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Wintour Honored as Mag 'Editor of the Year' by AdAge (NYP)
Anna Wintour, the high priestess of the fashion world, led Vogue to a single-copy sales jump of 3.5 percent during the first half of the year at a time when many rivals slumped. More magazine, a leader in the over-40 market, won the coveted magazine of the year award and the No. 1 spot on Ad Age's A List. FBNY: In Touch Weekly was named to the A-List at #10. People, Vogue and New York were named no.s 6, 5 and 4, respectively. Condé Nast's home-a-log Domino and Everyday With Rachael Ray were named launches of the year.

Congressman Wants Pentagon to Bar CNN Embeds (AP via ABC)
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee asked the Pentagon on Friday to remove CNN reporters embedded with U.S. combat troops, saying the network's broadcast of a video showing insurgent snipers targeting U.S. soldiers was tantamount to airing an enemy propaganda film.

Columnist Armstrong Williams to Settle in Payola Case, Pay $34K (AP via Forbes)
Williams has reached a settlement with prosecutors regarding payments he received from the Education Department to promote President Bush's agenda. Under the settlement, Williams admits no wrongdoing but will have to pay the amount that prosecutors determined he had been overpaid.

Google Supporting GOP Candidates (Eat the Press)
Google NetPAC, launched last month, has made contributions to three Republicans congressional candidates. At least two of the candidates, Heather Wilson and James Sensenbrenner, support Internet regulation. NYT: As Google has grown, it has become entangled in scores of lawsuits touching on a wide range of legal questions, including copyright violation, trademark infringement and its method of ranking Web sites. WSJ: Google adjusts hiring process as needs grow.

Reuters Cuts Expenses Budget 30% (Guardian)
Reuters has launched a new round of cost cutting, this time with travel and expenses in the spotlight. Chief executive Tom Glocer has imposed 30 percent cuts to travel and entertainment budgets on the global news organization's staff of 15,300.

Couric Fails to Keep CBS News on Top for Long (USAT)
When Katie Couric began anchoring The CBS Evening News early last month, her initial ratings were so strong that it appeared she might buck network news tradition, catapult the third-place newscast into first place and keep it there. But in seven weeks, talk that CBS News' $15-million-a-year anchor would be crowned the instant queen of the evening news has all but evaporated. Time: It's 8 o'clock, where is your newscast going?

Online Video Expected to Play Key Role in '08 Election (Mediaweek)
American political campaigns haven't quite caught onto the broadband video revolution, but a trickle of activity has begun in several key races as Election Day 2006 nears. Observers say that the surging interest in online video coupled with an expanding political Web universe sets up 2008 as a potential breakthrough year for digital political advertising.

'Bizarre' Study Finds That Watching TV Causes Autism (Time)
Claudia Wallis: The alarming rise in autism rates in the U.S. and some other developed nations is one of the most anguishing mysteries of modern medicine — and the source of much desperate speculation by parents. Now, three economists contend that autism may be caused by watching too much television at a tender age.

Frost Admits Amount of Money He Paid to Interview Nixon (Independent)
When the disgraced ex-president Richard Nixon conceded he had deceived the nation and "let down" his people, interviewer David Frost was assured a place in television history. Now, for the first time, "Sir David" has revealed just how much it cost him, financially, to secure the interview.

Rice Sharply Critical of Russian Media Restrictions (NYT)
In a symbolic decision that no doubt will be scrutinized by the Kremlin leadership, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice invited senior editors of Novaya Gazeta, a leading independent journal, to a meeting at her hotel. The session included the son of the assassinated journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Why Prime Time Is Now Your Time (Newsweek)
Broadcast television's prime time as we know it is fading. Since the industry's formative years in the 1950s, the powerful medium has revolved around initially four but now three nocturnal hours, from 8 to 11 o'clock. But in a media landscape now increasingly aglow with online video, prime time is essentially any time. B&C: NBC's Reilly says cost "has been an issue here for several years."

Judge Rejects Request To Subpoena Reporter in China Spy Case (NY Sun)
A federal judge has refused to allow the Washington Times' top national security correspondent, William Gertz, to be subpoenaed by defense attorneys in a case stemming from allegations of Chinese espionage at American defense contractors.

How to Save the LAT (New York Mag)
Kurt Andersen: For a swath of America so emblematically cutting-edge as L.A., its serious-minded elites — movers, shakers, journalists —are weirdly, anachronistically old-school. And I think most of the failures of the L.A. Times to evolve are the result of that complacency and resistance to change.

Charlie Rose Dinner Worries PBS (NYT)
During an Aug. 1 interview with the camera-shy chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores, H. Lee Scott Jr, PBS' Charlie Rose repeatedly asked Scott about Wal-Mart's new environmental initiative. Now, less than three months later, Rose is honoring Scott for his work on behalf of the environment at a private dinner party paid for by Bob and Harvey Weinstein's production company, the Weinstein Company.

Rachael Ray To Open Burger Joint (FBNY)
Rachael Ray, the cooking-magazine-author-television-brand juggernaut, says her next brand extension will be burgers. Ray told an audience at the American Magazine Conference in Phoenix on Sunday she will open the yet-untitled "burger joint" in New York, based on 190 burger recipes she has cooked up.