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Oprah Winfrey Retains Top Spot on Powerful Celeb List (Forbes)
Despite weakening television ratings and magazine circulation, Oprah Winfrey remains at the top of the list, a power ranking based on both earnings and fame. The biggest earner: J.K. Rowling, whose final installment of the wizardly adventures of Harry Potter helped add $300 million to her coffers, solidifying her status as the richest author on the planet. Deadline Hollywood Daily: Will MTV boss go to work for Oprah TV?

Lyne May Not Be Done With Mags After MSLO Exit (NYP)
Susan Lyne's resignation yesterday as CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia might not signal the end of her career in magazines. Lyne and Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore are slated to have lunch next week, a meeting that was arranged yesterday after news broke out that Lyne was stepping down after four years at MSLO. NYT: During her tenure, Lyne put to rest doubts that the company could survive after its founder was caught up in a stock-trading scandal. The company's share price has declined nearly 60 percent since Ms. Lyne was named chief executive, however, in large part because of troubles at Kmart, the retailer that carries a large line of Martha Stewart merchandise. Folio:: The company had a strong finish to 2007, posting double digit publishing and Internet revenue gains during the fourth quarter.

Discovery Leaders' Pay Is Among Highest in Media (WSJ)
Discovery Communications LLC, closely held parent of the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, isn't among the biggest media companies. But its executives are among the most highly paid. A filing Wednesday revealed that Discovery founder and Chairman John Hendricks was credited with nearly $57.9 million in cash and options last year, while CEO David Zaslav was attributed $19.1 million in cash and options.

WSJ Page One Staff Reportedly Dissolved (Gawker)
Ryan Tate: A tipster is telling us that the Wall Street Journal's fabled Page One staff will be dissolved into the news desk. Page One editor Mike Williams would become a "roving features editor," which sounds much less powerful. The Page One desk is responsible, among other things, for the often breezy but always well-researched A-Hed feature, which has been increasingly marginalized as the Journal's front page gets newsier.

Churchward Leaving Vogue (WWD)
Vogue's longtime design director Charles Churchward is leaving the magazine after 13 years. He resigned from his post on Monday, but will stay on through July to help close the title's famously large September fashion issue. After that, Churchward will continue to work with Vogue for projects including books and special issues.

Google CEO Hopes Firm's DoubleClick Ad Service Helps Newspapers (AP via LAT)
Google Inc. chief executive Eric Schmidt said Wednesday that the Internet search leader hoped its recently acquired advertising service DoubleClick would aid newspapers as they struggled to corral more online revenue. "It's a huge moral imperative to help here," Schmidt said at an event hosted in San Francisco by Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Gannett Freezes Employee Pensions, Ups 401(k) (E&P)
Gannett yesterday afternoon announced it is freezing the pensions of company employees, according to a memo on the plan sent from Gannett CEO Craig Dubow. The change includes a shift in 401(k) match, with employees gaining main Gannett stock for each contribution to their 401(k) fund.

Washington Post to Record $80M in Severance Costs (AP)
Newspaper and magazine publisher Washington Post Co. said Tuesday it will record charges of about $80 million, most of which will be realized in the second quarter, related to severance costs. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the charges will be funded primarily from the assets of the company's pension plans.

Neil MacNeil, Among First of TV Reporters on Congress, Dies at 85 (NYT)
Neil MacNeil, who covered Congress for Time through seven presidential administrations and was among television's first Congressional correspondents, died Saturday in Bethesda, Md. He was 85. The cause was lung cancer, said his daughter Tara MacNeil Veitch.

FX Drama About Tabloid Mags Canceled (Variety)
The FX series Dirt has been canceled after two seasons. Courteney Cox starred as the magazine editor in the series about a celebrity tabloid that goes to great lengths in search of hot gossip. After a 13-episode first season, only seven segs were delivered for season two due to the writers strike. The last episode aired April 13.

U.S. Ad Spending Slowed Down in March (AdAge)
Marketers still worried about the course of the economy held their U.S. ad spending nearly flat in the first quarter, nudging the total up 0.6 percent from the period a year earlier, and probably didn't pick up the pace in the second quarter, according to a new report from TNS Media Intelligence.

Nancy Sinatra Beats the Drum for Radio Royalties (LAT)
On Wednesday, Sinatra headlined a House subcommittee hearing, urging lawmakers to force broadcast radio stations to pay royalties to performers and record companies when the stations air their songs. Although composers and songwriters get royalties from radio stations, singers and musicians who perform those songs, along with the labels that own the recordings, get nothing.

Up Next, a Show From Our Sponsor (NYT)
Decades after advertisers produced TV series like Schlitz Playhouse of Stars and viewers watched Barbara Walters and Ed McMahon deliver Alpo commercials on Today and The Tonight Show, marketers of beer and pet food are developing programs that are centered on their products.

Satirical Takes Can Color Perceptions of the Presidential Contenders (WaPo)
Michael Cavna: Our sharpest satirists are ramping up. As they chip-chip-chip away at presumptive nominees Obama and John McCain to get laughs, they're also sculpting handy-dandy political caricatures that begin to take hold in the public chatosphere. Pointed campaign humor has more prominent platforms in this historic presidential election than ever before.

Housing Slump Helps the Draw of Fixer-Upper TV (NYT)
The housing market is collapsing, but television shows about housing are booming. The audiences for HGTV and TLC, the two channels with the most so-called property programming, have grown steadily over the last three years. The reason appears to be their shift in focus away from buying real estate as speculative sport to more educational and emotional shows.