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Frank Rich Hired as HBO Creative Consultant (Deadline Hollywood Daily)
HBO's Richard Plepler has decided to get some help from a source very familiar to him: The New York Times. Specifically, from Frank Rich, the NY Times' weekly Op-Ed columnist and formerly America's most powerful drama critic, who as of today keeps his day job in journalism but also signs on as HBO's creative consultant. NYT: He will be barred from writing in his column, which deals primarily with politics, about either HBO or its parent company, Time Warner, Rich and Times editors said.

Exposed: What I Gained — and Lost — by Writing About My Intimate Life Online (NYT Magazine)
Emily Gould: Gawker had recently added a counter beside each post that displayed how many views it received. Now it was easy to see exactly how many people cared about my feelings. The site's owner didn't like my "I believe in love" post, he told me, but he said he was O.K. with it because, as everyone could see, more than 10,000 people disagreed with him. Readers emailed me their own breakup horror stories and posted hundreds of comments, advising me about flavors of ice cream to eat, and I reveled in the attention. I had managed to turn my job into a group therapy session.

Linda Douglass on Obama Job: 'I've Seen Something I Believe In' (TVNewser)
As new senior advisor for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, "My intention is that I won't spin," retired ABC correspondent Linda Douglass says. "I absolutely vow that I will tell the truth. ... I also understand that one has to present the campaign in a certain way at certain times. I know that will be a challenge. It's new to me. I've got to learn, and on the fly." NYT: Douglass said she would spend most of her time on the road with Obama as a traveling strategist and spokeswoman, a position created as the campaign expands operations for its expected involvement in the general election.

Reality Bites for Wall Street Journal Sellers (Fortune)
Devin Leonard: After nudging out editor Marcus Brauchli to make way for Robert Thomson, Rupert Murdoch has failed to live up to a key condition imposed by the Bancroft family: To allow a special committee to help guard the Journal's editorial independence by giving it a voice in the hiring and firing of the paper's top editors. Murdoch has turned that approval process into a farce. E&P: The head of The Wall Street Journal's largest union says it's no surprise that News Corp. veteran Robert Thomson was tapped as the paper's new top editor, and said it remains to be seen if the choice is a positive or negative. Guardian: The editorial integrity committee criticized newly appointed managing editor Thomson and Dow Jones chief executive Les Hinton over their role in Brauchli's departure.

NYT Digital News Editor: Web Represents 'Golden Age of Storytelling' (FishbowlNY)
At this morning's Mediabistro Circus keynote, The New York Times' editor of digital news, Jim Roberts, and Aron Pilhofer, editor of interactive news, took the stage to discuss their paper's success on the Web and its coverage of the 2008 political campaign. "We are in something of a golden age of storytelling," Roberts said. "It's really clear that we are in the middle of a revolution in the distribution of information." FishbowlNY: NYT has launched it's "Times Machine." The Machine offers access to digital archives of the paper that date from September 18, 1851 through December 30, 1922, but is currently only available to home delivery subscribers. We can't imagine purchasing a subscription for this feature alone, but it's the perfect value-add for a history buff who already does. WWD: The New York Times online broke the Eliot Spitzer scandal, invested untold energy and money on election coverage, and went deep on Heath Ledger, but those weren't the days that set total page view records. That honor goes to... the day after the Academy Awards which presented the single biggest traffic day at 37.6 million page views.

Time Warner Details Its Plans for Cable Spinoff (AP via NYT)
The media conglomerate Time Warner and its cable television arm Time Warner Cable said Wednesday that their boards had approved the companies' legal separation, with Time Warner Cable expected to pay a hefty $10.9 billion one-time dividend to shareholders. As parent of the nation's second-largest cable operator, Time Warner will receive $9.25 billion of the payout, or $10.27 a share of Time Warner Cable common stock. LAT: The separation of Time Warner Cable Inc. would get Time Warner out of the media distribution business altogether, something investors had been clamoring for.

