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Reporter for Washington Post Is Fatally Shot in Baghdad (WaPo)
Salih Saif Aldin always came back — from death threats, from beatings, from kidnappings, from detentions by American soldiers, from the country's most notorious and deadly terrain — but on Sunday he didn't. The 32-year-old Iraqi reporter in the Washington Post's Baghdad bureau was the latest in a long line of reporters, most of them Iraqis, to be killed while covering the Iraq war. WaPo: "Learn from everyone you speak to."

Inside Fox Business News (Fortune)
Business news Fox-style is predictably slick yet populist, and has not only CNBC running scared, but pretty much any company whose livelihood depends on the gathering and disseminating of financial information. The reason is that Fox Business is more than a challenge to just CNBC's monopoly in the U.S.: It is the first brick in Rupert Murdoch's attempt to build a global business information Goliath. TVNewser: Full FBN coverage. AP: Fox defines success — aside from ratings — as expanding the business news audience by "demystifying" the subject, according to Kevin Magee, the Fox News executive vice president in charge of the new business channel. NYT: Even before today's premiere, there are already indications of just how fiercely the battle will be waged. In a pep talk to his troops Friday afternoon, Roger Ailes said, "I'm not interested in anything short of a revolution." B&C: FBN will launch in a very modest 30 million homes, largely on digital tiers everywhere but New York. Bloomberg TV reaches 43 million U.S. homes. Marketwatch: Murdoch seems bent on hitting financial news coverage where he thinks it ain't. But unlike his highly successful Fox News Channel, Murdoch is betting that viewers will feel that business news is more critical to their lives than the multitude of entertainment or sports choices out there. WaPo: "You don't have to reinforce the notion that business news is dull by being dull," says Neil Cavuto, the Fox anchor and senior vice president for business news. "I have no problem with entertaining folks. I have two boys, 5 and 6, who hate vegetables. If I put them in pudding, they'll eat the vegetables."

Newsweek Unveils Redesign of Magazine, Site (Folio:)
Newsweek will this morning unveil a redesigned magazine and Web site with a "more is more" approach — and a shift away from the stripped-down, bloggy immediacy that has marked the resigns of countless other magazines. The title's redesign comes six months after Time executed a historic redesign and three months before Newsweek celebrates its 75th anniversary. Newsweek: Other media outlets believe you just want things quick and easy. We think you will make the time to read pieces that repay the effort, writes editor Jon Meacham. Mediaweek: Meacham characterized the magazine's new edit as a more sophisticated approach along the lines of The New Yorker, moving away from the weekly's well-worn mission of being "all things to all people."

Group Plans to Provide Investigative Journalism (NYT)
As struggling newspapers across the country cut back on investigative reporting, a new kind of journalism venture is hoping to fill the gap. Paul E. Steiger, who was the top editor of The Wall Street Journal for 16 years, and a pair of wealthy Californians are assembling a group of investigative journalists who will give away their work to media outlets.

Gannett to Publish Weekly USA Today Abroad (AP)
Gannett Co. said Monday it joined with Tribune Co. to publish and syndicate a weekly edition of USA Today outside the United States. Gannett, which publishes USA Today, the highest-selling U.S. daily newspaper, will produce the eight-page broadsheet called USA Today Abroad. It will contain primarily feature stories from the previous week's daily version.

Write Off Network TV (Forbes)
At a time when TV is shedding viewers to the Web, the last thing the industry needs is to do something that turns more eyeballs away. Yet that's precisely what a Hollywood writers' strike is poised to do. What's more, an early strike could spell doom for some of the season's new series that are still trying to find an audience. LAT: A writers' strike nobody wants. Variety: Sides still far apart on new media revenues.

Leno Keeping NBC Up at Night (LAT)
NBC has laid the foundation to move Jay Leno out of The Tonight Show. But television's top dog of late night doesn't want to go, according to three people familiar with the situation. Leno agreed to step down in 2009 as The Tonight Show host to make room for Conan O'Brien, but as the date has drawn closer Leno has become frustrated, reluctant to retire from late night.

Celebrities Off Guard? TMZ Is a Hit (NYT)
The early success of TMZ, a new syndicated television show based on the popular Web site of the same name, illustrates just how valuable the celebrity news niche has become. The show, a half-hour of celebrity scandal, had its premiere on Sept. 10. By the end of the month, it was the top-rated new show in syndication by a wide margin, delivering a 1.7 household rating, or about two million viewers.

Everybody Sucks: Gawker and the Rage of the Creative Underclass (New York)
Vanessa Grigoriadis: Like most journalists, I tend to have a defeatist attitude about Gawker, dismissing it as the Mystery Science Theater 3000 of journalism, or accepting its vague put-downs under the principle that any press is good press. The prospect and high probability of revenge makes one think twice about retaliation. Plus, only pansies get upset about Gawker, and no real journalist considers himself a pansy. But there is a cost to this way of thinking, a cost that can be as high as getting mocked on your wedding day. NYT: Gawker kerfuffle, in plain view.

The Man Behind Outside (CBS News)
Thirty years ago, Larry Burke founded Outside. Now, with more than 2.25 million readers a month, it's America's leading active lifestyle magazine. "I couldn't have a job that for me is any more satisfying than for what Outside has provided me, because it really is all about my life," he said. "I live it."

The Wire's Crusader (New Yorker)
The show's writer David Simon is an authenticity freak. He said, "I'm the kind of person who, when I'm writing, cares above all about whether the people I'm writing about will recognize themselves. I'm not thinking about the general reader. My greatest fear is that the people in the world I'm writing about will read it and say, 'Nah, there's nothing there.'"

HIV Bias Charge Hits Runway (NYDN)
Kevin Anderson: There is a controversy around the departure of HIV-positive New York contestant Jack Mackenroth. According to a source who spoke with him, "He is saying he got kicked off not because he lost a challenge, but because he got a 'staph' infection and said his face blew up like the kid from Mask." Staphylococcal skin infections can be especially serious for HIV-positive people.

Britney, BabyTV, and Even More Rankings? Thanks a Lot, Media! (AdAge)
Simon Dumenco: You may or may not remember my announced intention — more than a year ago — to write more non-angry, un-ranty Media Guy columns. Forgive the delay — I was distracted for the past year or so by my rage about the state of media. Still, deep inside, I'm a lover, not a fighter. And so here's another round of pro-everything media shout-outs.

View Co-Host Hasselbeck Going on Maternity Leave (AP via USAT)
Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a co-host of ABC's The View, will go on maternity leave next month, a show spokesman said Saturday. Hasselbeck, 30, will leave the popular New York-based daytime talk show beginning Nov. 8 or Nov. 9, spokesman Karl Nilsson confirmed. Various celebrity guests will fill in for her while she is on leave, he said.

BBC Moves Toward Digital TV in a Challenging Period (NYT)
The northern coastal town of Whitehaven is the first in England where analog broadcasts are to be turned off under a nationwide plan to replace them with digital hookups. The BBC, which thrived in the cozy days when there were only a handful of channels, is struggling to adapt to the digital era. Competition with hundreds of commercial channels has jolted it out of its comfort zone.