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NBC Expected to Announce More Layoffs in News Division (NYP)
NBC is expected to announce more layoffs at its news division by midweek, with the Nightly News and Today bearing the brunt of the bloodletting. The layoffs at the two shows are believed to number fewer than two dozen combined and are mainly from the correspondent, talent booker and producer ranks. LAT: "I don't think it's about proportionate cuts at each show, but rather what can be cut without damaging the product," said one network executive.

Al-Jazeera, Stateside (USAT)
Al-Jazeera, the Arab news network the Bush administration says is a tool of al-Qaeda, will launch its English version on Wednesday. Al-Jazeera International will broadcast from Doha, Qatar, and from bureaus in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, London and Washington. Cable and satellite distribution deals are expected to be announced today. It will be available in 70 million households worldwide.

Chandlers Divided Over Bid for Tribune (LAT)
Lackluster bidding for Tribune Co., parent of the Los Angeles Times, has sparked a debate within the newspaper's founding family about whether to launch its own bid for the company. If Tribune ultimately is going to be sold in pieces, some members of the Chandler family reason that if there is money to be made doing that they might as well be the ones to make it.

Judith Miller Testifies in Israeli 'Torture' Case (E&P)
Testifying Monday in the federal trial of an American citizen accused of helping finance the Palestinian militant group Hamas, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller portrayed herself as a skeptical journalist who saw no signs that Muhammad Salah had been tortured when she was given unprecedented access to witness his 1993 prison interrogation. NY Sun: Miller was a strong witness for the prosecution, undercutting Salah's defense that he was tortured.

New LA Times Editor Puts Focus on Future (LAT)
On his first day as editor of the paper, James O'Shea pledged to the newspaper's staff that he would fight to ensure that "this paper will remain a major force in American journalism." O'Shea asked about 200 journalists who gathered to hear him speak in the Times newsroom to give him a chance and not view him as "the hatchet man from Chicago."

Marie Claire Fakes Breastfeeding Photo of Elizabeth Vargas (Drudge Report)
A source close to the anchor: "Elizabeth was more than happy to sit for the interview but was disturbed that the magazine would set aside basic journalistic standards to photoshop her head onto a fake image. Vargas did joke that her real baby is cuter, that she is proud to breastfeed her newborn but wouldn't do it at the anchor desk and that she wouldn't be caught dead in that ugly gold blouse!"

BALCO Reporters Facing Harsh Penalties (LAT)
At a reception at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2005, President Bush praised Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada of the San Francisco Chronicle for their award-winning stories on steroid use in professional sports. But today the two journalists face longer terms in prison than the combined sentences of all the defendants convicted in the scandal they helped expose.

MySpace Under Attack Over Death Row Diaries (Telegraph)
The social networking site has come under fire for allowing death row inmates to maintain personal profiles on the hugely popular site. At least 30 prisoners awaiting execution in Texas have pages on MySpace. Groups working with crime victims have demanded that the Web site, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., removes them.

Giving Newspapers Breathing Room (CSM)
Editorial: News consumers in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Boston, and other parts of the country may have heard that local investors are interested in buying their main newspaper. They might think this is purely a business matter. Actually, it's more about them — and the future of journalism that informs their daily lives.

NYDN City Editor Jumps to CUNY J-School Faculty (NYP)
Jere Hester, the paper's city editor, will be the director of the NYC Community News Service at the new Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. "It's a huge blow to the paper," said one former News staffer. "He was the backbone of the city desk. He could take copy and make it sound like a Daily News story. He had the DNA of the paper in his bones."

NFL vs. Cable Turns Into Real Nailbiter (WSJ)
Time is running out for the NFL and cable companies to resolve their differences over broadcast rights in time for Thanksgiving Day games. "This wouldn't be the cable companies shooting themselves in the foot," said Marc Ganis, a sports-marketing consultant, of the possiblity that the impasse wouldn't be resolved. "It would be the cable companies shooting themselves in the chest."

Newspaper Editor Joseph Ungaro Dies: Got Nixon to Say 'I'm Not a Crook' (Boston Globe)
At an annual convention of the Associated Press Managing Editors organization in 1973, the former managing editor of the Providence Evening Bulletin asked Nixon if he had accurately reported his income taxes. Nixon's famous declaration came a subsequent question about the Watergate scandal: "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

What Killed the 'Bus Plunge' Story? (Slate)
Jack Shafer: As recently as 1980, the New York Times reserved an honored — if small — place in its pages for "bus plunge" news. Whenever buses nose-dived down mountainsides; off bridges and cliffs; over embankments, escarpments, and precipices; through abutments and guardrails; or into ravines, gorges, valleys, culverts, chasms, canyons, canals, lakes, and oceans, the news wires moved accounts of the deadly tragedies, and the Times would reliably edit them down and publish.

GQ's Richman Responds to Criticism Over New Orleans Comments (Appetites)
"I probably deserve to be criticized for taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to something that is taken far more seriously by the people of New Orleans than I realize," said Alan Richman in an interview. "I think Creole culture as it once was clearly does not exist, and while I understand the joy of celebrating what was, I suspect the people of New Orleans believe it still is."

U.K. Watchdog: Press Freedom Being Eaten Away (Guardian)
Sir Christopher Meyer, the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, warned that press freedom was being gradually chipped away. He said the breakdown in communication between the government and newspapers was unhealthy for democracy. "I believe the boundaries of freedom of expression seem to be closing in a bit on newspapers and magazines in a way which may not be healthy,"

Charges of Liberal Bias in WaPo Style Section? (CJR Daily)
Paul McLeary: While the Post has run a few stories that are at least superficially favorable to Pelosi in the Style section, the headlines in the actual hard news section of the paper look pretty fair and balanced to us. But then again, those are just the headlines. What lies below is much more complicated.