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Times Co. Gets Negative S&P Rating (NYP)
Standard & Poor's Rating Services put the company's long-term debt on "credit watch with negative implications" after the Gray Lady lowered its earnings estimates once again. E&P: Keller did not find out until last Friday that Times Co. executives were planning to cut 500 jobs. Boston Herald: Rumors have circulated in recent months—and flared up again yesterday—that publisher Richard Gilman may not be long for the Boston Globe.

CEO: TW Hearts AOL 4EVA (NYT)
Richard Parsons said improving America Online's business was a priority, signaling a tweak in strategy and a belief that the stigma of the AOL-Time Warner merger is finally a thing of the past.

USNWP Repositioning Itself, Focusing on Web (Folio:)
U.S. News & World Report announced a major strategic shift away from its print newsgathering to build its web business as a growing number of readers are consuming news online.

Papers Brace for Fewer Holiday Ads (WSJ)
As the largest publishers prepare to enter the important holiday-shopping season, when newspapers are fattened with circulars and full-page ads, many important advertisers appear to be pulling back.

Ukraine Ex-Prez Allegedly Ordered Journo Slain (Independent)
A high-level parliamentary commission in Ukraine has accused former president Leonid Kuchma and close aides of masterminding the murder of the investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

CPJ: Another Iraqi Journo Murdered (Reuters)
An Iraqi editor was killed outside his Mosul home on Tuesday, the third journalist murdered in Iraq in four days, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Grove: NYO Article had 'Not One Correct Fact' (WaPo)
New York Daily News gossip Lloyd Grove said the New York Observer article suggesting he may be on the way out is totally false.

ABC Considering Bashir for Koppel Replacement (Guardian)
Arguably, the choice of who will replace Ted Koppel as host of Nightline is even more crucial than who will follow Peter Jennings as ABC's anchor for the nightly newscast.

I'd Always Suspected I Was Fictional Anyway (USAT)
Nineteen writers, including Stephen King, Nora Roberts, John Grisham, Amy Tan and Michael Chabon, are offering Ebay bidders the opportunity to become a character in one of their novels.

MTV, ESPN Join Verizon Lineup (Bloomberg via LAT)
Verizon's new TV service will be carried into homes over fiber-optic lines. The company plans to begin selling it to some customers in Texas in a rollout that could incorporate up to 100 communities. WSJ: Wireless carriers seek growth by selling TV on the run.

Martha Stewart Resurrection Month Continues (WaPo)
Paul Farhi: The big suspense in The Apprentice last night was what buzz phrase Martha would use to kiss off losing contestants, a la Trump's "You're fired!" She went with: "You just don't fit!"

Talking Smack (AP via USAT)
A field reporter for a new Dutch television talk show plans to use heroin and other illegal drugs on the air during the weekly program on issues that concern young people, producers said Wednesday.

Radio Rabbi Claims He Was Dropped Over Katrina Comments (Page Six)
Shmuley Boteach's popular talk show was pulled by KUTR 820 brass just hours after he urged listeners to embrace the Katrina refugees staying at Camp Williams, a National Guard base near Salt Lake City.

In Praise of the Short Story (Prospect)
Raymond Carver explains in a republished 1981 essay why he came to prefer the short story form to that of a novel.

Boston Herald's Crime Column Crackles (Boston Phoenix)
Mark Jurkowitz: The Beat, a new weekly column by police reporter Michele McPhee, is emblematic of the Boston Herald's editorial direction after recent budget cuts thinned the newsroom.

Updated Very Infrequently (Boston Globe)
Arthur Chrenkoff, a 32-year old Australian with a talent for research, has begun writing a blog focused solely on good-news reporting out of Iraq.

The Undoing of a Great Paper (AJR)
Rem Rieder: Sure circulation is down, and the ad climate isn't robust. But putting out an inferior product doesn't seem like a brilliant strategy for the Philly Inky to turn things around.

Canadian Cop Targeted Journo After Article (Canadian Press via Globe and Mail)
A senior police officer had a journalist's name run through a police computer because the reporter had written a critical column and ordered officers in the traffic division to be on the lookout for him.

—David S. Hirschman

IN YESTERDAY'S MB BLOGS:

'A Current Affair' Cancelled; Geraldo To Host Show On Fox-Owned Stations [TVNewser]
Big news: "Sources say that Twentieth Television's A Current Affair is over, six months after it was resurrected, and will be replaced on Fox-owned stations that carried it by a show hosted by Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera from New York," TV Week reports.

'Til Death (or a conflict of interest) Do Us Part [FishbowlDC]
The snarkiness continues...We recently mentioned Jonathan Yardley's dis of Andrea Mitchell and her relationship with Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan...

The Opt-Out Revolution Redux: Shafer Agrees With Me! [FishbowlNY]
I was so excited to see Jack Shafer's column today on Slate criticizing yesterday's NYT page-one MEL-topping eature on college girls opting for motherhood over careers. If that sounds simplistic well, so was the article.

Arnold terminates LAT from press event [FishbowlLA]
Capitol Weekly reports that the governor's office deliberately snubbed the LAT in retaliation for its coverage of the Schwarzenegger-AMI deal.

And continuing the vapid blond celebrity theme [GalleyCat]
Publishers Marketplace reports: Paris Hilton's YOUR HEIRESS DIARY: Confess It All To Me, an opportunity for fans to channel their own inner heiress as Paris shows them how to get the most fun and excitement out of every single day...

Paola, Paola, Paola! [UnBeige]
We were in the middle of writing this when the absolute shock of Julie Taraska's leaving metropolismag.com caught is in our little bloggy tracks. We've recovered now, and we're back on course, trigger-happy with the news that Julie's at least leaving a good legacy with her last week running the show. A big interview with our most favoritest curator in the entire universe ever, Paola Antonelli, is one of the saving graces.

Alts Rock [mbToolbox]
If you live in a major city, odds are good that you have some awesome alternative/weekly publications at your disposal: the Chicago Reader, the Village Voice, the Stranger, CityPaper, and so on. Many of these publications are freelance friendly. So what do you need to know about pitching to the cooler cousins of dailies?