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Hemmer for Hire (NYDN)
Bill Hemmer, host of CNN's American Morning is leaving the cable net after 10 years. Soledad O'Brien will continue as anchor of the morning show with Miles O'Brien taking over for Hemmer. WaPo: "Rick Squarejaw" heads to the Land of Pursuing Opportunities Elsewhere, while resident Angry Old White Man Jack Cafferty also is leaving the ayem shift. USAT: New CNN features more news, less debate.

Hearst Rolls Out Weekend (NYP)
With its launch of Weekend magazine on June 14, the publisher is kicking off an ambitious test in the women's lifestyle arena.

Shriver Denies Today Charge (NYDN)
California First Lady Maria Shriver says she's not vetting author appearances on NBC, even though her husband's biographer, Laurence Leamer, blasted her yesterday in The New York Times.

NBC Confirms Lowering of Ad Rates (NYT)
The networks are wrapping up efforts to sell commercial time ahead of the 2005-6 season as NBC began making deals at lower rates for the first time in four years.

NYT's Kristof Wins Michael Kelly Award (Michael Kelly Award)
Columnist Nicholas Kristof is this year's recipient of the Michael Kelly Award for his columns denouncing genocide in Sudan and sexual exploitation in Southeast Asia.

Disney Dissidents' Suit Can Go to Trial (AP via Yahoo!)
Roy Disney and Stanley Gold's lawsuit against The Walt Disney Co., which challenges the way the company selected its new CEO, can go to trial, a Delaware judge ruled.

Newsday for a Quarter (Crain's New York Business)
The paper, still limping from its circulation-pumping scandal, is chopping its newsstand price in half to 25 cents in four of New York's five boroughs.

Breast Intentions (NYT)
In response to Barbara Walters' negative remark about public breast-feeding on her ABC talk show, The View, 200 women yesterday nursed their babies outside the network's headquarters.

BBC Fending Off More Disgruntled Employees (Guardian)
The media company is coming under yet more fire over its treatment of staff when freelance journalists stage a protest against what they describe as "rights-grabbing contracts" at its magazines.

Kiss and Tell, Snoop and Print (NYT)
Janet Maslin: Biographers are growing increasingly brazen, whether their approaches are smoochy or snoopy. These days, book covers stop at almost nothing to command attention.

Welcoming the Ax (WaPo)
In CBS' new reality game show Fire Me… Please contestants actually want to be fired, because it means they've won the competition along with $25,000.

Newspapers Launching Search Sites (NYP)
A handful of U.S. newspapers are trying to break the grip Google and Yahoo! have on the lucrative online advertising business by launching their own services.

Lights, Camera, No Action (NY Mag)
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's scheme to get more New York-based TV shows actually shot in the city was stymied when none of the locally made pilots were picked up by the networks.

Brad Pitt Slams 'Misguided' Media (AP via WaPo)
"I can't get out of the press. These people can't get in the press. So let's redirect the attention a little bit," Pitt tells Diane Sawyer, in charging that the continent of Africa is ignored by print publications.

In Defense of Blender (WaPo)
Peter Carlson: Some rock mags see pop stars as poets, troubadours, sensitive artists and the voice of their generation. Blender sees pop stars as nut jobs, drunks, stoners, sex maniacs, careerists, and hype-mongers who occasionally produce good music.

Death of a Reporter in Texas (E&P)
Kevin Carmody, who helped found the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ), had always been a precise reporter who planned every detail. His suicide was just as well structured and organized.

Standalone News Sites Set to Bloom (AJR)
Online advertising has come of age and barriers to entry for Web publishers are falling, spurring many journalists to create fresh news destinations online—and to build viable businesses in the process.

Afghan May Get Capital Punishment for Journo Slays (AP via Boston Globe)
The alleged leader of a gang that killed four journalists covering the collapse of the Taliban will likely get the death penalty if convicted, a judge said after the man was captured in a shoot-out with police.

Protecting Papa's Palace (CSM)
A U.S. preservation group is trying to team up with Cuba in a controversial effort to save Nobel-Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway's residence in Havana.

—David S. Hirschman