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Hillary Pressed on Her Relationship With Rupe (NYT/The Caucus)
The curious relationship between Hillary Rodham Clinton, presidential candidate, and Rupert Murdoch, media baron, flashed briefly before the eyes of Iowans on Saturday night during a Clinton campaign event. A woman in the audience rose to ask Mrs. Clinton about Murdoch's ownership of multiple media outlets, and also whether Americans would "lose out [on] democracy" if one person is in control of the media.

ABC News and Facebook in Joint Effort to Bring Viewers Closer to Political Coverage (NYT)
ABC News and Facebook have formally established a partnership that allows Facebook members to electronically follow ABC reporters, view reports and video, and participate in polls and debates, all within a new "U.S. Politics" category. To underscore their collaboration, the two organizations will announce today that they are jointly sponsoring Democratic and Republican presidential debates.

AP Chief Slams Case Against Iraqi Photographer (WaPo)
Tom Curley: At long last, prize-winning Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein may get his day in court. ... We believe Bilal's crime was taking photographs the U.S. government did not want its citizens to see. That he was part of a team of AP photographers who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for work in Iraq may have made Bilal even more of a marked man.

Vanity Fair Sued Over Neo-Nazi Interview (Jerusalem Post)
An interview with one of Germany's most notorious neo-Nazis has landed Vanity Fair in a heap of trouble. Arno Lustiger, a Jewish historian and Holocaust survivor, has started proceedings to sue the magazine's German edition for publishing an interview with Horst Mahler, the former left-wing extremist who transformed into one of Germany's most rabid neo-Nazi public figures.

Strike Poll: WGA Wins Hearts While Studios Retain Muscle (Variety)
It is clear is that the scribes are, thus far, winning their case in the court of public opinion — even as many biz insiders predict the strike will ultimately be settled in a way that favors the major studios, according to a survey of nearly 1,000 Variety subscribers NYT: Since she began the site in 2006, Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily has become a critical forum for Hollywood news and gossip, known for analyzing (in sometimes insulting terms) the behind-the-scenes maneuvering of moguls. But it has been the screenwriters' strike that may have finally solidified her position as a Hollywood power broker. NYT: No one contends that writers would prefer to be walking in circles and shouting into megaphones than working. Still, certain perks in picketing are undeniable. LAT: Writers and studios returning to the table. LAT: Thousands of "below-the-line" workers are the unintended casualties of the first writers strike in 20 years. These are the production designers, cinematographers, editors, costume designers, and hair and makeup artists who toil behind the scenes as freelancers on movies and TV shows. LAT: Writers for Letterman and other shows have turned to the Web to keep the jokes flying — some at the studios' expense, of course. Hollywood Reporter: The guild and studios have implemented a press blackout on Monday's session, which is being held in an undisclosed location. Newsweek: As the strike enters its fourth week, writers have stepped up their use of blogs, short videos, MySpace pages, and other Web-based methods aimed at keeping their ranks together and reaching a wider audience, including TV viewers who will soon have to settle for reruns of their favorite primetime shows.

Dan Rather's Last Big Story Is Himself (New York)
Rather's lawsuit against CBS is a crusade to save his reputation as one of the late-twentieth century's great TV newsmen. "Look, I don't want to be some Don Quixote out here tilting at windmills, without even a Sancho," says Rather. "I think when people hear what I was told and what I was not told by CBS executives concerning the Guard story, that they'll understand."

Atoosa Rubenstein on Life as 'Head Freak' (Portfolio/Mixed Media)
Jeff Bercovici: What's it like to be one of New York's most talked-about media stars? To hear Atoosa Rubenstein tell it, it's a little like being a paralyzed boxer who craves death. Yesterday, Page Six Magazine profiled the former Seventeen editor and Cosmogirl founder, who just can't stop gushing about how great it is to be out of the game. [Original story not online]

Tina Brown Looks Back (The Indian Express)
In an interview on NDTV 24x7's Walk the Talk, the former New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Talk editor talked about the ideas that drove her work at those magazines, about Princess Diana, whose biography she has written, and her friend Salman Rushdie. "I think people remember Demi Moore for that Vanity Fair cover more than any movie she did," she said. Tehelka: "I don't read 12,000-word front page stories about crop rotation in The New York Times," said Brown. "Should, but don't. It looks boring, has no theatrical appeal. The challenge is not to stop doing those stories, but to make them sexy. Find the angle, the headline, the presentation that will compel people."

J.K. Rowling Named EW's 'Entertainer of the Year' (AP via USAT)
The magazine said the Harry Potter author, who has sold nearly 400 million copies of her boy-wizard series that's been adapted into a megasuccessful movie franchise, deserved props for getting "people to tote around her big, old-fashioned printed-on-paper books as if they were the hottest new entertainment devices on the planet."

WSJ.com Must Tread Carefully if it Ditches Paid-Subs Model (Mediaweek)
Mike Shields: "People don't realize making the Journal free doesn't automatically mean it becomes the biggest site," said MarketWatch.com founder Larry Kramer. He said WSJ.com would require a major adjustment in publishing philosophy to compete with the biggest sites. "WSJ.com is about producing analytical reports with an eye towards publishing once a day," he said. "It's not a real-time enterprise."

MSNBC Hedges on Tucker's Future (NYO)
Rumors have been flying recently that Tucker Carlson could soon be on the way out at MSNBC. In a report that aired Friday on NPR, Phil Griffin, a senior vice president at the cable network, described Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as part of the MSNBC "brand." Asked whether Carlson was also part of that brand, Griffin replied: "He is right now."

Ex-Fortune Editor Pooley to Write Book About Politics and Climate Change (WWD)
Hyperion won out against four other houses, said one publishing source, and will publish the book in 2009. It will be Eric Pooley's first, drawing on his experiences as a political reporter and editor at Time, and as an editor of green business coverage at Fortune. "Since I moved back into writing, I've been looking for the right book, and this is the one," he said.

What's a Webisode Worth? (B&C)
Still in the nascent stages of an uncertain life, the Webisode has nonetheless become one of the sticking points of the current impasse between the Writers Guild of America and the studios and networks. The conundrum: How do you monetize such content in a splintered media universe? And how do you make something worth watching? The potential is appealing.

The Press' Post-Iowa Tailwinds: As Nature Intended It? (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: The chief reason for the boost for candidates following the Iowa caucuses is an explosion of media coverage that treats the winners as superstars and the also-rans as lamentable losers. Without that massive media boost, prevailing in Iowa would be seen for what it is: an important first victory that amounts to scoring a run in the top of the first inning.

Aspiring Screenwriter Needs a Rewrite (LAT)
By spending about 20 hours a week writing, Glen Golightly has produced four screenplays, a novel, numerous short stories, and even a haiku. Trouble is, he hasn't made a cent doing it. Though writing the next Hollywood blockbuster is Golightly's passion, he makes his money the 9-to-5 way, working as a publicist in the aerospace industry.