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

Editor Downie Announces Major Changes at WaPo (E&P)
In a surprising memo to staffers yesterday, Washington Post editor Len Downie announced several general and specific shakeups. This includes a plan to "shrink" the newsroom, "tightening up the paper's news hole," cracking down on story length and moving reporters and editors "within and among staffs." The paper is now suffering from regular circulation declines. FishbowlDC: The full memo.

NBC's Falco Expected to Join AOL (NYT)
Randy Falco, the president of the NBC Universal Television Group, is reportedly in talks to leave his position as the No. 2 executive at the television group to take a senior operating role at AOL. The move to shake up the top ranks of the two big media companies is expected to be announced as soon as this week. It is unclear whether Falco would hold the title of president or chief executive at AOL.

New Book by O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened (NYT)
Simpson, who was acquitted 11 years ago in the 1994 death of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald L. Goldman, has written a book and will appear on television telling "how he would have committed the murders if he were the one responsible." Judith Regan, whose publishing imprint will release the book Nov. 30, also conducted television interviews, which will be broadcast on Fox. WaPo: Fox didn't divulge details of the interview other than to say it was "wide-ranging," "no holds barred" and "unrestricted" and that "Simpson describes how he would have carried out the murders he has vehemently denied committing for over a decade."

Several Big Investors Raise Stakes in Tribune (LAT)
Several investment companies that are among Tribune Co.'s largest shareholders bought more of the stock in the third quarter, betting on a higher share price for the beleaguered media company, financial reports show. Two major investors who raised their stakes in Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times, said a sale or breakup of the company now appeared inevitable.

Did Fox Pay $2M to Release Kidnapped Journalists? (WorldNetDaily)
Palestinian terror groups and security organizations in the Gaza Strip received $2 million from a United States source in exchange for the release of Fox News employees Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, who were kidnapped last summer, according to a senior leader of one of the groups suspected of the abductions.

Clear Channel Auction Down to the Wire (FT via MSNBC)
The auction for the largest radio station chain in the country was down to the wire last night as one private equity group pulled out of the race at the last moment. Investment firms Providence Equity Partners, Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts appeared to be the frontrunners to strike a deal with Clear Channel and its founding family in a buy-out worth at least $26 billion.

Brian Williams, Arianna Huffington, Tom DeLay Jaw On Time 'Person Of Year' Panel (FishbowlNY)
Arianna Huffington called Tom DeLay "delusional." Brian Williams slammed YouTube and the blogosphere. Time editor Richard Stengel didn't know what Time's circulation was. Emilio Estevez's fiancé has never seen St. Elmo's Fire. All of which made for a lively luncheon and panel debate on who might be Time's "Person Of The Year" in New York. FBNY: Williams on his pick for Person of the Year, "You": "It is tearing us apart ... If we're all blogging, what aren't we reading?"

Jury Finds That Columnist Acted With Malice and Awards Judge $7 Million (NYT)
In a case that media lawyers say has broad implications for press freedoms, a jury has found that a newspaper columnist falsely wrote in 2003 that the chief justice of the Illinois State Supreme Court had traded his vote for a political favor, and had acted with malice. The chief justice, Robert R. Thomas, brought the case against Bill Page, a former columnist for the Kane County Chronicle.

Former ABC Newsman Dave Marash is Al Jazeera's U.S. Face (WaPo)
Embedded in "why" are two other questions: How can an American work for an operation affiliated with al-Jazeera, which aired video communiques from Osama bin Laden, images of dead American soldiers, and denunciations of the U.S.? And how could Marash, who is Jewish, work for an organization that has given a platform for Holocaust denial and hate speech against Israel, Zionism and Judaism? FBNY: Interview with Marash. LAT: To lure viewers as well as space-crunched satellite providers, the network will also air the same programming at the same time — real-time television, really — to viewers in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

50 People Shaping Online Journalism (Press Gazette)
"Our readers' nominees included a wide range of individuals, including media moguls, website editors, and new media evangelists. The nominations reflect the growing influence within media companies of board-level digital directors. They are not all from big media companies: bloggers and other independent online publishers feature prominently."

Every Day With Rachael Ray Is Mag Launch of Year (MIN)
"We plead guilty in following Advertising Age's Oct. 23 footsteps in naming November 2005 startup Every Day with Rachael Ray MIN's top launch for the October 2005-through-September 2006 time frame. The choice was easy given Rachael Ray's rapid circ growth from 350,000 at launch to 1.7 million (rate base) the next August."

Mark Cuban: If I Had More Time, I'd Get Into the Newspaper Biz (Esquire)
"Newspapers are a perfect example of how economics dominate common sense," says Cuban. "Contrary to popular belief, newspapers aren't dying. Newspapers are making tons of money; they just aren't keeping their shareholders happy, they aren't meeting the expectations on Wall Street. The problem with newspapers is that they're trying to grow like they're Internet companies in 1999."

ABC Taking 'Carrot-and-Stick' Approach With Mags (WWD)
At its recent meeting in Las Vegas, the Audit Bureau of Circulations made it easier for magazine titles to boost their circulations by allowing them to report one consolidated number across different media — print, the Web and other audited products, such as e-newsletters. But ABC also toughened up on its rules regarding "sponsored" subscriptions, a practice that has gotten publishers in trouble in the past.

With Thomas Friedman in China (NYO)
Tom Scocca: You can learn a lot wandering around a foreign country in the first person. Friedman does it all the time. He looks around and talks to somebody and learns something important. At a bookstore reading in Beijing, Friedman expounds on his completely new and heretofore-unheard-of thesis: "The world is flat."

'Toos Does it Her Way (MIN)
Atoosa Rubenstein's confidence stems from her working hard to become a "brand" unto herself. Early on, CosmoGirl founding publisher Kristine Welker said that "Atoosa was getting up to 6,000 pieces of e-mail per day" during the 1999 holiday season. To teens, Dear Atoosa became synonymous to Dear Abby.

Leaked Fox News Memo: 'Be On The Lookout For Any Statements From The Iraqi Insurgents ... Thrilled At The Prospect Of A Dem Controlled Congress' (HuffPo)
In a short internal Fox News memo, the network's vice president of news details its game plan on the day Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House. It includes details on how the network viewed the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other key political developments.

NY Press Up for Sale (NYO)
The New York Press, the sometimes-feisty alt weekly that's nipped at the heels of the Village Voice since 1988, has been quietly put on the market. There have been rumors "for more than a year" that the paper was for sale.

That's All?: 1% of the Web Deemed Pornographic (AP)
About 1 percent of Web sites indexed by Google and Microsoft are sexually explicit, according to a U.S. government-commissioned study. Government lawyers introduced the study in court this month in seeking to revive the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, which required commercial Web sites to collect proof of age before allowing Internet users to view material deemed "harmful to minors."

Random House Pays $500K for Alice Cooper's Memoirs (NYP)
Heavy metal performer Alice Cooper, famed for 1970s hits "School's Out" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy," has just sold his memoirs to Random House's Crown Books imprint for an estimated $500,000. Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: My 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict, is billed as a candid look at his 35-year career, his drinking and his recovery, which was helped along by a new addiction to golf.