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Former ABC News Consultant Charged With More Faked Interviews in French Publication (ABC News)
Former President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan say they were the subjects of fake interviews published in a French foreign affairs journal under the name of Alexis Debat, a former ABC News consultant. NYT: ABC News will begin a second investigation into more than five years of news reports that relied on information from a consultant, Alexis Debat, who has been revealed to be the author of faked interviews. WaPo: The prestigious French journal, Politique Internationale, has removed all of Debat's work from its Web site. "This guy is just sick," Patrick Wajsman, the magazine's editor, told ABC, adding: "I was a victim of this man. I had no reason to suspect someone like him could lie."

Time Inc. Business Unit Reorganizes, Sheds Group Publishers (AdAge)
Time Inc. is reorganizing its struggling Business and Finance Network by restoring the publisher positions at Fortune and Money and creating a new post, yet to be filled, that will oversee all print and digital ad revenue. The network, which includes CNNMoney.com, is also being renamed the Fortune/Money Group. Mediaweek: Changes at the group were anticipated as the titles have faced deep declines in ad pages. Fortune and Money were down 16.8 percent and 20.5 percent this year through Aug. 13 and September, respectively.

NY Times Criticized for Ad Attacking Petraeus (Reuters)
An ad criticizing the top U.S. general in Iraq raised charges yesterday that The New York Times slashed its advertising rates for political reasons — an accusation denied by the paper. The ad by liberal anti-war group moveon.org ran on Monday, the day of Gen. David Petraeus' testimony to Congress about the war and how long U.S. forces will stay in Iraq. NYDN: Rudy Giuliani hits Times and MoveOn over ad.

Union Says Contract Is Near at Dow Jones (NYT)
Dow Jones & Company and its main labor union have moved close to agreement on a contract for reporters and other employees at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, union officials said yesterday. The board of the union is scheduled to meet tomorrow and may be ready then to endorse a deal and schedule a vote by the membership, the officials said.

Times' Ingrassia Pulls News Corp. Book Proposal (NYP)
New York Times business editor Larry Ingrassia has told people that he is no longer pursuing a deal to write about Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion takeover of Dow Jones. The book, originally to be written by both Ingrassia and Times columnist Joe Nocera, had stoked resentment among the Times' rank-and-file, who felt Ingrassia might be swiping story sources from the reporters covering the merger.

Goldmans Discuss OJ Book on Oprah (AP)
The father and sister of Ronald Goldman say by seizing control of the O.J. Simpson book, If I Did It, they are punishing the man they believe murdered their loved one. Fred Goldman and his daughter, Kim, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday to discuss their decision to publish the book.

Rupe Sells $20M Chunk of News Corp. Shares (Guardian)
Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, has sold just over $20.5 million in company stock. Murdoch sold the shares on Monday, according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission made this week.

AFP Launches Foundation to Promote Higher Media Standards (AFP)
Agence France-Presse, the international news agency, on Thursday launched the AFP Foundation to train journalists in developing countries and help humanitarian groups and other enterprises with media training. The agency has given its foundation, which will be based at the AFP headquarters in Paris, the aim of promoting higher standards of journalism around the world.

Fox Business Network Announces Four Executive Producers (TV Week)
Fox Business Network identified a quartet of executive producers (Terry Baker, Brian Donlon, Andrew Hoffman, and Gary Schreier) for the channel that will launch Oct. 15. Fox News executive VP Kevin Magee, who announced the producers' assignments, said they "bring seasoned expertise in business programming and content development to FBN."

For the Media, Elections Aren't About Issues or Evidence — They're About the Narrative (The Nation)
Eric Alterman: Each year's election narrative is determined by the bigfoot correspondents and the top tier of the punditocracy and then reinforced by everyone else. It works best with a conservative spin because of the recent right-wing takeover of so many of these perches, owing to the power of Drudge, talk-radio, and cable TV. But it is determined in places like Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, and the Washington Post.

Hearst Helps Indie Publisher Bring Victoria Back From Dead (Folio:)
Four years after its shuttering, Victoria, Hearst's beloved women's title, is being revived by Phyllis Hoffman, the 53-year-old CEO of Hoffman Media. The Birmingham, Alabama-based company — publisher of such titles as Southern Lady and Cooking with Paula Deen — is partnering with Hearst to relaunch Victoria as a bimonthly. The magazine is scheduled to hit newsstands October 30.

Time to Dump the Term 'Reality TV' (Hollywood Reporter)
Ray Richmond: It's time to dump the term "reality TV." At this point, it's rather like referring to packaged fruit snacks as "produce." My suggested replacement would be "partially scripted TV." The issue has moved well beyond the simple mislabeling of a genre: It's impacting innumerable livelihoods by preventing those who create material for shows from receiving union scale and benefits as writers.

'Dr. Evil' Moves to Maxim (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: The rap on Kent Brownridge, who's running Maxim for private equity player Quadrangle Group, is that he's unusually smart and unusually ferocious. And that the latter overshadowed the former during his long tenure as Jann Wenner's No. 2 at Wenner Media. "If you get in his way, he will roll right over you," says a former Wenner executive, and this is one who claims to be a fan.

Top Execs Assess USA Today's Impact After 25 Years (E&P)
"I think USA Today outperformed the estimates of everyone...including the USA Today people," former Washington Post publisher Donald Graham told Joe Strupp two days before Saturday's 25th anniversary. "It established itself in a way I didn't think anyone was expecting." Forbes.com: Twenty-five years after founding USA Today, Al Neuharth still sees a future for print.

Can a Source Make Your Published Scoop Go Away? (OJR)
Robert Niles: So let's say you work online and have a juicy scoop. You get your story and upload it. But unlike in print or broadcast media, online stories can be "taken back." If your Web site is hosted by an outside ISP, a letter or email from an angry source might be enough to knock your story off the Web. That's what happened to a blogger in Claremont, Calif. this month.