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Pleas Made for Release of 2 Fox Journalists (AP)
A New Zealand envoy and the brother of an American reporter made separate televised pleas Sunday urging militants to release two Fox News journalists — American correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig — kidnapped last week in the Gaza Strip.

MTV to Take VMA Viewers Backstage (AP via USAT)
MTV is offering a trip backstage at Radio City Music Hall. The cable network is putting on a broadband program to run concurrently with the Video Music Awards on Aug. 31 and give people at home a taste of what is happening beyond the reach of the TV station's cameras.

Peltz Is Cagey on Tribune Investment (LAT)
Wall Street has speculated that billionaire Nelson Peltz would increase the pressure already being applied on Tribune management to sell assets, spin off its broadcast division or sell the company. Of his investing philosophy, Peltz says: "We don't buy a share of stock if we don't have a plan."

Effects of Cost-Cutting Evident in Reuters Flap (LAT)
Tim Rutten: Whatever its architects' financial goals, the Reuters picture desk was a journalistic accident waiting to happen — and it did. The truth is that "consolidation" and cutbacks are creating similar hazards throughout the English-speaking world's journalistic network.

In a Twist, a Travel Web Site Plans to Spin Off a Magazine (NYT)
Sherman's Travel is being spun off from ShermansTravel.com, which aggregates online travel offers and also publishes a newsletter distributed free to its more than 3.5 million subscribers. The site had 1.5 million unique visitors in July. Gannett, publisher of USA Today, is a minority investor.

How Magazines Balance Web, Print Editions (WSJ)
Weekly magazines are breaking more news online while wrestling with what information should be held for their regularly scheduled issues. The challenge is to enhance both media rather than creating two anemic products.

You've Got ... a Company to Fix! (Newsweek)
Who better than Jeff Bewkes, who rose through Time Warner's ranks to become its COO last year, to oversee the plan to salvage AOL? Bewkes has helped a company redefine itself before. During his tenure at HBO, he got the cable net to focus on original programming after rivals like Showtime moved in.

Couric Coming, But Rivals Aren't Standing By (NYT)
With Katie Couric ready to begin at CBS, NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charles Gibson have been working to retain the viewers they have and woo others. "Katie comes into the job with a good understanding of the anchor-viewer relationship," Williams said. "But evening news viewers are different."

Washingtonpost.com Launches Sponsored Blogroll (Adotas)
The Washingtonpost.com has launched a blog promotion program called Sponsored Blogroll, which aims to give B and C-list bloggers a taste of the site's 8 million monthly readers and help connect them with Washington Post advertisers.

Science Journals and the 'Embargo' System (Inside Higher Ed)
Vincent Kiernan: Embargoes do exert great influence over what gets covered and how, but the embargo system is hardly a tyranny of journals over journalists. If journalists are in a stranglehold, it is a self-inflicted stranglehold — and one that does not serve the public interest.

In Baghdad, the Relief of Reality TV for Real Survivors (AP via WaPo)
A new TV show, Fame and Fortune, features Iraqis taking on challenges in hopes of winning a contract with al-Sharqiya television, which airs the program. The show presents a different "reality" from everyday life in Iraq — no kidnappings no explosions — except for the odd cooking accident.

Jill Carroll's Story: Part 6 (CSM)
Jill Carroll: At various times, I heard my captors discussing changes in their plans because of directives from the council and Zarqawi, including one in Arabic I only partially understood: something about how my case should be resolved "without money and without killing."

The Plum Network: What the Rich Watch on Television (Slate)
Troy Patterson: Plum is more Bill than Hill — pluralistic, with a bottomless appetite for information and something for everyone who aspires to be a Somebody. It's got a light-hearted cynicism, an elegance with name-dropping, unmaskable high ambitions, and a few high ideals.

Decoding the President's Summer Reading List (New Yorker)
Adam Gopnik: It is hard not to brood on the meanings of George W. Bush's syllabus for this particular summer. Where in summers past he has read fiction by Tom Wolfe, or a comprehensive history of salt, this summer, perhaps under the pressure of events, he has embarked on a more strenuous list.

Bloggers and Journos Now Comrades-at-Keyboards (Guardian)
Jeff Jarvis: The supposed battle between mainstream media and bloggers is over. The last shot, a dud, was fired by Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia University's School of Journalism, when he issued a recent encyclical defending professionalism and decreeing that citizens' media is just "journalism without journalists."