Microsoft Lures Search Traffic With Cash Rebates (AP)
Microsoft Corp. is offering cash rebates when people make purchases after using its search engine as the software maker begins to reveal how it plans to take on Google Inc. following the failure of its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo. Analysts and investors have been eagerly awaiting details about "Plan C" after Microsoft acknowledged that its Plan A of going solo was troubled but also withdrew its Plan B — acquiring Yahoo.

NPR Earthquake Coverage Raises Radio's Voice (WaPo)
Paul Farhi: Some of the most compelling news coverage on TV has been radio news coverage. Since a devastating earthquake hit central China, NPR's Melissa Block and Robert Siegel have provided audiences with firsthand accounts of the destruction and human suffering not just on All Things Considered — the program they co-host — but also on ABC, NBC, CNN, PBS, and Canadian television networks.

Bonnie Fuller: 'The Bill Parcells of Publishing' (Portfolio)
Bonnie Fuller has taken some knocks since she stepped down as editorial director of American Media last week, but she's got support from an unlikely advocate: Kent Brownridge, the CEO of Alpha Media and Fuller's former boss-cum-competitor. "Bonnie has gotten a bad rap," Brownridge said yesterday afternoon. "Everywhere she's gone she's improved where they were measurably in a short period of time."

Who Killed the Literary Critic? (Salon)
Has the role of the professional critic become obsolete in an age of book clubs, celebrity endorsements, and blogs? A new book, The Death of the Critic, says no, and argues that there are still reasons to regard some opinions as better than others. Salon's book reviewers Louis Bayard and Laura Miller consider its case.

Judge Raises Damages in Case Against SF Weekly (SF Chron)
The war between the two San Francisco alternative weekly newspapers just got a lot more expensive — for the SF Weekly. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Marla Miller raised the amount the Weekly must pay in damages to the Bay Guardian — from $6.3 million to $15.9 million — for undercutting its rival with below-cost ads.

All the News That's Fit to Squint (NY Press)
David Blum: Gay Talese won't go online, bless his ornery old-fashioned soul. Gay sits in his home office and contemplates the future and fumes that the rest of us, the young people among us especially, won't read the goddamned newspaper, that we won't get off our asses and talk to people and discuss ideas and consider the world. And of course he's right.

Two Davids Give American Idol a Bump (AdAge)
It has been a season that will be remembered for Paula Abdul forgetting how many songs had been sung and many viewers forgetting to watch as the monster hit concurrently dominated and declined. But the 10.1/28 rating and share in the ad-centric adults 18-49 demographic topped last year's Jordin Sparks/Blake Lewis showdown by 4 percent, setting up another rebound for last night's crowning of David Cook. USAT: American Idol crowned its first real rocker Wednesday as David Cook rolled over 17-year-old balladeer David Archuleta to become Idol No. 7.

David Chen Named NYT City Hall Bureau Chief (NYO)
David Chen, the longtime Trenton reporter for the Times, is replacing Diane Cardwell as the paper's City Hall bureau chief, according to an internal memo. Chen will join Michael Barbaro and Fernanda Santos in Room 9. Chen's departure means there's a vacancy in Trenton, but at this point it's unclear whether the paper has any intention of filling it.

Bravo Expands Production Team (Variety)
Recently promoted Bravo exec VP-general manager Frances Berwick has expanded her production and development teams, handing out several promotions and restructuring those two departments. Under Berwick, Andy Cohen has been named senior VP of original programming and development, while Shari Levine will head production and Cori Abraham will handle development at the cable network.

More Time for ABC, Affiliates in NYPD Blue Appeal (B&C)
ABC and its affiliate group will get more time to make their case against the Federal Communications Commission's indecency crackdown. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals set a new briefing schedule in the challenge by ABC and its affiliates of the FCC's $1 million-plus fine against them for a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue that showed too much of a woman's backside and side for the FCC's liking.