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Iraq Trip Sinks Couric's Ratings Even Lower (AP)
If some people thought traveling to Iraq and Syria was a ratings stunt for Katie Couric, it didn't work out that way. The CBS Evening News tied a record low with just under 5.5 million viewers last week, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday. Last week and Memorial Day week were the two least-watched CBS evening newscasts since at least 1987, and probably far earlier.

Academy to Invite Jon Stewart Back as Oscars Host (NYT)
The political satirist and star of The Daily Show, is getting another shot at the Oscar podium. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which bestows the Oscars, is expected to bring back Mr. Stewart, who was host of the ceremony in 2006. An announcement is scheduled for today, according to two people involved with the plan. LA Weekly/Deadline Hollywood: Has the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences lost its collective mind, asks Nikki Finke.

Dave Eggers Wins $250,000 Heinz Foundation Award (WaPo)
Author, philanthropist, and literary entrepreneur Dave Eggers has become the youngest person ever to win one of the annual $250,000 awards from the Heinz Family Foundation. Eggers, 37, used earnings from his autobiographical 2000 bestseller A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius to launch 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center in San Francisco for children ages 6 to 18.

CBS Appeals Punishment for Super Bowl Incident (NYT)
At the end of the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl, nearly 100 million viewers watched Justin Timberlake end a duet with Janet Jackson by yanking off her bustier and exposing her breast. The uproar over that incident landed in a hushed federal courtroom Tuesday, where a CBS lawyer asked a three-judge panel to reverse the finding by the FCC that CBS was liable for broadcast indecency. B&C: According to CBS, the incident was regrettable but virtually impossible to have anticipated or prevented given that it had never happened before, although the network said it has taken "extraordinary" steps to make sure it never happens again. LAT: The network also accused the FCC of applying "mushy" and newly restrictive standards when it fined CBS $550,000 for the half-second of partial nudity. B&C: C-SPAN will air the Super Bowl oral argument today.

TV Ad Market Takes a Tumble (Variety)
Television advertising slipped 2.4 percent in the first half of 2007, and the ad market declined for two consecutive quarters for the first time since 2001, according to TNS Media Intelligence. TNS issued its six-month advertising report card on Tuesday marked by weakness in television, which accounts for nearly 44 percent of all ad spending in the U.S.

Ex-Ramones Manager Says Out Fabricated Quotes, Made Him Sound Like a Pedophile (Page Six)
Danny Fields, the manager of such rock legends as the Ramones, Iggy Pop, and the MC5, says Out concocted fake quotes that made him sound like a creepy pedophile who lured underage kids into bed by promising they could meet the bands. "My reputation is ruined because Out has called me virtually a sexual predator," said Fields, who's filed a $100-million defamation suit against the mag.

Women Are the New Men on TV (Salon)
Rebecca Traister: When you turn on your television this fall, you'll be watching more women kick more ass than you can possibly imagine — physically, economically, and sexually. Hard-bodied and smart, rich and aggressive, confident and independent, the chicks who populate the prime time lineup are being cast in roles that once belonged almost exclusively to men.

User-Generated Sites Choose Different News Than Mainstream Outlets (E&P)
Mainstream media outlets may not be offering up the stories online users most want to read, according to a new Project for Excellence in Journalism survey that found user-generated news sites like Yahoo giving top billing to different stories than mainstream outlets.

Viacom Combining Web Forces (Variety)
Viacom is combining a number of its Web properties into one entity, banking on the idea that one site aimed at young males is better than three or four. Spike.com, as the new brand will be called, is the relaunched destination under which many of the new-media properties in Doug Herzog's MTV Networks Entertainment Group will be grouped.

New Book From Hearst's Cathie Black (NYP)
Black has finished Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life), and the first serial excerpt will run in the October issue of O, The Oprah Magazine that hits newsstands next month. She'll also be in Advertising Age's Oct. 8 issue and in the December issue of Cosmopolitan, another Hearst magazine.

Plans to Drape Philadelphia Inquirer Building in Ads Draw Criticism (Inky)
Plans to temporarily drape the landmark Inquirer building in massive advertisements for the film Bee Movie were put on hold today, as community groups voiced their opposition and a journalism ethicist said the ads raised serious questions. "It's about a two-story or maybe three-story bee," said Chris White, a facilities manager for PMH. "It's not a small bee by any stretch of the imagination." Inky: PMH chief executive officer and Inquirer publisher Brian Tierney described the ad campaign as a chance to do something creative."It's meant to put a smile on people's faces, and I think it will. It's only for three weeks, so let's give it a go," Tierney said.

To Catch To Catch a Predator (NYO)
The buzzy Predator, in which Dateline investigators, working with law enforcement officials, conduct sting operations designed to expose and arrest potential child molesters, has turned into a surprise hit among NBC's struggling prime time lineup. "They fought back hard," said Brian Ross, whose investigative report on ABC shined a spotlight on Dateline's sometimes questionable methods.

What's Next for HBO? (LAT)
This year's Emmys appear poised to serve as a triumphant coda to The Sopranos, showered with 15 nominations for its final season. But amid the expected celebration will loom a reminder of the mixed blessing the much-lauded drama bestowed on HBO. Every award the program racks up will just further spotlight the question that has dogged HBO: What is the network's next Sopranos?

Another Staffer Out at Portfolio (WWD)
Senior writer Katrina Brooker, who joined last year from Fortune, is returning to her old stomping grounds. Brooker left Fortune in June 2006 while Eric Pooley was managing editor, but had a close relationship with Andy Serwer, Fortune's current managing editor, and John Huey, former managing editor and now Time Inc.'s editor-in-chief.

Fred Thompson 'Sounds Like a Novice' (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: For all of the media's checks and exposés on powerful people, we have a sneaky respect for someone who can take charge and show us who's the boss. But Thompson and his staff already appear to be on the defensive. He seems ill-informed on the issues. He leans toward rhetoric when not going through political clichés. He has been flip-flopping, too.