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AOL Shakeup (NYP)
In recent weeks the company has once again approached major tech and media companies to discuss possible partnerships, and internally the company has been weighing a plan to spin off a portion of AOL, perhaps as much as 20 percent, to public shareholders.

Haddad to Lead MSNBC Election Coverage (WaPo)
Tammy Haddad, executive producer of MSNBC's Hardball With Chris Matthews, is being promoted to vice president of the cable network's Washington bureau. Haddad will oversee the network's political and election coverage from the bureau, where about 20 staff members work. TVNewser: MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams calls Haddad "one of the most tenacious, driven and energetic producers out there."

Studios, Labels Settle With Kazaa (NYT)
The music industry and Hollywood movie studios said Thursday that they had settled lawsuits against a longtime nemesis, the owner of the digital file-sharing network Kazaa, which will try to transform itself into a legitimate online distributor of films and music.

Turning 25, MTV Plans for More M, Less TV (USAT)
"The television channel will never go away; it's had its highest ratings ever," MTV music group chief Van Toffler says. But broadband channel MTV Overdrive and new cellphone content will offer "vibrant, visually rich screens and will be companions" to the mothership.

Front Page News? Not Quite (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: Recent decisions by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Chicago Tribune to place ads on front pages of sections made knees jerk in certain traditionalists' circles. Does anyone beyond the most navel-gazing of journalists care in the slightest about a small ad appearing on the front page?

Cox Completes Transformation From Blogger Cover Girl to Old Media's New Hope (WWD)
Ana Marie Cox has been named Washington editor of Time.com, where she will coordinate political coverage and continue to contribute articles. "I've been trying to sell out for a very long time," Cox wrote in an e-mail to WWD. "I'm proud to say I finally have." Pogue's Post: Wonkette's ingredients for a successful blog.

Source Going for Broke (NYP)
The tortured tale of The Source, the embattled hip-hop magazine, wound its way into bankruptcy court yesterday. Three disgruntled creditors filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against the Source Enterprises Inc. which could force a liquidation sale.

ABC Dumps The One (B&C)
ABC has pulled the plug on music-talent competition show The One after two weeks of low-rated airings. The show debuted July 11 with a 1.1 average rating in the adult 18-49 demo, before recording a 1.0 for its results show the following night. This week the numbers were no better.

Amazon's Got Hollywood Ambitions (Variety)
Amazon has optioned screen rights to Keith Donohue's bestselling novel The Stolen Child. The online retailer will move to secure a filmmaker and then a studio partner to turn the fantasy into a live-action feature, marking the company's first foray into content creation not limited to its site.

Who's Who in the Halls of Power at News Corp. Confab (LAT)
Call it the Rupert effect. The media maverick personally invited many of the luminaries who will make the five-day retreat an unusually high-powered blend of politics and business. Not only did they say yes, but at least one — President Bill Clinton — waived his usual $100,000 speaking fee.

Sources: VNU May Soon Announce New CEO, Corporate Restructuring (Folio)
With new private equity owners guiding its future, VNU may soon make some corporate restructuring announcements for its domestic and international operations. Though a decision is still months away, sources say VNU may consider putting its European division up for sale and may eventually sell off some of its non-core U.S.-based magazine holdings.

How Much Is a MySpace User Worth? (ZDNet)
Donna Bogatin: From YouTube to Digg to MySpace, "Social Web" stars are touting enormous traffic and usage metrics. The traffic overwhelmingly involves non-contributing — and non-paying — users, however, and the usage is not well monetized. Economist: Marketing on MySpace, big business tries to make friends and influence people.

Washington Post's Anthony Shadid Dodges Bombs in Lebanon, Misses Daughter (E&P)
Conflicts in the Middle East are nothing new for the 10-year veteran of the region, whose experience includes covering the Iraq War for two years and suffering a gunshot wound in Ramallah. But now he is watching for bombs overhead as he visits homes and hospitals, sometimes in "the only car on the road."

Lifting the Cover of the Hezbollah PR Effort (CJR Daily)
Paul McLeary: Reporting from a war zone almost invariably entails moral or ethical compromises that are, more often than not, necessary. If being led around by Hezbollah "press officers" is the only way to tour bomb-damaged neighborhoods, so be it — as long as reporters disclose as much.

A New Model For Getting Rich Online (WaPo)
For hundreds of thousands of people, the dream of making an Internet fortune works like this: Earn pennies at a time in exchange for allowing Google Inc. or Yahoo Inc. to place advertisements on a personal or small-business Web page.

How the New York Times Makes Local Papers More Local, 'Dumbed Down' (Slate)
Besides making local newspapers dumber, the invasion of the Times may make them less desirable to advertisers, who prefer educated readers over less educated ones because education is an excellent marker of affluence. By extension, the arrival may even erode the value of some local papers.