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Networks, Press Respond to Katrina (B&C)
The NBC Universal Television Group, which has been active in raising money during previous national disasters, has scheduled a live benefit special, A Concert For Hurricane Relief for tomorrow evening. Reuters via Yahoo!: MTV, VH1 and CMT plan to simulcast a live hurricane-relief special on September 10 featuring such acts as Green Day, Alicia Keys, John Mellencamp and the Dave Matthews Band. Slate: Why no mention of race or class in TV's Katrina coverage, asks Jack Shafer. NYT: Networks find that covering Katrina is like working in a war zone. LAT: ABC delays disaster series promos. E&P: Editorials raise questions about Bush's response to Katrina. WaPo: Nets navigate floodwaters to get on air. WaPo: Journalists from the two hardest-hit areas have worked around demolished newsrooms and production facilities, primitive-to-nonexistent communications lines, and personal losses to produce pictures and words about the storm. Guardian: A snapshot of the difficulties faced by journalists covering the hurricane. Hollywood Reporter: Media cautious in storm's wake.

Newsday Staff Fears Major Cuts (NYDN)
Employees say the newspaper is demanding drastic cuts and concessions in its new round of contract talks—and they fear the paper will shut its New York edition. NYP: Inside speculation is that the Kew Gardens news office will be closed and the Manhattan bureau will be drastically clipped. Newsday: Some employees were told yesterday that the paper's circulation is not high enough to justify the size of the staff.

Google Dips Into Print Advertising (NYT)
The company is buying ad space in magazines and filling it with half a dozen ads from clients of its vast online system, similar to an old-fashioned business known as ad brokering. LAT: The company makes billions of dollars through a network of advertisers, and it's looking for ways to expand that network to other media.

Aniston Cover a Big Winner for VF (Thomas Crosbie Media via Ireland Online)
The much-publicized September issue of Vanity Fair, featuring the Friends actress posing provocatively in a white shirt, was the magazine's best-selling issue of all-time.

Phoenix Media Buys Spanish Weekly (Boston Globe)
Mirroring a national scramble for Spanish-language readers, the parent company of The Boston Phoenix, has taken a 35 percent stake in the largest Spanish-language weekly in the Boston area.

Lawsuit Threatens News Corp. MySpace Deal (Guardian)
Shareholders allege that Intermix execs benefited themselves at the expense of the company when they agreed to sell out to the global media giant run by Rupert Murdoch. Guardian: Murdoch to raise price of The Times.

USAT-Style Alt-Weeklies Coming? (Boston Phoenix)
Mark Jurkowitz: The widely anticipated merger between two dominant but very different alt-weekly newspaper chains could dramatically reshape the competitive balance of power in that industry. Seattle Weekly: About the only thing standing in the way of consolidated corporate ownership of what once were quaintly known as "alternative" weeklies are egos. SFBG Editorial: It's more than a simple business deal—there are serious free-press, antitrust, and public-interest issues here.

Martha's Ankle Finally Free! (Newsday)
Homemakers and ex-cons around the world rejoiced at 12:01 a.m. this morning when domestic diva Martha Stewart finally regained the ability to roam the streets in stealthy abandon.

Writers Won't Back Down in Book-Copying Fight (InformationWeek)
The Text and Academic Authors Association is the latest group to publicly denounce Google's plans to resume scanning and storing in its database copyrighted books from libraries.

Bravo Takes on Lowdown-Dirty Tab War (WWD)
How do you get people to watch a TV show about working at a tabloid? Apparently by playing up the fact that the paper in question is "going through a rabid, ugly death match" with its main rival. [Second Item.] Page Six: Post snipes at Daily News Katrina gaffes.

Night of the Hunter (LA Weekly)
Lewis MacAdams: There is an old joke: "This is how God would have lived if he were rich." As Jann Wenner pointed out, this final hurrah was how Hunter Thompson would have lived if he were rich.

Embedded Journo Beheaded—on TV Drama (E&P)
After last night's episode of the Iraq-based war drama, Over There, FX has the distinction of being the first TV network to depict the beheading of a journalist in primetime.

The Cosby Show (Slate)
Dana Stevens: MSNBC's poaching of the anchor Rita Cosby from Fox News represents the third-place cable news network's attempt at landing what Variety recently called "the new ratings-grabber."

So What's the Deal With Osama's Kalashnikov? (NYT)
The Cell, a proposed comedy series about terrorists, has been making its way through Hollywood for more than a year but has not found a network.

52 Reasons To Mourn the Press (Toilet Paper)
Matt Taibbi: I think the way [Russ Smith] forced himself editorially on the paper—and blasted his colleagues in print over the objections of editors who could not stop him—was totally unprofessional.

Seattle Pop-Culture Mag Tablet Folds (Seattle P-I)
The monthly mag's September issue, dubbed "the music issue," will be it's last, just short of its five-year anniversary.

Clooney Tiff With NBC (Lowdown)
NBC News execs ditched a high-minded Clooney segment in favor of Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria —apparently under pressure to hype more tabloidy subjects. [Low in column.]

Pope Meets With Controversial Journo Fallaci (Catholic World News)
Oriana Fallaci has been an outspoken critic of immigration trends in Europe and currently faces charges in Italian courts for allegedly insulting the Islamic faith.

—David S. Hirschman

IN YESTERDAY'S MB BLOGS:

Katrina: Diane Sawyer Has Exclusive Interview with President Bush on GMA [TVNewser]
From an ABC P.R.: "In a live and exclusive interview tomorrow morning, President George W. Bush will speak with Diane Sawyer during ABC News' Good Morning America regarding Hurricane Katrina and the disaster on the Gulf Coast.
When was the last time Bush granted a live interview?...

Lunch at Michael's: August...You know what we mean [FishBowlNY]
You didn't miss much today. Hope you were in the Poconos or Central Park or somewhere. The three new kids -- Domino, OK! and Shop etc. -- vied for mama's attention. Charlie Rose and Dan Rather nodded each other's way. Tina relaxed with the Telegraph's Andrew Neil. There was a gaggle of media reporters to witness the shenanigans, but (sigh), no shenanigans.

Summer We Hardly Knew Ye [FishBowlDC]
It's the last day of August and the President is due back in town today, which means that in more ways than one, summer is over in Washington. Now if only the humidity will drop.
The end of summer, of course, means that real news will begin to trickle out of this city again instead of the drivel that has filled the wagging-tongue class for the last month.

Dov Charney: Maybe a Mensch After All [FishBowlLA]
Charney also thinks that there is a movement in the blogo- and media-spheres to take him down, because he is successful and colorful. I don't really agree with this, but I do think there may be a tendency to make fun of him a little, since he has a silly moustache and talks a lot about sex.

We Are People Too [MBToolbox]
Professional trade show presenter Heidi Miller discusses from her perspective the importance of getting to know journalists before pitching them and has a few good ideas. A lesson we can all utilize.

Bringing Back Bond [GalleyCat]
Once upon a time, James Bond was just a speck in the mind of a former intelligence agent who decided to transmogrify his experiences into adventure fiction. Now of course, he's a phenomenon, even a punch line. But Ian Fleming's estate wants to bring back some of the glory just in time for the centenary of the superspy's creator.