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Gore a Winner at Oscar-Style Quill Awards (Reuters)
Former vice president Al Gore received a second Quill award on Monday at the third annual event that was created to bring glamour and Oscar-style red carpet extravagance to the world of publishing. Gore's The Assault on Reason won the Quill award for the history/current affairs/politics category — the same award he won last year for his book An Inconvenient Truth. Variety: Nora Roberts' Angels Fall won Book of the Year honors.

In Inquiry, ABC News Clears Work of a Fired Consultant (NYT)
ABC News said yesterday that it had ended an investigation into a consultant whom it fired for falsifying his résumé and concluded that the reporting he had contributed to the network was sound. In response to the incident, ABC will make changes to its system of hiring consultants, reviewing claims of prior employment and academic credentials more thoroughly. TVNewser: The memo from ABC News pres. David Westin.

Colbert Polling Ahead of Kucinich, Richardson, and Gravel in National Poll of Democrats (WaPo/The Fix)
Chris Cillizza: Yes, we know that Stephen Colbert's bid is satire and nothing more. But anyone who follows politics as closely as we do knows that even serious politics often devolves into theater of the absurd. So why shouldn't Colbert be another actor in the real 2008 race? The Atlantic: Which presidential candidates might be threatened by a Colbert candidacy? The obvious group is second-tier competitors, because if Colbert runs more than a "front-porch" campaign — if he actually shows up and holds a few rallies — he'll suck up the media buzz any laggard needs to break through.

With Deadline Looming on First Strike, WGA Sets Table for a Second (Hollywood Reporter)
With a contract deadline looming in the Writers Guild of America's film and TV talks with studios and networks, the guild Monday scheduled a separate strike-authorization vote by WGA newswriters. The move — involving 500 members whose CBS contract expired more than two and a half years ago — follows Friday's authorization of a possible strike by screenwriters and primetime broadcast scribes. TV Week: WGA president Patric Verrone talks about the guild's negotiation tactics, and what comes next.

Finalists Announced for 2007 ASME Best Cover Contest (MIN)
Three hundred entries from 138 magazines have been narrowed down to 21 top covers for this year's ASME Best Cover Contest. There are three finalists for each of the seven categories. The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, GQ, and New York led all entrants with two finalists each.

American Heritage Revived (NYP)
Edwin Grosvenor has purchased the magazine, Web site, and book division from the Forbes family with plans to resume publication with a December/January issue. The deal is for $500,000 in cash and the assumption of about $10 million in subscription liabilities, putting the deal's total value at around $11 million.

CBS Cancels Viva Laughlin (WaPo)
Viva Laughlin is dead, causing Elvis to stop spinning in his grave. The CBS kinda-sorta song-and-dance drama, about a small-time gambler who tries to launch a casino in Laughlin, Nev., is the first scripted series to be pulled this TV season. The show was supposed to be one of the swing-for-the-fences series with which CBS would jazz up — and young up — its primetime lineup.

Time Inc. Creates Entertainment Division (Mediaweek)
Time Inc. yesterday created the Time Inc. Entertainment Group, an umbrella organization for Entertainment Weekly, its Web site, and the People group. Paul Caine was named president. The reorganization is designed to help Time Inc. better leverage its entertainment properties with advertisers.

Hearst Receives Stake in MediaNews (Reuters via LAT)
MediaNews Group Inc. said Monday that Hearst Corp. had bought a stake in the company for $317 million as part of a complex deal between the two privately held publishers involving several San Francisco-area newspapers. MediaNews picked up papers that Hearst bought from McClatchy Co. in exchange for giving Hearst a 31 percent interest in MediaNews' operations outside the region.

Zell: Tribune Is 61 Chances to Get Lucky (E&P)
Why, someone asked Sam Zell at the Inland Press Association's annual meeting in Chicago on Monday afternoon, would the real estate mogul want to buy Tribune Company, "a 10-times leveraged newspaper company?" "Because," he said. "I don't view it as a 10-leveraged company. I view it as 61 different entities — each with a wonderful opportunity to get lucky."

Does the Fox Business Launch Mean the Market Is About to Tank? (Slate)
Daniel Gross: Big old-media companies, with their long corporate-planning processes and general lack of urgency, are frequently slow to learn about new trends — and even slower to capitalize on them. As a result, by the time their new products launch, the trends they're designed to monetize have frequently ended. In 2004, starting a business news channel would likely have been a brilliant contrarian play. But now? Multichannel News: During its first four days on the air, Fox Business apparently took some viewers away from CNBC.

Why Brands, Readers Both Win in Details' Big Book Play (AdAge)
Last week, Condé Nast's Details released a 272-page, $30 book, the Details Men's Style Manual — an admittedly conventional move for a magazine. But starting in December, Details will begin to post installments from the book online for free. And once the content is on the web, it's going to be linked to many, many advertisers.

What Happens When Authors Like J.K. Rowling Can't Stop Telling Their Own Stories? (Salon)
Rebecca Traister: While it's all well and good to see kids giddy at the news of Dumbledore's homosexuality, Rowling's interest in making things perfectly clear, not only about Dumbledore but also about the future and livelihood of all of her characters, provokes thorny questions about the role and responsibilities of an author once she has concluded her text. Radar: Outing other closeted childhood icons.

Clinton Book Fatigue (WSJ)
Sally Bedell Smith's For Love of Politics follows two major biographies released this summer. A Woman in Charge, by Carl Bernstein, has sold about 57,000 of the 275,000 copies Alfred A. Knopf Inc. reportedly printed. Her Way, by New York Times reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, has sold about 19,000 of 175,000 copies that Little, Brown & Co. reportedly printed.

One Life to Live Star Arrested for Assault (NYDN)
Colleagues of troubled One Life to Live actor Nathaniel Marston say the actor is well liked on the set, although pals are wary of his short fuse. The soap hunk was arrested Sunday morning after allegedly assaulting three people in a suspected drug-fueled rage. A rep for the show issued a "no comment" when asked whether Marston had a history of addiction or had previously undergone treatment.