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Emeril Gets 10-Book Deal From HarperCollins (Crain's New York Business)
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., which owns the rights to the Emeril Lagasse franchise of books, television shows, and kitchen products, on Thursday announced a 10-book deal between the celebrity chef and publisher HarperCollins. Under the multi-year agreement, Mr. Lagasse is set to release his first book -- with a focus on indoor and outdoor grilling -- in May 2009. NYP: Said MSLO chairman Charles Koppelman, "I think it will generate a boatload of money."

How Palin Will Beat the Press (Slate)
Jack Shafer: Instead of letting Palin talk directly and frequently to the press, the McCain campaign will dress her in bunting and rush her from one controlled setting the next. There she'll dismiss reporters' tough questions as effete, impudent, sacrilegious, snobby, intrusive, unpatriotic, hostile, disrespectful, chauvinistic, "East Coast," unfair, unbalanced, liberal, biased, trivial, hypothetical, elitist, and as partisan attempts to lasso her with a "gotcha." B&C: CNN's Jon Klein, NBC News' Steve Capus dismiss criticism of Palin coverage as stale political strategy. NYO: Just how new is this "war on the media" tack?

Matthew Weiner Tries to Cash in on Mad Men (Variety)
How much is all the buzz about Mad Men worth in Hollywood dollars? Matthew Weiner is about to find out. The creator and exec producer of AMC's critical darling is set to make the rounds of the majors in the next few weeks as he shops for a big-bucks overall deal. The timing is hardly accidental, given the approach of Sept. 21's Primetime Emmy Awards, in which Mad Men is a top contender with 16 noms.

Online TV Viewership Doubles (The Conference Board)
Release: Online TV viewing has been gaining in popularity. Nearly one-fifth of American households who use the Internet watch television broadcasts online, double the viewership from 2006, The Conference Board and TNS report today. The top two destinations for online broadcasts are the official TV channel homepage and YouTube.com.

Pecker's AMI Plan on Trial (NYP)
A group of American Media's creditors have voiced concern over CEO David Pecker's new restructuring package and want the struggling publisher to sweeten the terms before they support the deal, the Post has learned. The bondholders, who own a portion of American Media's junk bonds, want the company's private-equity owners to give them a larger take in return for retiring some of its debt.

The Family Guy Goes Online (WSJ)
A rapid ascent in television has set Mr. MacFarlane up for what will be a closely watched push onto the Web. On Wednesday, dozens of his short cartoons will start rolling out through Google to a variety of sites, making Mr. MacFarlane the first major producer to get a ride on the Web giant's network. "It's a big experiment," he says.

Why Are the NY Sun's Backers Getting Cold Feet? (Cityfile)
The Sun has had financial problems since day one and it never made much headway in the circulation department. This time, though, it looks like it could be the end of the line. So why are the Sun's current backers giving up? They've got plenty of other stuff to worry about, that's why.

At NY Times, the Futurist Is Now... Leaving (Portfolio/Mixed Media)
The New York Times may or may not have a bright future, but it no longer has a futurist. New media guru Michael Rogers, who for the past two years has mulled the long-term challenges facing the news media as the paper's futurist-in-residence, is leaving to go back to consulting. No word yet on whether the Times will replace him.

Time Out Boss Decries, Confirms Gossip (Gawker)
Time Out New York president Alison Tocci sent a memo to the magazine's staff addressing the "anonymous, typo-riddled post on Gossip, I mean, Gawker.com, which alludes to our imminent demise." She confirms TONY's money troubles, but says that the magazine's trusty investors are ponying up cash to ensure that everyone is paid! Within three months.

At ESPN, Play-by-Play Goes Virtual (NYT)
ESPN is looking to extend its domain in virtual worlds by merging video game graphics with real-life sports anchors. The network has spent the last year working on a new technology with Electronic Arts, the leading game publisher, that would allow ESPN commentators to interact live with realistic-looking, three-dimensional virtual players as they pontificate about coming matches during broadcasts.

Bob Guccione Jr.: 'I Want to Have a Multi-title Company' Within Six Months (FishbowlNY)
During a phone conversation about his work editing Media Magazine's "Future of Media" issue, Spin founder Bob Guccione Jr. told us there were "two or three" media properties he was considering buying. The son of Penthouse founder Bob Guccione wouldn't reveal which ones he's interested in but said, "I want to have a multi-title company... Within six months, I want to have my feet planted."

A Rush to Bundle Light Topics on the Web (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: The landscape for lighter-themed sites is much more fluid than that for news and business. The latter categories are dominated by longstanding players, be they Yahoo Finance or Drudge Report. But men's, women's, and entertainment sites are filled with newer players. (Think AOL's TMZ.com.)

For Brian Williams, 38,486 Miles and Counting (TVNewser)
Candidates' kids are not fair game, says NBC's Brian Williams. "Show me the germaneness to their ability to lead the nation," he said Wednesday, a few hours before Sarah Palin's vice-presidential acceptance speech at the G.O.P. National Convention. With situations like Palin's, "We're feeling our way," Williams admitted. "It becomes part of the biographical sketch."

Fall Fashion Magazine Weigh-In (Folio:)
Dylan Stableford: For the second year in a row, we went to the local newsstand, grabbed a stack of the biggest, fattest women's fall fashion issues and weighed them -- all 4,628 pages, some 21 pounds. We also counted the ad pages, and the number of ad pages before the editor's letter (Vogue: 308!) to give a broad picture of how fashion magazine publishers are treating their fall books. (Spoiler: they're not as fat as last year.)

Katie Couric Marks Second Anniversary at CBS (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: Yes, journalists have been blasting John McCain's running mate for everything from her family's values to her stewardship of Alaska. But let's put this situation in some perspective: For all of the criticism and sniping that Palin has experienced, it has gone on for all of one week. By contrast, Couric has spent (more than) two years in the unenviable role of the media's whipping girl.