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New York Times Says It Violated Policies Over MoveOn Ad (WaPo)
After two weeks of denials, The New York Times acknowledged that it should not have given a discount to MoveOn.org for a full-page advertisement assailing Gen. David H. Petraeus. The liberal advocacy group should have paid $142,000 for the ad calling the U.S. commander in Iraq "General Betray Us," not $65,000, Clark Hoyt, the paper's public editor, wrote yesterday. NYT/The Caucus: MoveOn.org announced that, in light of the column by Hoyt, it would pay the full advertisement rate of $142,083 for its controversial ad in the newspaper nearly two weeks ago.

Bono and Partners Push Change at Forbes (NYP)
It's been a year since rocker Bono and Elevation Partners bought into the Forbes family media empire in a deal that stunned the industry. Now there are growing whispers about what is up inside the Forbes family empire. The answer, it appears, is that the deal with Bono and company will result in the Forbes media dynasty ending with the sale of the company — or an IPO of at least a sizable stake in the company.

Google Stock Price Hits All-Time High Amid Flurry of Upbeat News (Marketwatch)
Shares of Google Inc. hit an all-time high Friday, amid a flurry of upbeat news including new share rankings for the Internet-search market and an analyst's report on ways the company may one day reach $100 billion in annual revenue. Google shares rose more than 1 percent to a high of $560.79 in midday trading, before receding slightly and closing at $560.10.

News Corp. to Expand MySpace on Cellphone (AP via LAT)
MySpace.com is launching a free, advertising-supported cellphone version as part of a wider bid by parent News Corp. to attract advertising for mobile sites, the company was set to announce today. The new version will work with all U.S. phone carriers and allow users to send and receive messages, comment on pictures, post bulletins, update blogs, and request, find, and search for friends.

Miss USA: 'I Just Don't Want to End Up Like Katie Couric' (NYDN)
Ben Widdicombe: Miss USA Rachel Smith tells us she wants to get into journalism, but something tells me she won't be applying to the CBS Evening News. "I always wanted to be a reporter — maybe some TV. Who knows? Some serious news — but some modeling, too," she said at the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network event last week. "I just don't want to end up like Katie Couric. I want people to take me seriously."

ABC and Amanda Congdon Part Ways (TVNewser)
Former Rocketboom anchor Amanda Congdon and ABC News are parting company. Here's the statement from ABC: "It's been a great year with Amanda — a great experiment for both of us. We thank her for her many contributions and know that she's about to embark on new endeavors and expect there will be times in the future that we can again work together." TechCrunch: As much as we wish Amanda the very best in her future endeavors, her failure to move from online celebrity to mainstream media company successfully does bring into question the ability of online stars to go mainstream.

BBC to Integrate News Operation (Guardian)
BBC News is to join the media stampede for integration by merging its TV, radio, and online newsrooms, although the new setup will immediately face an annual budget cut of 5 percent over the next five years. Currently, the BBC's news output is structured in different online, television, and radio departments.

Study: Another Straight Year for Gay Characters (Hollywood Reporter)
With only one new non-heterosexual regular character this coming season the number of portrayals of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people on scripted network series declined for a third straight year, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. There are a total of seven series regular LGBT characters, or 1.1 percent, on the five broadcast networks this season, down from 9 last season.

Rosie Cancels Book Promo (Page Six)
Rosie O'Donnell has pulled the plug on her two-part interview with Diane Sawyer to promote her new book, Celebrity Detox. "The book is a very personal snapshot of a certain time in Rosie's life, and she felt she bared her soul on those pages," Rosie's publicist, Cindi Berger, said. "She feels people should read the book and take away from it what they will. She does not want to do any interviews."

As the Fall Season Arrives, TV Screens Get More Cluttered (NYT)
Network executives are working to cram promotions onto television screens in the age of channel surfing, ad skipping, and screen-based multitasking. For better or worse, viewers say, the additions are making the experience of watching television more closely mirror the feeling of using a computer.

Got a Camera? You, Too, Can Be A Network Reporter (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: The much-buzzed-about phenomenon of citizen journalism is firmly entrenched, thanks to the spread of digital and cellphone cameras and the rise of an interactive culture. It is one sweet deal for the networks: small armies of tech-savvy volunteers in places where reporters aren't, offering their services free of charge.

Iraqi TV Reflects Sectarian Strife (Variety)
With more than 30 satellite and terrestrial channels operating in Iraq, a far cry from the two that existed under Saddam Hussein's rigid rule, the television industry should by now be feeling its new-found freedom. Instead, it has turned inward, becoming a mishmash of sectarianized channels linked directly or loosely with partisan power blocs and reflecting the country's highly-fractured political reality.

'Media Guy' Rooting for AOL (AdAge)
Simon Dumenco: I've been trashing AOL for more than a decade — first as an unhappy content partner (I created an AOL site for a glossy magazine back in the '90s, which involved daily battles with AOL's rank-and-file bureaucracy and executive-suite numbskulls), then as a bewildered observer of AOL's idiotic business decisions. But, against all odds, I'm actually rooting for AOL.

'Leave Britney Alone' Guy Hopes to Find Stardom Following Video (AP via USA Today)
Chris Crocker has been called "queer," "a human train wreck," the "Britney guy," an androgynous "it" and much, much worse. But how does this 19-year-old Internet phenomenon, known worldwide for his tearful YouTube defense of Britney Spears, define himself? "I'm the key to world peace," says Crocker, sporting a sleeveless black T-shirt with a hot pink silhouette of Marilyn Monroe.

Online Video Is Not Broadcast TV (Media 3.0)
Shelley Palmer: Short-form online video is just coming into its own. It is nascent and raw and its beauty is truly in the eyes of the digital natives who consume it. Strategically, trying to make an online video look more like a network television show sounds like a really bad idea. TV Week: Web video is evolving in a bid for ad money.

Networks Sort Out Web Carriage of Fall Premieres (Mediaweek)
This week, as the broadcast networks tout the start of the new fall season, it's also premiere week for their aggressive new Web-distribution plays. Advertisers anxiously anticipate just how the networks will deliver their top programming across the Web, and wonder how all this new inventory impacts the online video marketplace. All that, of course, hinges on a bigger question: How will users respond?

TV Remote Moves Over for a Mouse (NYT)
David Carr: Media consumers have said, loudly and repeatedly, that they want to watch what they want, when, and where they want it. Last week NBC called that bluff, saying that its prime-time broadcast schedule would be there for free downloading for a week after being shown on television. In doing so, the network is leaving behind a business model that is as old as I Love Lucy.

How the Alternative Student Press Is Changing (Inside Higher Ed)
By offering "a more cultured, real-time take on news that would affect younger people, and from an online-only perspective," alternative student publications seem to be "going beyond what the mainstream, professional press was addressing," Dan Reimold, a journalism Ph.D. candidate at Ohio University, said in an interview.

'F*** Bush' Editorial in College Paper Draws Complaints (Coloradoan)
A four-word editorial published in the student newspaper at Colorado State University has landed the paper's student managers in hot water with campus administrators. The Rocky Mountain Collegian on Friday published an editorial that reads, in total, "Taser this... F*** BUSH," spelling out the expletive, along with an explanation that "this column represents the views of the Collegian's editorial board."