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After 39 Years, a Final Countdown for Casey Kasem (AP)
Casey Kasem has done his final countdown. The 77-year-old DJ told American Top 20 listeners Saturday that the program would be his last. Kasem said he "loved every minute" of his broadcasting career, but that he was leaving the show to "free up time I need to focus on myriad other projects."

Weymouth: WaPo Launches Internal Review (Politico)
Following her letter to readers Sunday, Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth informed staff that general counsel Eric Lieberman will "review recent events to make sure that our business processes are consistent with, and will not in any way compromise, our journalism." FishbowlDC: Atlantic Media owner David Bradley addresses his company's practice of sponsored salon dinners.

New Rules for Times Co. Cell Phones: No Texting, 411 (NYO)
New York Times editors are now strongly encouraging staffers to quit texting on their company cell phones, avoid using the phones entirely when overseas on assignment and never, ever to call 411 with a company phone.

Mediaite Launches To Server-Crashing Traffic (FishbowlNY)
he hotly anticipated Mediaite.com, the media blog brainchild of consulting company Abrams Research, launched yesterday and was quickly inundated with readers furiously clicking -- consequently giving visitors some viewing problems. Slate: Jack Shafer on Mediaite's acrid aftertaste. Forbes: Mediaite's Colby Hall and Rachel Sklar discuss the site in an email interview.

Double-Digit Ad Decline for North America (NYP)
In a new global survey by ad buyer ZenithOptimedia, North America fared pretty much the worst in the world, with spending predicted to fall 10.3 percent in 2009. That follows a 3.7 percent decline last year and 2.4 percent slippage in 2007.

HBO to Develop Middlesex as a One-Hour Series (B&C)
HBO has optioned Jeffrey Eugenides' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Middlesex and is developing a one-hour drama series based on the 2002 book. Actor-producer Rita Wilson is executive producing, along with the project's writer Donald Margulies.

How Can YouTube Survive? (Independent)
While YouTube's popularity is without question -- some 345 million visitors worldwide descend upon the site every month -- it is losing a ton of money. In April, analysts at Credit Suisse estimated its losses for this year would reach $470 million, while RampRate put the figure at just over $174 million.

Sarah Palin's TV Prospects (Variety)
In the days since she announced her resignation as Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin's decision has remained a source of mystery, speculation and debate. But there's little doubt that she'll have a future in the cable news universe, if that's what she desires.

Media News Group to Slash 18 Jobs (BayNewser)
Media News Group, the owner of the Oakland Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News, is looking to eliminate 18 newsroom jobs from its East Bay unit. This comes on the tail of rumors alleging that the company is undergoing bankruptcy arrangements or a change in ownership -- both of which Media News denies.

Sarah Palin Is a Hit for Vanity Fair (AllThingsDigital/Media Memo)
At Vanity Fair, Todd Purdum's buzzy feature story on the soon-to-be former governor of Alaska has generated just under two million page views in six days. Had Palin not made her blockbuster announcement on the Friday before the Fourth of July, the piece would be doing even better.

Entertainment Journos and Box Office Numbers (Slate)
Zachary Pincus-Roth: Every summer, journalists engage in misleading speculation about whether the latest blockbuster will have the best opening weekend ever. As long as we continue to indulge this obsession, shouldn't journalists at least factor in inflation instead of pretending that it doesn't exist?

The Perils of Travel Writing (WorldHum)
David Farley: When the New York Times travel section published an article I'd written about the Italian village of Calcata in 2007, it was not only my first article in "the Gray Lady" -- but it was the first time I was able to witness how a travel article affects a place.

Philly Newsman Robert Taylor Dies at 96 (NYT)
Robert E. Lee Taylor Jr., who was the publisher of The Philadelphia Bulletin when it was one of the nation's largest newspapers, and briefly went to jail in a test case of journalists' right to keep sources confidential, died on Thursday at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He was 96.

Who Controls Academic Journals? (Inside Higher Ed)
As more journals shift from being run by university presses and scholarly societies to corporate entities, the goal is better management, better sales, and economies of scale. The fear of some involved in journal publishing is that corporate interests will limit the role of scholars in making key decisions.

Scholarly Writers Empower Romance Genre (USAT)
Thirty years ago, "Ivy League romance writer" was like "jumbo shrimp" -- an oxymoron. Back then, nobody could have predicted that in April 2009, Princeton University would host a scholarly conference featuring romance writer Eloisa James, author of Desperate Duchesses and Potent Pleasures.