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Next Top Model Writers Threaten Strike (LAT)
Writers of the hit reality show walked off the job for an hour and threatened to strike, alleging that the show's producers had snubbed their request to join the Writers Guild of America, West. The dispute comes at a time when new CW network is relying on the hit show to dress up its inaugural lineup.

Google Profit Surges on Strong Search Advertising (NYT)
The company, which announced results yesterday, exceeded analysts' expectations for both sales and profit. That is in contrast to Yahoo, which disappointed Wall Street with lower-than-expected revenue from search-related advertising.

Katie Couric Won't Go to Middle East War Zone (Access Hollywood)
Couric, who takes over the CBS Evening News in September, told Access Hollywood that at this point, she would not venture into the Middle East hot spot. "I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that's something I won't be doing."

Dean Singleton to Be Next AP Chairman (AP via Houston Chron)
The board of directors of The Associated Press has elected William Dean Singleton, vice chairman and CEO of the privately held newspaper publisher MediaNews Group Inc., to be its next chairman, the news cooperative announced Thursday.

How Nielsen's New Ratings Will Change TV (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: Network heavies already admit Nielsen's commercial ratings data will change how ads are bought and sold in next year's upfronts, that rite of spring in which deals are struck for much of a season's TV ad inventory. Expect many other textures of TV as we know it to change as well. CSM: In response to ad-skipping technology, advertisers are turning ads into a storytelling medium.

Lawsuit Against Gore's Current TV Dropped (NY Sun)
Current Communications Group LLC, a venture created to provide broadband Internet service over power lines, sued former Vice Presdident Al Gore's firm in Ohio last year, alleging that the youth-oriented TV network's use of the name "current" could cause confusion.

WaPo Mistakenly Gives Phone-Sex Number for Lebanon Evacuation Hotline (Wonkette)
Caller to the number listed in the print edition of yesterday's paper heard: "Feeling horny? Try these red hot lines from National. Live hot fun at just 69 cents per minute."

Inc. Mag Scion Builds on Father's Legacy With GOOD Mag (WSJ)
When Bernie Goldhirsh died in 2003, he gave a portion of his $200 million fortune to cancer research and to his two children on the premise that they would initiate entrepreneurial projects. With some of that money, his 26-year-old son plans to launch GOOD in September.

Conrad Black's Posh Lifestyle Draws Scrutiny (WSJ)
Outsized expenses for disgraced media baron Conrad Black's posh estate are stirring questions from federal officials in the criminal case against him. Judge Amy St. Eve has asked him the question that has been circulating on the cocktail-party circuit for months: "Where's the money coming from?"

Graydon Spars With New VF Publisher (NYP)
Vanity Fair's first-ever Style issue looks like it is a hit, but the ad page surge is not enough to reverse the magazine's dismal first-half slide. Insiders are wondering if it will be enough to mask the tension between editor-in-chief Graydon Carter and the magazine's new publisher, Alan Katz.

Behind the Pics of the Little Girls Writing on Artillery Shells (CJR Daily)
Gal Beckerman: Reality is always more complicated than propaganda, and it's worth understanding the provenance of these photos, at least as an example of how much we miss when we react emotionally to pictures that are intended to get us riled up.

British Journos Rescued From Mob By Hezbollah? (Guardian)
GMTV correspondent Richard Gaisford and producer Dave Mason were driving back to their hotel after reporting in western Beirut when a crowd began surrounded them. The journalists were rescued by two men thought to be from the stateless terrorist group that initiated the current war in Lebanon.

Nielsen: Advertisers Flocking to Podcasts (Mediaweek)
According to a new report by Nielsen Analytics, the most successful podcasts garner as many as two million downloads a month, drawing advertisers such as Dixie Paper Company. Other podcast advertisers are Sony Pictures, Shell Oil, Earthlink, Warner Bros., HP, HBO and GoDaddy.

Fire at Trib Offices Forces Improvisation in TV Listings (NYT)
Newspapers nationwide were forced to improvise yesterday to produce one of their staples — the daily television listings — after a fire on Wednesday night crippled the principal source of those listings, a subsidiary of the Tribune Company based in upstate New York.

A Secret the Media Kept (WaPo)
Miichael Berlin: Toward the end of 1979, hundreds of journalists and news orgs got hold of a news story that would have made reputations and careers and sent circulation or broadcast ratings soaring. And yet not one ran with the story until given permission to do so by the governments involved.