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New York Times Is Handed a Defeat in Charity Probe Case (NY Sun)
The Supreme Court handed a legal defeat to the New York Times by refusing to block an appeals court ruling that prosecutors are entitled to examine the telephone records of two Times reporters as part of an investigation into leaks about raids against Islamic charities in 2001. The high court gave no explanation for rejecting the newspaper's plea to block the lower court order. NYT: The order effectively allows the United States attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald, to begin reviewing the records, which he has already obtained from the reporters' phone companies, as early as this week.

NBC News Labels Iraq A 'Civil War' (TVNewser)
NBC News is now defining the conflict in Iraq as a "civil war." On the Today Show, Matt Lauer said: "For months now the White House has rejected claims that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated into a civil war. And, for the most part, news organizations like NBC have hesitated to characterize it as such. But after careful consideration, NBC News has decided a change in terminology is warranted. LAT: NBC's decision makes it the first television network to officially adopt the term. E&P: Dana Priest on why WaPo won't call Iraq conflict a "civil war."

Pulitzer Prize Rules Allow Use of More Online Material (AP via IHT)
The Pulitzer Prize Board announced that newspapers will now be allowed to submit video and interactive graphics as part of their entries for the top award in U.S. print journalism. Allowing more online material "was the next logical step," said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzers. "It emphasizes blended journalism and that's where newspapers are today." ASME: New online categories for the National Magazine Awards.

IAC's Diller Sees Opportunity in Online News (Reuters)
IAC/InterActiveCorp. chief executive Barry Diller said he saw opportunities as news increasingly moves to the Internet from newspapers, and his company was close to announcing a new product. "I actually think that there's going to be real opportunity in the conversion of print journalism to online, real opportunity, which I think very few people have attacked head on," Diller said. NYP: Having been labeled as "America's laziest man" by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Diller reacted by calling him "bird-brainy."

Boston Herald Editor Chandler to Leave (Boston Globe)
Ken Chandler, a veteran tabloid editor who tried to prop up the struggling Boston Herald with a blend of celebrity items, breaking news, gossip, sports, and a dash of sex, is leaving the paper at the end of next month. Chandler said he is leaving to return to New York and try to become a media consultant to the very Fortune 500 corporations he once skewered.

Monster.com Adds Newspaper Partners (MediaPost)
As part of a broad push to forge links with traditional newspapers, online career site Monster.com has struck deals with dozens of newspapers, including the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Bergen Record, and Orange County Register in California. The employment site now has agreements in place to power online job listings for around 40 daily papers throughout the country.

Networks Hot for O.J. Interview? (Rush and Molloy)
O.J. Simpson's lawyer says news execs are begging to talk with the man some of them denounced last week. Unlike Fox's entertainment division, the news wranglers aren't offering money. But, according to one pal of O.J., "they're dangling first-class airfare, an hour live-to-tape special and major personalities to do the interview."

MTV Cues Up Plan for Niche Web Sites (Variety)
MTV is developing more than 20 Web sites tied to specific interests and demo groups under the auspices of its music and Logo groups. Some are using program brands, like World Series of Pop Culture or My Super Sweet 16, while others are based on the potential interests of MTV viewers, like rock and hip-hop, celebrity news and personal development.

Online Video 'Eroding TV Viewing' (BBC)
The online video boom is starting to eat into TV viewing time, an ICM survey of 2,070 people for the BBC suggests. Some 43 percent of Britons who watch video online or on a mobile device at least once a week said they watched less normal TV as a result. And online and mobile viewing is rising — three quarters of users said they now watched more than they did a year ago.

Writers' Guild Spurns Early Talks With Studios (NYP)
In a development that underscores the deteriorating state of labor relations in Hollywood, the chief negotiator for the major studios accused the union that represents TV and film writers of jeopardizing production by rejecting his request to enter early contract talks.

YouTube, Meet Cell Phone (WaPo)
Verizon Wireless is hoping to parlay YouTube's reputation as the premiere Web site for homemade videos into success for its own mobile-video service by delivering YouTube clips to subscribers of its premium V Cast service. The deal, to be announced today, is one of many initiatives in the past two years that try to make the mobile phone a more appealing entertainment device.

Rubenstein and Rubenstein (WWD)
What do former editor-in-chiefs do when they're trying to launch a new career? Well, if you're Atoosa Rubenstein, you hire a high-powered public relations firm. After the former editor-in-chief of Seventeen quietly exited Hearst Tower last week, she quickly tapped Rubenstein Public Relations as her official mouthpiece for whatever she plans to do next.

Reader's Digest's Ryder to Reap Riches (NYP)
A day before Ripplewood Holdings made its $17-a-share offer to take the Reader's Digest Association private, outgoing chairman Thomas O. Ryder replaced his old employment contract with a new one that gives him a gigantic golden parachute worth more than $4.5 million.

'Ego Monsters' of the Web (WaPo)
Michael Kinsley: There is something about the Web that brings out the ego monster in everybody. It's not just the well-established tendency to be nasty. When you write for the Web, you open yourself up to breathtakingly vicious vitriol. But even in their quieter modes, denizens of the Web seem to lug around huge egos and deeply questionable assumptions about how interesting they and their lives might be to others.

Old School Sponsorship From a Digital Era Company (NYT)
For a TV comedy series that begins tonight, Madison Avenue is playing matchmaker, bringing together an advertiser and a network for an elaborate sponsorship deal. MediaHub is hooking up Match.com, the dating Web site operated by IAC/InterActiveCorp, with the TBS cable network for a season-long sponsorship of the new sitcom about dating called My Boys.