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Cruise Shows Hollywood The Money (NYT)
Less than a week after Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise ended their 14-year relationship, his company announced a deal with an investor group headed by Daniel M. Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins and chairman of the Six Flags amusement parks. The financing is well under $10 million, according Cruise's business partner. FishbowlLA: The deal gives Cruise development and overhead costs for two years with the option to renew long term. AdAge: Sumner Redstone's Cruise slap puts megastars on notice.

NBC Apologizes For Lost Emmy Skit (Boston Herald)
NBC apologized for an Emmy Awards broadcast spoof yesterday after complaints that the Lost parody, featuring host Conan O'Brien in a mock plane crash, should not have aired just hours after a fatal Kentucky commuter plane wreck. FishbowlNY: Was Conan's Lost Emmy spoof distasteful?

NYTimes.com Withholds British Terror Article in Britain (NYT)
If Web readers in Britain were intrigued by the headline "Details Emerge in British Terror Case," which sat on top of the New York Times' home page much of yesterday, they would have been disappointed with a click. "On advice of legal counsel, this article is unavailable to readers of nytimes.com in Britain," is the message they would have seen. "This arises from the requirement in British law that prohibits publication of prejudicial information about the defendants prior to trial."

FHM Lays Off 5 (FishbowlNY)
FHM has laid off five staffers. David Pullan, managing director of EMAP, FHM's parent company: "As we plan for the continued growth and expansion of the FHM brand in the U.S., it became necessary to reassess our organizational structure." WWD: FHM has hired four online staffers in four months. The recent layoffs may eliminate job duplication should both sides merge.

Magazine Publishing 360 (Mr. Magazine)
Samir Husni: The traditional definition of a magazine is a "storehouse of information" that is published at least four times a year. Technically this may still be true, but with the changes in our industry over just the last ten years, we should be careful not to cling too tightly to this outdated language.

WSJ 'Weekend' Disproves Critics, Attracts New Advertisers (AdAge)
As the first anniversary of its "Weekend Edition" approaches, critics are offering the Wall Street Journal birthday wishes grudgingly, if at all. But the Journal is trumpeting ad numbers as proof that it's thriving — and media buyers say they like it, too.

China Launches Reality-TV Search for Olympians (WSJ)
China Central Television is launching a reality show that aims to pluck someone from the nation's 1.3 billion-strong population to become coxswains for the men's and women's teams of rowers in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Hyperion To Give Women a 'Voice' (NYT)
Hyperion is planning to start an imprint aimed at women, Voice, just one of a number of new imprints aimed at female readers. Voice is specifically focusing on women from their mid-30's and older and will have a resolutely anti-chick-lit bent, said its founders.

Free Weekday Paper Names a Publisher (AP via NYT)
A new publisher has been named for the free newspaper amNew York, the paper announced. Christopher Barnes succeeds the founding publisher, Russell Pergament, as publisher and general manager. Barnes had served as the paper's general manager since its inception in October 2003.

Universal Signs Free Music Download Deal (WaPo)
SpiralFrog, a new music download service, today said it would make Vivendi's Universal Music Group's catalog available for free legal downloading in the United States and Canada. The new advertising-supported service, due to launch later this year, joins the ranks of rivals battling for a piece of the digital music market in the shadow of Apple Computer Inc's dominant iTunes music store.

Brian Williams On Katrina: 'I Don't Think There Has Been a Story Better Told by Television' (TVNewser)
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams — whose on-the-scene coverage of Hurricane Katrina helped earn NBC a Peabody Award — fell "terribly ill" in the days following the storm. Williams never revealed his illness to viewers.

A Maverick's Idea for The Music Industry (Wired)
Nettwerk is just a midsize music management company with an indie record label on the side. Many of the artists on its client roster — which includes Avril Lavigne, Dido, Sarah McLachlan, and Stereophonics — are mainstream acts. But the company's cofounder and creative force is quietly carrying out a plan to reinvent the music industry, including legalizing file-sharing and giving artists control over their own intellectual property. Wired: How a tiny web outfit, Pitchfork, became the most influential tastemaker on the music scene.

Moonves, Freston In Showdown Over Showtime Deal (NYP)
As the animosity between the former corporate cousins Les Moonves and Tom Freston escalates, a showdown looms between the pair over a lucrative movie deal between pay-TV channel Showtime and the Paramount Pictures movie studio.

'Chris Matthews' Turns 5 (Broadcasting & Cable)
Chris Matthews' syndicated political talk show has its fifth anniversary next month. His MSNBC program Hardball may get more buzz, but The Chris Matthews Show, from NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution, is a force as well.

Behind Every Man, There Is A Fake Writer (Miami Herald)
In 1967, Alice Bradley Sheldon scribbled a pseudonym borrowed from a jar of jam on the top of some science fiction stories she had just written. Within a decade, a legend had been created, literally. James Tiptree Jr.'s short stories won sci-fi's top awards and the acclaim of peers. Only no one knew he was a she. When the woman behind the man was finally unveiled, Tiptree was never the same.