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Fox Tops (LAT)
For the first time in its 19-year history, Fox will end a season as the No. 1 network among the advertiser-coveted demo of adults 18-49 (as well as adults 18-34 and teens). USAT: CBS again wins biggest total share of shrinking audience. USAT: TV death stalks mainstays during sweeps.

Study: Journos, Public Differ on Media (E&P)
A major survey released by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center shows that the public and working journalists have sharply different views about press freedom, bias in news, and journalists' rights. USAT: Ongoing media attention to journalistic foibles may "ironically be causing the public to think there is more of a problem in journalism than there really is," says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School of Communication.

G+J Sells Four Titles, Exits U.S. Mag Market (Folio)
Against a backdrop of two high-profile circulation scandals which have rocked the company in the past two years, Gruner + Jahr USA abruptly announced Tuesday the sale of its stateside magazines—including Family Circle, Parents, Child and Fitness—to Meredith Corporation for $350 million in cash. NYT: In addition, Gruner + Jahr said that over the next five weeks it would try to sell two business titles, Fast Company and Inc. NY Sun: Meredith and Gruner + Jahr have been in discussion about the potential purchase for more than a year, writes Myrna Blyth. MediaPost: Move seen as win-win for both sides.

BBC, Unions Set for Peace Talks (Guardian)
The BBC and union negotiating teams meeting at Acas tomorrow to try to thrash out a deal to prevent further strike action over 4,000 proposed job cuts will be prepared for a long and gruelling session. Guardian: Talks unlikely to avert strike actions already planned.

GMA's Sawyer Targets Couric's Tiara (NYO)
Alexandra Jacobs: Good Morning America's recent ratings surge against the long-dominant Today show has framed a good old-fashioned catfight: ABC's Diane versus NBC's Katie. NYO: The ax hasn't fallen on Today or its bright, recently beleaguered hostess, Katie Couric. But it has been hovering, guillotine-like, for the last six months, dropping inch by inch as the weeks go by.

Nightline to Read Names of War Dead Again (AP via USAT)
ABC's Nightline, which ignited a brief political battle last year with its decision to read the names of Americans killed in Iraq, will pay tribute again to the more than 900 U.S. service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past year in a special Memorial Day broadcast.

NYT Bets Left-Leaners Will Pony Up (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: The New York Times Co. is making a big bet on the strong loyalty of its liberal audience, while hoping to capitalize on Americans' love affair with the Internet.

Graham Ascends to Calm Newsweek Staff (NYO)
The magazine's error, Washington Post Co. CEO Donald Graham told staffers, would be mentioned high up when other people wrote about it. Still, he said, with time, the reference would drop from the first paragraph to the last; Newsweek's reputation would heal.

PBS Big: We're Independent (Variety)
"PBS is not the property of any single political party or activist group or foundation or funder with an agenda of any kind," PBS President Pat Mitchell said in a speech at the National Press Club. WaPo: National Press Club President Richard Dunham presented Mitchell with a plaque erroneously listing Mitchell as an employee of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Press Digs Its Own Holes (VV)
Sydney H. Schanberg: This would seem to be one of those moments in American history when satire becomes obsolete. It's because our national dialogue has itself become a full-blown, round-the-clock farce. The White House and the press are major players.

Daughters of Dowd (NYO)
Sheelah Kolhatkar on the dearth of women columists.

Blyth Taking the High Road (NYP)
Myrna Blyth, the former longtime editor of Ladies Home Journal, was viewed as a piranha of the women's media world after the publication of her last book. Now with a new book deal signed, she is teaming with a former presidential speechwriter to pen How to Raise an American.

Newsweek's Source Code (Slate)
Jack Shafer: The criticism from the press, while much deserved, overstepped on one count. Some readers, including three at The Washington Post, believe that the mag had claimed multiple sources for its Koran revelation when it had only one. CSM: Anonymous sources come to the fore as a major issue, writes Randy Dotinga.

On-Demand Channels a Niche Frontier (NYT)
Free video-on-demand channels are expanding, seeking more viewers and asking advertisers to help pay the way. Mediaweek: Nielsen Media Research has informed its clients of a plan to incorporate video-on-demand viewing into the network and local TV ratings beginning in second quarter 2006.

University Presses Challenge Google (NYT)
At issue is whether Google Print for Libraries, the company's plan to digitize the collections of some of the country's major university libraries, infringes the copyrights of the authors of many books in those collections.

Pentagon Lies More OK Than Newsweek Blunder? (E&P)
Greg Mitchell: In the week after the magazine's retraction, where is the comparable outrage over the military's cover-up of the "friendly fire" death of Pat Tillman? His family is angry, but why is there so little attention on the press and public also being misled?

Iran Stonewalls on Journo Death (Reuters)
The Iranian judiciary continues to delay investigations into the role of its agents in the death of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi.

Blogs 'Unsafe' for Teens? (CSM)
Of the world's approximately 38 million blogs, 52.8 percent belong to posters age 19 or younger, and as tech-savvy youths enlist computers in the timeless teen quest to establish identity, some adults feel the stakes are too high to accept it as just another form of self-expression.

—David S. Hirschman