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Front Page of WSJ Will Get Ads (NYT)
The Wall Street Journal calls it a "jewel box," but readers of its front page will know it by its common name: advertising. The paper has confirmed the speculation that it would open its front page to advertisers, a move that could bring in tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue.

NBC Signs Spike Lee for New Drama Series (B&C)
NBC has signed Spike Lee to develop a new drama series for NBC Universal Television Studio. While details of the project and Lee's exact role are yet to be announced, NBC Entertainment's new SVP of drama development, Katie O'Connell, says the deal makes sense for NBC.

Fox to Launch Live Nationwide Morning Show (Mediaweek)
Fox Television Stations and Twentieth Television announced Tuesday the launch of a new, live, national morning show featuring entertainment and general interest programming. Scheduled to debut January 2007, the hour-long show will be cleared by all 25 owned-and-operated Fox stations.

NBC's Brian Williams Launches Early Nightly Video Blog (TVNewser)
The timing is awfully interesting. On Sunday, CBS announced that Katie Couric would offer a "web-exclusive rundown on-camera from the newsroom" early each weekday afternoon starting Sept. 5. Then on Monday, NBC premiered the Early Nightly, a daily on-camera video blog by Brian Williams.

Most Bloggers Don't Think of Themselves as Journalists (Reuters)
About 34 percent of U.S. bloggers — who make up 8 percent of Web users — see their blogging as a form of journalism; 65 percent disagreed. Just over a third of bloggers said they engage often in journalistic activities such as verifying facts and linking to source material.

Televisa Could Still Make Univision Bid (Reuters via WaPo)
Mexican media giant Televisa is not ruling out a new takeover offer for U.S. broadcaster Univision after losing a bidding war over the company last month. The broadcaster suffered a major blow to its U.S. plans when a group of investors edged out its bid for the Spanish-language broadcaster.

Studios Approve Downloadable Movies for TV (BusinessWeek)
For those who want to watch movies curled up on their couch comes the first downloadable movie that can be burned onto a DVD. On July 19, CinemaNow, a movie download site backed by Lionsgate Entertainment, Microsoft, Blockbuster and others, will be the first to provide that service.

New Hearst Xanadu Can't Keep Editor Bradley (NYP)
Melissa Biggs Bradley, the editor of critically acclaimed Town & Country Travel and the feature editor of Town & Country, is bolting from the bluebloods' bible at month's end after 11 years at the magazine. She is believed to be quitting in favor of spending more time with her family.

Times Not Taking Threats of SWIFT Report Prosecution Seriously? (NYO)
Reporters Eric Lichtblau and James Risen have reportedly not retained lawyers. Risen was represented by Cahill Gordon during the suit brought by Wen Ho Lee, but has not retained the firm this time. Additionally, the paper's preferred First Amendment attorney, Floyd Abrams, hasn't been called in yet.

Sorkin's Studio 60 Already Draws Cheers and Jeers on Web (LAT)
Chatter on the Web has declared alternately that the show is fourth-place NBC's savior and that Sorkin's return to TV is dead on arrival. To Internet bloggers, it is both "the biggest hit of next season" and "an underwhelming disappointment."

Times' Angry Inch: Latest Vogue Slices Paper Coulter-Thin (NYO)
Whatever readers may or may not think of the floppy old broadsheet size, the newspaper business has agreed that it is too much — a symbol of archaic inefficiency. Cutting, then, has become an efficiency ritual: a way of demonstrating that a newspaper is not too attached to ... well, to newspaper.

Times Co. Profits Slightly Up (E&P)
The New York Times Company said Tuesday that its second-quarter 2006 net income increased to $61.3 million compared to $60.8 million in the same period of 2005. E&P: Journal Communications earnings fell 16 percent on flat revenues.

Could First Amendment Save Cheney From Plame Prosecution? (Slate)
Cheney didn't fire the Wilsons. He merely spoke out against them. True, he did so furtively, in what many might view as an underhanded whispering campaign. But the First Amendment protects a wide variety of speech and expression, encompassing the right to print, orate, and yes, to whisper.

'Talk of the Town' Rejects Get Published After All (VV)
Rejection, of course, is simply a rite of passage for most writers. For Mac Montandon, though, it formed the seed of an idea. About a year ago he set out to provide a home for orphan submissions to the New Yorker section, quietly launching Silence of the City.

U.N. Drama Unfolds, Times Runs Wire Copy (NYO)
Niall Stanage: A jury took only a few hours to convict a South Korean national, Tongsun Park, of acting as an unregistered agent of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. But The New York Times did not assign a reporter to his trial, its total coverage amounting to a wire report on the day following Park's conviction.