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Publishers Swap Motown Papers (NYT)
Knight Ridder is selling the Free Press to Gannett, while acquiring three other papers from the media company. Gannett, in turn, is selling The Detroit News to the MediaNews Group. E&P: The shake-up also means a slew of management appointments. Yahoo!: Gannett news release.

Rupe, Lach Get Richer (WSJ)
Chairman Rupert Murdoch could see his annual bonus soar to as much as $25 million under a newly signed incentive plan linked to the media conglomerate's profitability. NYDN: Lachlan walking away from News. Corp with $18 million payout. Newsday: Lachlan's golden parachute signals that he and his father are on better terms than had previously been thought.

OK! Lands Stateside (NYP)
The British celebrity magazine will hit the U.S. today, promising to be "first for celebrity news." But it will butt heads with star-powered stalwarts People, Us Weekly, and Star. NYDN: American version of OK! good to go. Guardian: For now, the magazine's biggest impact is the kerfuffle it is causing in the magazine world, where rivals fear it will create a new pay-to-play market. Gawker: "Gorilla marketing" for new mag. USAT: At first glance, OK! doesn't look radically different from its competitors.

J.Diddy an 'Unimposing Celebrity' in Prison (WaPo)
Nearly a month after she was jailed for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors in a leak investigation, New York Times reporter Judith Miller is adapting to life at the Alexandria Detention Center. E&P: Writers group reverses decision to give Miller "Conscience in Media" award.

Martha's Freedom Post-Poned (NYP)
Martha Stewart's release from home confinement and her electronic anklet has been delayed three weeks to the end of the month after the New York Post exposed her breaking the rules.

Howard Stern Goes Uncensored on VOD (AP via AOL)
The In Demand Networks, which provides video-on-demand content to cable television companies, has reached an agreement to carry the televised version of Stern's show. NYP: Deal could cannibalize Stern's Sirius audience.

Time Warner Sets Aside $3B to Cover AOL Suits (AP via WaPo)
The world's largest media company set aside $3 billion in reserves to cover lawsuits from shareholders over its merger with AOL, swinging the company to a loss of $321 million for the second quarter. Business Week: Can Parsons find a vision for Time Warner?

Beijing To Clamp Down on Foreign Media (IHT)
China disclosed that it has frozen approvals for foreign satellite broadcasters and will strengthen restrictions on foreign television programs, books, newspapers, and performances.

McGreevey Slips Between Covers (Radar)
Ex-New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey is in the final stages of negotiating a mid-six figure deal with Judith Regan's imprint, Regan Books, to give his version of his embarrassing downfall.

Harried Harris Claims Media Harassment (Tampa Tribune)
Former Fla. Secretary of State Katherine Harris, now running for the U.S. Senate, blasted newspapers for criticizing her and charged that some—without saying which—altered her photographs.

Hef's Reality: Cialis and Depends? (AP via Yahoo!)
On the brink of 80, Hugh Hefner is putting his world on view in an eight-part reality TV series that promises to introduce viewers to "the secret side of an American legend."

Yahoo! Apes Napster (LAT)
The web giant will introduce a search engine dedicated to music and other digital audio files, to tap into catalogs of online music such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes as well as other free audio files.

Herald Media Plans More Publications (Boston Herald)
A subsidiary of the Boston Herald publisher will re-introduce the Salem Gazette—originally established in 1781—as well as the Newburyport Current and the Wareham Bulletin.

Newsweek Scaremongers Hype Tweakers (Slate)
Jack Shafer: From its shrieking headline, to the gross-out photo gallery the magazine's meth package plays to readers' emotions. But, for all Newsweek's hysteria, it fails to deliver.

Special Interest Groups Carpet Bombing Papers With Form Letters (CSM)
Advocacy organizations use a technique called "astroturfing," a play on the idea of fake grass-roots support. Newspaper editors say they first noticed the mass arrival of form letters about five years ago.

Columnist Defends Helen Thomas Quote (The Hill)
Albert Eisele: "Off the record" is a virtually meaningless term. It's bad enough that public officials hide behind it to discredit their critics, but even worse when reporters do it.

Web Users Watch Less TV (Hollywood Reporter via Yahoo!)
Broadband Internet surfers in North America watch two fewer hours of television per week than do those without Internet access, while those using a dial-up connection watch 1.5 fewer hours of TV.

'Telenovelas' a Booming Cable Business (WaPo)
Unlike American soap operas, which can drag on for decades, the Spanish-language melodramas usually get just six months to tell their tales of steamy betrayal, class conflict and tragic love.

—David S. Hirschman

IN YESTERDAY'S MB BLOGS:

Jake Tapper Tries The Presidential Workout [TVNewser]
Correspondents can approach the results of President Bush's physical from two directions: They can prepare a typical White House lawn stand-up, or they can look for a distinct angle of the story. ABC News reporter Jake Tapper chose the latter: When doctors called President Bush's condition "superior" recently, Tapper was inspired.

The Earth Moves! [FishbowlDC]
ABC News' Marc Ambinder, one of the driving forces behind The Note, announced to friends this morning that he'll be leaving DeSales Street this month to move down to the Watergate and join Chuck Todd at the National Journal's The Hotline.

Morning Media Minutiae, just for you-tiae [FishbowlNY]
Lachlan Murdoch: Making your nightly news even foxier: Variety predicts that a Lachlan-less News Corp. will be great for Roger Ailes, who looks to be the front-runner for steeping into Lachlan's shoes as chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group.

Butler leaving Daily News? [FishbowlLA]
Rumors are flying that Daily News editor David Butler is leaving for a job at one of the Detroit papers that changed hands today.

The Best Contest We Have Ever Invented [UnBeige]
We lost our TV a couple months ago, and even when we had it we spent most of the time catching up on Best Week Ever and the Real World which, to be fair, started sucking about the time we started being able to form semi-complete sentences. Still, the whole American Idol thing kinda got to us, and got us to thinking. What if, and bear with us, as we're still working out the kinks, there were a way to do a sort of American Idol, but with design?

A Red-Carpet Chat [mbToolbox]
There's more to red-carpet reporting than standing in front of a camera with your spawn and alternately praising and vomiting over people's clothing choices. I had a very informative IM chat with Whitney Pastorek, editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly, on how exactly to make the best of it when you find yourself shoving your microphone into Tom Cruise's face.