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Oprah Earns Four Times More Than Other TV Stars (Reuters)
Forbes on Thursday published a list of the highest-paid TV celebrities, with daytime talk show host Oprah Winfrey leading the way by earning $260 million between June 2006 and June 2007. Nobody else came close. Second in the list was Jerry Seinfeld earning $60 million. Simon Cowell, the arrogant and harshly critical judge on top-rated talent show American Idol, earned $45 million to land at No. 3.

Bloomberg L.P. Hit With Sex Discrimination Suit (NYT)
In a lawsuit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the financial services company founded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg engaged in a pattern of discrimination against pregnant women, including "decreasing their pay, demoting them, diminishing their job duties, and excluding them from employment opportunities." NY Sun: Allegations of gender-based discrimination against Mayor Bloomberg's financial news company could be a political liability for the mayor if he opts to run for president.

Journalist Ross of ABC Ordered to Disclose Sources (NY Sun)
A federal judge in New York has ordered ABC News' Brian Ross to disclose the identities of the government sources he relied upon when reporting about the anthrax attacks of 2001. Ross is the sixth reporter to have been ordered to give up sources to assist with a civil lawsuit brought by a former Army scientist, Steven Hatfill, whom the government named as a "person of interest" in the investigation.

Martha Stewart to Launch Social Networking Site (AdAge)
Martha Stewart, the paragon of expertise as content, is adopting the style of social media for her next Web site — to be called "Marthapedia." But Stewart, who didn't get where she is by suggesting that the hoi polloi know more than she does, made clear that Marthapedia will not be so freewheeling as, say, Wikipedia.

Biographer Brinkley Sued to Repay Advance on Delayed Kerouac Project (NY Sun)
In a rare move by a publishing house, the Penguin Group is suing a prolific biographer for the return of a $200,000 advance on the grounds he didn't deliver a manuscript by the contracted due date. The author, Douglas Brinkley, was commissioned in 1998 to write a biography of the 1950s "Beat" writer Jack Kerouac in time for the 50th anniversary of his breakthrough 1957 novel On the Road.

Si Rips Up Portfolio (NYP)
Condé Nast chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. sat down Wednesday with Portfolio editor-in-chief Joanne Lipman to take a very serious look at every page in the upcoming November issue of Portfolio, his $100 million pet project. When the meeting was over, a flurry of Newhouse-dictated changes ensued, and that had some staffers concluding that Si was not happy.

CNBC Shuffles Programming Lineup (Variety)
CNBC is shuffling its programming lineup the week before Fox Business Network is set to go on the air. The biz net is canceling the low-rated On the Money and increasing the exposure of anchor Dylan Ratigan around the critical closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange.

Carlos Lamadrid Lands at Woman's Day as VP/Publisher (MIN)
Lamadrid re-emerges after a summer "exile" following Jane's closure. No fault there on Lamadrid, who inherited the problems after moving from Men's Journal (where he was a huge success) in November 2005. Lamadrid's savvy for smart marketing led Hachette Filipacchi Magazines U.S. president/CEO Jack Kliger to bring him to WD. Predecessor Laura Klein ends a five-year tenure.

Esquire's Granger: 'Why I'm Still Editing a Magazine' (Folio:)
Esquire editor David Granger loves magazines. But he doesn't always love them. "F*ck, I'm still editing a magazine," Granger told the crowd during the 2007 Folio: Show Tuesday. That realization was a few years ago. Granger then became obsessed with motivating his staff to push the boundaries of the print medium. "Out of desperation, despair, and despondency," as Granger put it.

Out of Vogue: Although Healthier Than Newspapers, Consumer Magazines Have Problems (Economist)
Magazine publishers have a common lament: total circulation is either flat or declining slightly as people devote more time to the Internet, and an ever greater share of advertising spending is going online. Mag units are mostly a drag on growth for their parents. "It's a long, slow sunset for ink-on-paper magazines," says publisher Felix Dennis, "but sunsets can produce vast sums of money."

Writers Guild Pickets TV Studios (LAT)
In a protest staged by the Writers Guild of America, West, about 150 pickets rallied outside the production studio of the new TV game show Temptation Thursday morning to support a walkout by most of the show's writers. The rally was intended to highlight the guild's ongoing efforts to extend union pay and benefits to writers who work in reality television and game shows.

NBC Picks Up Bonnie Talk Show, Extends Ellen and Extra (TV Week)
Warner Bros. Television Distribution and NBC Television Stations have forged a strategic long-term programming partnership. It will put Bonnie Hunt's maiden talk show, being developed for a fall 2008 launch, on nine of the 10 stations in the NBC group and extend the group's firm commitment to Extra and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Dan Rather, CBS, Bush — And Good Journalism (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: What Rather did in the CBS report about Bush was shoddy journalism. (Hey, even Katie Couric thinks so, too, as she indicated in a recent interview.) It was unprofessional because it could've been accused of reeking of bias. Rather and CBS showed this segment, with strong political overtones, in the middle of a presidential election.

Ousted TV Newsman Spills and Looks Ahead (NYP)
Cindy Adams: Everyone in the New York metropolitan area knows Steve Bartelstein. He was WABC-TV's highest-rated morning news anchor for seven years. But he engendered controversy — a sexual harassment mess that lawyer Ron Fischetti beat, plus being late for work, sleeping on the job. His bosses finally signed off on him permanently in March. Yesterday was the first day his WABC contract allowed him to speak out.

Are Hearst's Targeted Digital Buys Enough? (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: Is digitization happening so slowly that companies can afford to ink smallish deals and build what they can on their own? Caution, it's true, has served Hearst well in the past. But I'm not at all convinced that caution is what's called for this time. And the crazy thing is that Hearst is on an absolute tear compared with most of its peers.