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MSNBC's Abrams to Be Anchor, Not Manager (NYT)
MSNBC said that Dan Abrams, who has been the host of a 9 p.m. news hour since July, will stay in the job permanently, leaving behind the managerial position he had occupied for a little over a year. The move means that Joe Scarborough, who moved from prime time to host a show called Morning Joe, will be the permanent replacement for Don Imus. NYP: Under Abrams' leadership, MSNBC has scored its best-ever ratings — the network is averaging 542,000 viewers in prime time this year, a 35 percent increase from 2006. LAT: "I was definitely ambivalent," said Abrams, who said he had enjoyed his managerial role. "But with a hole in our most important hour, I felt the way I could help the network the most is to get back in the trenches." WaPo: "Olbermann is serving up numbers that MSNBC has never seen before, so 9 o'clock becomes the crucial hour," Abrams said. "That's where I can have the most impact."

Facebook Worth $10B? (San Jose Mercury News)
Reported talks between Microsoft and Facebook may put an eye-popping $10 billion value on the Palo Alto-based social networking site. The negotiations reflect Facebook's success over the past year and Microsoft's willingness to pay a premium to forge a strategic alliance with the privately held start-up. NYT: New York investigating Facebook's safety rules. NYP: Microsoft will buy into either Facebook or Yahoo.

Clinton Campaign Killed Negative GQ Story (Politico)
Ben Smith: Early this summer, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign for president learned that the GQ was working on a story the campaign was sure to hate: an account of infighting in Hillaryland. So Clinton's aides pulled a page from the book of Hollywood publicists and offered GQ a stark choice: Kill the piece, or lose access to planned celebrity coverboy Bill Clinton.

NBC Rolls Out Fall Shows; New York Times Rolls Out New Ad Unit (AdAge)
The New York Times showed off the latest ad unit it's adding to its offerings yesterday morning, executing a big NBC buy to promote four shows using "spadia" units — ad pages that wrap around the spine of a section to create a partial-page ad flap on the section front. WWD: Times columnist David Carr wrote Monday about how NBC is dealing with a world where consumers increasingly choose how to watch television and can often skip commercials: Reading that column in print, however, meant unfolding a flap coincidentally emblazoned with, of all things, the NBC logo. E&P: The massive NBC ad package comes less than a week after the paper launched another major ad deal with American Express, pegged on the recent decision to drop TimesSelect, the paper's two-year service requiring online users to pay for access to columns and archives.

Koppel Weighs in on Rather Suit: Squeezing Out of Newsman Was a 'Travesty' (TV Week)
Ted Koppel said he "hurt" for Dan Rather, whom he characterized as a friend. Addressing the 60 Minutes report about President George Bush's National Guard service that preceded Rather's departure from CBS, Koppel said the story was "much more correct than incorrect." Mr. Koppel said that those responsible for the incorrect parts of the report deserved to be chastised and punished.

FCC Proposes 'Fake News' Fine (AP)
The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a $4,000 fine against Comcast Corp. for airing a pitch for a sleep aid without telling viewers that the spot was financed by the maker of the product. The fine was in response to a complaint by the Center for Media and Democracy, which said it marks the first time a company has been sanctioned for airing a "video news release."

Telemundo Reassigns Mayor's Girlfriend (LAT)
Telemundo newscaster Mirthala Salinas, who was suspended for two months in August after her affair with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa became public, is scheduled to return to work Monday. But executives confirmed that Salinas would be sent to the station's Inland Empire bureau in Riverside as a general assignment reporter, a notable fall for a one-time rising star.

Trump Mag Dumps Premiere as Publisher, Moves to Ocean Drive (NYP)
Donald Trump is walking away from Premiere Publishing Group — and taking his eponymous magazine with him. The Donald is expected to announce tonight that his magazine will link up with Jerry Powers and Ocean Drive Media to publish a new magazine called Trump Life. Premiere had published Trump Magazine for three years.

At 27, BET Tries Some Original New Moves (WaPo)
Black Entertainment Television is 27 years old — old enough, its top executives say, to start acting all grown up. The cable network that established itself with music videos featuring booty-shaking women and gangsta-rapping thugs is starting to do what grown-up TV networks do: produce its own original series. This season, BET will introduce 16 new series.

Time Warner Ready to Spin Off Time Inc.? (Portfolio/Mixed Media)
Some people in the banking business say Time Inc. is to be spun off, probably in the next few weeks. The leading mag publisher in the world is but a part of the Time Warner empire, and not the most profitable part. Warning signs include the way they unceremoniously dumped Business 2.0 a few weeks ago, turning down offers from rivals and using surviving staff members to fatten the masthead at Fortune.

In Defense of The New York Times (WSJ)
Editorial: The FEC deserves a pat on the back for backing away from media content oversight. But the real solution here is for the Supreme Court to rediscover its First Amendment principles and strike down campaign finance restrictions. ... Sooner or later they'll come after the press, as maybe the Times and other left-wingers are beginning to figure out.

PBS to Deliver Only Edited War Feed on Weekends (B&C)
PBS is feeding both an edited and unedited version of The War to stations for each of seven two-hour debut broadcasts over seven evenings, which began Sunday night. It will feed only the edited version — minus four swear words — to stations for weekend "stacking." Why? "Because conceivably, a four-year-old could watch it," PBS spokeswoman Lea Sloan said, "and it would be going right into the teeth of the FCC."

Michael Clinton About to Celebrate His 10th Year at Hearst (MIN)
The solid business relationship between Hearst Magazines executive VP Michael Clinton and the company's president Cathie Black was sealed on a napkin at Mickey Mantle's restaurant shortly before the deal was announced in 1997. Surprising news because Clinton seemingly turned down more lucrative offers, including the TV Guide/Primedia presidencies, to take what in name was a lateral position.

Washington Post to Reward Top Staffers — Let Them Eat Popcorn (Washingtonian)
Harry Jaffe: The Washington Post has come up with a surefire way to make its employees know they are valued cogs in the wheel of news production: "The Northwest cafeteria Coffee Cart is offering Post managers an opportunity to reward their employees with tickets for either a free box of popcorn or a free 16-ounce regular coffee. Tickets must be purchased in sheets of ten and can only be redeemed at the Northwest Coffee cart."

Tomorrow's 'Newsroom' (Seattle Times)
John Hamer: At a conference on the "new" journalism, I paid a visit to a couple of "old" journalists. James J. Kilpatrick and Marianne Means may be the senior lion and lioness in the pride of American newspaper columnists.