Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Daily Newsfeed via email.

Fox Tells Couric: I Was Over-Medicated in Ad (CBS News/AP)
Responding to criticism by conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh, actor Michael J. Fox defended his appearance in a political campaign ad, saying he wasn't acting or off his medication. In fact, at the time he was over-medicated for his Parkinson's disease, Fox said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.

Schneiderman Out as Voice Boss (NYP)
Few expected David Schneiderman to stay for long after the company's takeover by New Times, as he was clearly a man without a power base. "The new guys held him in complete disregard," said one insider. Boston Phoenix editor Bill Jensen left his post yesterday to run Web operations for Village Voice Media, taking over some of Schneiderman's duties.

Tribune Awaits Bids as Sector's Woes Mount (LAT)
Reports of declining revenues, shrinking circulation and further layoffs have spread new gloom over the newspaper industry in recent days and cast a pall over bidding for Tribune Co., which is expected to receive initial offers for the entire company from prospective buyers by today. Baltimore Sun: Baltimore business leaders launch bid to acquire Sun from Tribune.

LAT Editor Baquet Urges Editors to 'Put Up More of a Fight' On Newsroom Cuts (E&P)
Just weeks after his public battle with Tribune Company over potential cutbacks, which ended with the forced resignation of former publisher Jeff Johnson and speculation that Baquet himself might be leaving, the veteran editor told editors here that they, too, must not give in to demands for cutbacks. AP via Houston Chron: "Newsrooms are angry now," said Baquet. NYT: "Sometimes when I sit down with editors and managing editors, I find them all too willing to buy the argument for cuts," said Baquet. "We need to be a feistier bunch." CSM: The Los Angeles Times's reinvention project is a window into the struggle of an American newspaper industry that is colliding with the Internet and other news-delivery options.

O'Reilly Comes Back for More, and Letterman Gives it to Him (Page Six)
Any lingering doubts that that Late Show host David Letterman detests Bill O'Reilly will be laid to rest tonight, when the gap-toothed funnyman has the conservative Fox News host on his CBS show as a guest and machine-guns him with insults.

FCC Upholds Tonight Show News Exemption (B&C)
The Federal Communications Commission has denied a request from the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides for airtime on 11 California TV stations. The campaign had asserted that an appearance by Republican incumbent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on NBC's Tonight Show did not qualify for the bona fide news exemption from FCC rules.

Dan Bova Named EIC of Stuff (FishbowlNY)
Dan Bova, executive editor of Stuff and former Jimmy Kimmel Live staffer, has been named editor-in-chief. Bova replaces Jimmy Jellinek, who jumped to Felix Dennis' other boyish title, Maxim. He started his career as a staff writer at Spy.

Reality TV Programs Show a Different Iraq (LAT)
Possibly only in Iraq could a Survivor-like show bring a new sense of reality to reality TV. In a nation skidding toward civil war, putting Shiites, Kurds, Sunnis and Christians under a single roof to "play house" might literally end up as a contest for survival of the fittest.

Reinventing Martha Stewart (BusinessWeek)
Martha Stewart is deeply immersed in what she calls "this era of me." Since completing her 10-month sentence in August 2005 for lying to government officials about a stock sale, the lifestyle guru has spent most of her waking moments trying to bring the world back to Martha. She feels vindicated — and tired.

Journalism in Crisis (The Nation)
Eric Alterman: What is staring everybody in the face is the evaporation of journalism's financial foundation into Internet air. ... Lord knows, the arrogance of the MSM drives me crazier than anyone, since it's my job to track it. But for all the tsuris they cause, nobody has come close to finding a substitute for the crucial role newspapers and the news play in holding our society together.

NBC Refuses Ad for Dixie Chicks Movie (Drudge Report)
NBC and The CW Television Network have refused to run a commercial for the Dixie Chicks' new documentary Shut Up & Sing. NBC told the Weinstein Company's media agency that the network "cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush." The CW Television Network responded that it does "not have appropriate programming in which to schedule this spot."

NBC's Script Needs A Rewrite (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: It's hard to see how cutting a few hundred jobs and goosing digital revenues will stabilize a wheezing business model. The same goes for the new focus on reality or game shows instead of scripted series for the first hour of prime time. In short, broadcast TV's production costs are too high, competition is stiffening, and consumers are looking elsewhere.

Washingtonpost.com Editor: Most Newspapers Not Using Web to Full Potential (E&P)
"In far too many cases, newspapers are still using sites for the basic task of reprinting the paper," said Washingtonpost.com editor James Brady at the APME conference Thursday. He said he realized most papers don't have massive resources for online, but that many papers could still do more with little manpower and limited finances.

Why Does it Take a Newspaper Two Stories to Report the Facts? (CJR Daily)
Paul McLeary: It has become a welcome staple of contemporary American journalism for a newspaper to run an analysis piece, in addition to its straight news story, following a major presidential speech or policy statement. But what to do when even the analyses fail to put the facts in perspective? Too often, the main difference between the straight story and the analysis is the analysis tag itself.

Can Wikipedia Make the Grade? (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Two years ago, a professor hatched a plan designed to undermine the site's veracity — which, at that time, had gone largely unchallenged by scholars. Adopting a pseudonym, slipped 13 errors into various Wikipedia articles. The professor expected some of his fabrications to languish online for some time, but less than three hours after he posted them, all of his false facts had been deleted.