: A Non-Random Exit Atop a Publishing House (mediabistro.com)
Random House CEO Peter Olson is stepping down under pressure, having been nudged out, evidently, by the same cold, profit-driven logic that once justified his firing of editor Ann Godoff. The new CEO at Bertelsmann, Hartmut Ostrowski, wants his own man running the underperforming publisher, and Olson's successor might not be anyone you've ever heard of. NYO: One popular notion on our side of the Atlantic is that Mr. Olson's seat will go to Chip Gibson, the affable, versatile publisher of the reliably profitable Random House Children's Book Group.

Hill Wants FCC to Investigate DOD 'Experts' Program (B&C)
A pair of powerful legislators want to know whether news networks bear any culpability related to a Department of Defense program to recruit ex-military officers to talk up Iraq and other policies. The House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee has asked FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to investigate whether the program may have violated requirements of sponsorship identification.

Actress Judy Davis Sues News Corp. for Defamation (AP)
Judy Davis told an Australian court that she stopped attending her daughter's soccer games out of anguish over newspaper articles she claims suggested she hates children. The 53-year-old two-time Academy Award nominee, who's also won Golden Globe and Emmy awards, is suing News Corp. subsidiary Nationwide News for defamation over articles published in Sydney's The Daily Telegraph.

ABC Sees N.Y. Savings Too Attractive to Keep Ugly Betty in L.A. (LAT)
ABC's Ugly Betty is about to get a make-over that has nothing to do with Betty's bushy eyebrows or shiny braces. The production is planning to pack its designer bags and leave Los Angeles for the Big Apple, where the fictional Mode where Betty works as an assistant to an emotionally needy editor is supposed to be based.

Barnes & Noble to Sell Print and Digital Magazine Subscriptions Online (Folio:)
Barnes & Noble has announced that it will begin selling magazine subscriptions online at steep discounts to more than 1,000 print and digital titles. To fulfill the print subscriptions, the book retailer has partnered with subscription agency M2 Media Group and with digital magazine publisher Zinio to fulfill the digital orders.

Walters Airs a Life of Glass Ceilings and Romances (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: What emerges from Barbara Walters' book is a tenacious 78-year-old woman who, despite occasional mistakes, has managed to overcome every setback in achieving her exalted status as veteran journalist, celebrity interviewer, and world-class yenta. NYO: A chilly, tendentious memoir from television's indefatigable grande dame.

Press Helps Fuel Salvia Divinorum Hysteria (Slate)
Jack Shafer: The normally staid Associated Press attached a headline to a March 11 story that inquired, "Is Salvia the Next Marijuana?" If the AP meant to ask whether Salvia divinorum is the next misunderstood recreational drug to be both demonized and popularized by the press, the answer is yes.

Media Ethics Post-Jayson Blair (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: In the five years since the Blair scandal, all kinds of media organizations have been working harder to protect themselves from a similar situation. To understand the state of media ethics today, I asked some thoughtful observers to weigh in with their observations.