Click here to receive mb's Newsfeed by email.

GOP Congressman Calls for Criminal Charges Against NYT (AP and E&P)
Peter King (R-NY), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee urged the Bush administration yesterday to seek criminal charges against The New York Times for reporting on a secret financial-monitoring program used to trace terrorists. NYT Editor's Letter: "The question of preventing terror is not abstract to us," writes Bill Keller. "Nobody should think that we made this decision casually, with any animus toward the current Administration, or without fully weighing the issues." LAT: Senators from both parties declined to join King's call for an investigation and defended the role of newspapers as guardians against government abuse.

Fuller Re-Ups at Star, Gets Same Base Salary (NYT)
American Media signed the new deal with editor-in-chief Bonnie Fuller on Friday. She is to receive the same $1.5 million annual base salary as in her current three-year contract, but she can earn more in bonuses over the next three years than she did in the previous three.

Prolific TV Producer Aaron Spelling Dead at 83 (NYDN)
The legendary TV producer, who created The Mod Squad, Charlie's Angels, Dynasty and Beverly Hills, 90210 during his 50-year-long career, died Friday following a stroke. LAT: Tori Spelling grateful for reconciliation with dad before his death. WaPo: Not every television show produced by Aaron Spelling was silly or sleazy, but those that weren't seemed to have sneaked in over the transom or slipped in under the door, writes Tom Shales. BoGlo: Aaron Spelling was a schlockmeister par excellence, writes Matthew Gilbert.

Tribune Stock Buyback Appears Likely to Reach Target (LAT)
The media company's offer for as much of 25 percent of its outstanding shares expires tonight. The Chandler family, former owners of The Los Angeles Times, probably will continue to fight the turnaround strategy.

Sly, Governator Caved to Enquirer Blackmail (Rush and Molloy)
A National Enquirer reporter boasted that she got a one-on-one interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger after editors threatened to run a story that he slept with Brigitte Nielsen. Sylvester Stallone later handed over personal information after the paper obtained nude photos of him.

Condé Finds West Coast Editor For Glamour (Page Six)
The company's most profitable title had been without an L.A. boss since Rachel Zalas' contract was not renewed two months ago. But after interviewing dozens of candidates, editor-in-chief Cindi Leive has settled on Teen Vogue's Blaine Zuckerman.

Eisner Bets It's Never Too Early to Get Them Thinking About the Ivies (NYT)
Michael D. Eisner, the former chief of the Walt Disney Company, has acquired the producer of sports videos for infants and toddlers in a deal expected to be announced today. Team Baby Entertainment, makes DVDs that highlight college athletic teams while teaching children to count and spell.

FBI Questioning Page Six Editor Richard Johnson (Intelligencer)
The New York Post gossip page's Richard Johnson, has been contacted for questioning by a group that includes prosecutors from the Southern District and federal agents.

AOL Director 'Worried' in 2000 About Transactions (Reuters)
Former AOL Time Warner Chairman Steve Case learned as early as 2000 about transactions that allowed the company to overstate revenues ahead of its merger with Time Warner, according to court documents unsealed on Friday.

Ailes Cracks Whip as Fox News Slips (B&C)
Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes is on the warpath following his network's recent ratings slump. So far during the second quarter, the No. 1 cable news channel's primetime schedule has dropped 22 percent in its core 25-54 demo and 8 percent in total viewers. The first quarter was even worse.

As Online Ads Grow, 'Eyeballs' Valuable Again (NYT)
"It's a good time to be a publisher online," said Carrie Johnson of Forrester Research. "There's a ridiculous thirst for advertising" on the Internet, she said. Online merchants paid 33 percent more for advertising last year than the year before, Ms. Johnson said, with costs expected to rise further. Guardian: U.K. advertising spending in print media declined by 3.7 percent in real terms in 2005, while the internet posted another bumper performance, rising 62.3 percent.

Gibson Set to Exit GMA Wednesday (USAT)
Co-anchors Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts will be left to battle with Today starting Thursday. Not having a male anchor to GMA will be a first for morning television, where a male-female team was the norm for decades until CBS' Early Show ushered in a four-person team in 2002.

Bloggers Get Bankrolled (WSJ)
Some journalists are raising money from financial backers to turn their own independent blogs into businesses. In the latest example, PaidContent.org's Rafat Ali has raised money to expand his Web-publishing business from venture capitalist Alan Patricof. NYT: We're still in the early innings, but given how much the Internet has already transformed the media and society, it's surprising how little money traditional media companies make directly from it, writes Richard Siklos.

New NYT Blog Examines Media Convergence (NYT)
Virginia Heffernan will write "Screens," which "will find, review and make sense of: web video, viral video, user-driven video, custom interactive video, embedded video ads, web-based VOD, broadband television, diavlogs, vcasts, vlogs, video podcasts, mobisodes, webisodes, mashups and more."

The Incredible Shrinking Newspaper (Slate)
Jack Shafer: Nothing will bring the traditional newspaper back to its post-WWII position of media dominance — not color printing, not kids' pages, not expanded high-school sports coverage, not service journalism, nor bingo games on Page One.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin Executive (NYT)
New MSNBC boss Dan Abrams is planning to shake things up at the cable network, which will apparently be dropping some of its talk-show lineup in favor of more taped reports. That change is likely to take place as soon as the next couple of months.

The British (Media) Are Coming! But ... Why? (Reuters)
The British media influx puzzles some media experts, who say the U.S. market is inhospitable to newcomers. "The agenda is hard to figure. It's certainly not going to be any kind of big financial impact on anything," said Edward Atorino of Benchmark Capital. "It's a little bit of an ego trip."

Critic: Should Reporters Be Jailed for Doing Their Job? (ESPN)
Roger Cossack: The founders of our country believed that the keystone of democracy is an informed public and that the press would serve as a watchdog over the government. In the case of San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, the public good is being served.

Bush Reprises Impersonator Sketch for D.C. Gala (AP via Seattle P-I)
President Bush bantered with a look-alike comedian during a benefit for the Ford's Theatre Sunday night. The real president didn't stop laughing during Steve Bridges' routine. "That guy's not much of a speaker," Bush said of his impersonator. "But he makes up for it with his good looks."

Who Are the Real Winners Now That We've Gone Wiki-Crazy? (Independent)
Online sources to which users add their expertise are transforming the way journalists go about research. And it's a knowledge revolution that has hardly begun.

After the Berlin Wall Fell, They Led the Rise in Journalism (NY Sun)
Pranay Gupte: James Greenfield and Nancy Ward set up shops around the world to help people better tell and sell their stories. They do not necessarily start newspapers, magazines, and broadcasting centers. Instead, they work with local enterprises to broaden the reach of existing news organizations.