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

Exit in the Works for NBC Universal Chairman Wright (NYP)
NBC Universal is laying the groundwork for Bob Wright to cede his role as chairman of the Peacock network to CEO Jeff Zucker, possibly by the end of this year. "There's strong indication that that's the plan they are moving toward," said one source. Said another: "Something significant is going to happen [with Wright and Zucker] sooner rather than later."

National Book Awards Announced (WaPo)
Richard Powers won the National Book Award for fiction for The Echo Maker, set in Nebraska amid the spring migrations of the Platte River. Timothy Egan won the nonfiction award for The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. Nathaniel Mackey won the poetry award for Splay Anthem. GalleyCat: The scene.

NBC Exec Falco Expected to Bring Operational Strengths to AOL (NYT)
Time Warner switched chiefs at its AOL unit, naming Randy Falco, the No. 2 executive at the NBC Universal Television Group, as chairman and chief executive. He succeeds Jonathan F. Miller, who had held the position since 2002. The hiring came as a surprise to Miller and other executives at AOL, who had just reorganized the Time Warner unit. LAT: After three decades at NBC, Falco might have trouble adjusting to the culture and dizzying pace of change at an Internet company. B&C: Falco has long been responsible for the business side of NBC, including the ad sales for all outlets, affiliate sales, and NBC and Telemundo TV stations.

BBC to Pay for User-Generated Content (Guardian)
The BBC is to pay viewers who send in user-generated content, but only for material that is "particularly editorially important or unique." New guidelines tell BBC staff they can make payments to members of the public who send in footage from mobile phones or cameras, but "audiences should not be encouraged to think that payment is the norm."

Nielsen to Debut Video-on-Demand Ratings (NYT)
Video-on-demand has become a lot more popular recently and has been attracting stronger interest from advertisers, and now viewers of these videos are going to be counted just like all other TV viewers. Nielsen Media Research is to announce today that it will release video-on-demand ratings, similar to its famous TV ratings, starting in December.

Victim's Family Calls for Boycott of O.J. Book (HuffPo)
Ron Goldman's sister and father appeared on CNN's Larry King Live to discuss O.J. Simpson's new book, If I Did It. The new book, due out November 30, is considered his "confession" by publisher Judith Regan. NYP: Even though the book's title implies guilt, Simpson still clings to his claims of innocence. He could confess to the killings, but still remain free under double-jeopardy protection. Slate: Could O.J. go back to court because of something he says on TV? It's not impossible, writes Daniel Engber. NYDN: If O.J. show is unfit, the channel we must quit, writes David Hinckley.

Wallpaper Editor Langmead Leaving for British Esquire (WWD)
Jeremy Langmead joined Wallpaper four years ago and oversaw its reinvention following the departure of founding editor Tyler Brulé. "I had a really good time and feel like I'm leaving a strong and stable magazine," he said. He also said one of the reasons he joined Esquire was because there's no men's magazine in the U.K. he wants to buy. Guardian: Langmead's Esquire will be a more grown-up, less puerile read aimed at successful men and men who want to be successful, according to Duncan Edwards, chief executive of its parent company.

Steven Hatfill Demands Fines for NY Times in Anthrax Libel Case (NY Sun)
Former Army scientist Steven Hatfill, who is suing the New York Times over a series of columns he says fingered him as responsible for the anthrax mailings in 2001, has asked a judge to fine the paper $25,000 a day for refusing to disclose its confidential sources and to increase the fine amount by $25,000 each month in an attempt to encourage the paper to comply.

AOL, HBO Partner on Comedy Broadband Channel (Mediaweek)
AOL has partnered with HBO to launch "This Just In," a new comedy-themed broadband channel set to go live sometime during the first quarter of 2007. The new site will feature a heavy dosage of video content, including lots of topical comedic performances, as well as a blogging platform which will allow the site's audience to comment on the days events — ranging from politics to pop culture.

Fired SourceMedia Exec Spied on Email (AP via Newsday)
A fired Manhattan executive spied on his former company's email to warn employees they were going to be fired, prosecutors said. Stevan Hoffacker, who was fired in 2003 from his job as vice president of information technology at SourceMedia, spied on the company's email from his home for months this year, prosecutors said.

Larry King: I've Never Used the Internet (Think Progress)
CNN's Larry King confessed to Roseanne Barr that he's never used the Internet. King expressed doubt that the Internet was a viable political medium because "there's 80 billion things on it." When Barr said she liked the Internet, King acknowledged that "I've never done it, never gone searching." FishbowlNY: Watch the video.

Saving the NY Times and 'Watchdog Journalism' (AJR)
Rem Rieder: Years of budget-cutting have gutted many of America's newspapers, and one consequence of the carnage has been a sharply reduced number of papers with the resources and the will to cover national and international events. It's no accident that the major national security stories of the past year or so have been broken by the New York Times, the Washington Post and the L.A. Times.

Who Cares About the Leaked Fox Memo? (CJR Daily)
Paul McLeary: Last night, as denizens of the liberal blogosphere likely know by now, the Huffington Post published an internal memo from Fox News' veep of news. Yes, and your point is? At this point in the great Bias Wars, anyone who claims that Fox doesn't tilt right is either lying to themselves or being disingenuous for the sake of argument.

Journalists Need to Fight Back (SFBG)
Editorial: These are particularly ugly times — the amount of government secrecy, particularly at the federal level, is almost unprecedented. But there's something else just as bad going on: consolidation of media ownership is destroying the profession of journalism. And that's something that groups made of working journalists have to start addressing.

Believer Founder Julavits on Reading, Writing, and Response (Boston Phoenix)
Someone recently told Heidi Julavits that she'll be remembered most for a Believer essay that appeared in the magazine's March 2003 debut issue. In that piece, titled, "Rejoice! Believe! Be Strong and Read Hard!" she argued against snark and against a reviewing culture defined by sarcasm and anti-intellectualism. "It was the most depressing thing anyone has ever said to me," she says.