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NBC to Remove Reilly as Program Chief, Silverman to Take Over (NYT)
NBC Universal will sever its ties with Kevin Reilly, president of its entertainment division and the network's chief programmer, just three months after extending his contract for three years, several executives informed of the discussions said. Reilly pushed NBC to clarify his status after he became aware that the network had begun a search for his successor. TV Week: Ben Silverman, producer of hits such as NBC's The Office and ABC's Ugly Betty, will step into a newly-created position above Reilly's former slot, possibly overseeing both the network and NBC Universal Television Studio. B&C: Studio chief Angela Bromstad, who has basically been out of her job all year, is still expected to remain with the organization in some way, most likely focusing on the international production side of the business should she accept a role in London. DHD: Backstory. Mediaweek: Is Reilly a scapegoat for NBC's failures?

Rosie: I Was the 'Foster Kid' on The View (ABC News)
In a video posted on her blog Saturday, O'Donnell admits her chief writer vandalized a picture of Elisabeth Hasselbeck after their on-air spat last Wednesday — which led to Rosie's departure from the show. "I never tried harder to be friends with someone than I did with her from the get-go," O'Donnell said of Hasselbeck, "but I don't think we ended up there, anywhere close."

Gore Slams 'Trivialities and Nonsense' in News Media (AFP)
Former Vice President Al Gore criticized the proliferation of celebrity gossip in the media and called on people to focus instead on issues like Iraq and climate change. Gore made the comments at a book signing in New York, where he was treated to a rock star reception by more than 1,300 cheering and screaming fans.

Nello: So What If I Gave $1,000 to Page Six? (New York Mag)
"It's ridiculous. There are so many other allegations" about the practices of Page Six and Post editors, said Nello Balan. "Parties, strippers, $50,000 trips, and what everybody focuses on is that Christmas gift in 1997. ... There's nothing behind that Christmas gift. It's not an obligation. It's a thought." NYT: How much positive ink does a $1,000 gift to a gossip columnist buy?

2007 Winners of EPpy Awards for Interactive Media Announced (E&P)
In the category of Best Newspaper-Affiliated Web Site with more than one million unique monthly visitors, NYTimes.com took the top prize. The Associated Press took honors for Best News Web Site for fewer than one million unique visitors per month, and the Washington Post won the award for Best Design of a Media-Affiliated Web Site with more than one million unique monthly visitors.

Stark Disparity in Firms' Tracking of Web Site Visits (LAT)
In the chaotic world of modern marketing, the Internet is touted as the best medium for determining the effectiveness of ads. So why is there so much controversy over a measurement as simple as how many people visit a site? The firms that measure online traffic have been accused of undercounting minority Web surfers, overestimating visitors by more than double and ignoring Web users at work.

27 Years After Awarded, a Pulitzer Prize Acknowledged (NYT)
In 1979, photographer Jahangir Razmi stood nearby as executioners shot Kurdish prisoners in Iran. A picture he took for an Iranian newspaper was picked up by United Press International and published worldwide. To protect the photographer, his name was not printed. But the image proved so compelling that it was awarded the 1980 Pulitzer Prize. Last Monday Razmi finally received his award. E&P: WSJ reporter reveals how he spent years finding Razmi.

BBC Expands Web Ambitions (Guardian)
BBC Worldwide is creating a digital team to develop and launch of a number of community-based, video-rich websites. The move marks a major expansion of BBC Worldwide's digital ambitions. Until now, it has primarily focused on running Web sites as an extension of existing BBC brands, such as the Radio Times and Top Gear.

Celeb Rag Shocker: Us' Exposé Exposé! (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: While breathless hype is hardly unknown in the celebrity-rag business, a rival's finger-pointing campaign is rare indeed. Us Weekly recently started razzing the competition with such weekly spreads as "How They Faked the Baby 'News.'" Clearly, this is not simply an exercise in selfless investigative sleuthing. In fact, Jann Wenner, who owns Us Weekly, ordered up the attacks.

Not to See the Fallen Is No Favor (NYT)
David Carr: While troop numbers are surging, the media that cover them are leaking away, worn out by the danger and expense of covering a war that refuses to end. Many of the journalists who are in Iraq have been backed into fortified corners, rarely venturing out to see what soldiers confront. And those remaining embedded with the troops in Iraq are risking more and more for less and less.

Amid Furor, British TV Station Defends Decision to Air Documentary With Diana Death Pics (Times of London)
Channel 4's decision to show graphic pictures of the aftermath of the car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, is "in appalling taste and deeply upsetting for her sons," a family friend said yesterday. But the broadcaster has rejected calls not to show footage of the accident.

Script's Price Can Spell 'The End' (LAT)
Patrick Goldstein: This is a tale of two scripts, one that sold for a ton of money, one that remains twisting in the wind. Both are beautifully written, but in Hollywood, while scripts are prized for great writing, they must also give a studio chief enough ammunition to comfortably answer the question: If I spend $100 million on this, will I be bankrolling a big hit, not a colossal failure?

Farewell to The Sopranos (New Yorker)
David Remnick: Everyone in The Sopranos has grown older (and we along with them). One after another, the made men and crew members disappear from the stage — an accelerated version of what happens naturally. ... The end is a mystery, but we know one thing: The Sopranos defied Aristotelian conventions. It is a comedy that ends with a litany of the dead and missing. Whaddya gonna do?

Out at NBC, Trump Makes Another Awful Brand Move by Hawking Steak (AdAge)
Simon Dumenco: That is, in fact, the Donald himself hunching over a giant silver platter of assorted slabs of meat — his assorted slabs of meat — on the cover of the Sharper Image catalog. There's something painfully sad about the timing here. Trump garishly reasserting his brand-ness just as his Apprentice gets knocked off NBC's fall schedule? Oy. Stick a fork in it already, Don.

Famous Writers on Fonts (Slate)
A number of prominent writers reveal what font they compose in and why. Courier was the clear favorite among our unscientific sample, but Times New Roman, Palatino, and something called Hoefler Text had their champions as well. It seems to come down to whether a writer's formative experience came on an Olivetti or an Apple. Slate: The cult of Helvetica.