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Carson Daly to Defy Writers Strike (AP)
NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly is about to become the first late-night talk show to defy the writers strike and resume production. Daly, who is not a member of the Writers Guild, will begin taping new episodes of his Burbank-based show this week for airing next week, an NBC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. TSG: Daly asks friends and family to call special hotline and send in jokes. B&C: WGA says it is "appalled" at Daly's decision to go back on, as well as his appeal for material from non-union contributors.

Norman Mailer Poshumously Awarded Annual 'Bad Sex in Fiction' Prize (Reuters)
Writer Norman Mailer, a giant of the American literary scene and twice a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, was posthumously given the "Bad Sex in Fiction Award" on Tuesday. "We are sure that he would have taken the prize in good humor," the judges said of the award to Mailer, who died on November 10 of kidney failure at the age of 84.

Many Shows Could Take Weeks to Roll After Walkout Ends (LAT)
The risk of irreparable damage to the current and upcoming television season increases with each day the walkout continues. Still, there were no tangible signs of progress Tuesday, when negotiators for writers and the studios returned to the bargaining table for their second full day of talks since the strike began more than three weeks ago.

Grim View of Iraq Dangers in Survey of Journalists (NYT)
In a newly released survey, American journalists in Iraq give harrowing accounts of their work, with the great majority saying that colleagues have been kidnapped or killed and that most parts of Baghdad are too dangerous for them to visit. The survey was conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an arm of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center in Washington. E&P: Most [journalists polled] say reporting has not been overly negative, adding that the situation there is actually worse than most Americans believe. The survey was conducted this fall — after claims of a drop in violence first appeared.

Cable Industry Wins Compromise on FCC Plans (NYT)
In the face of a lobbying blitzkrieg by the cable television industry, the Federal Communications Commission drastically scaled back Tuesday evening a proposal by the agency's chairman to more tightly regulate the industry. The compromise was a significant, though not total, victory for the cable industry.

Rodale Ready to Roll Out Men's Health Living (NYP)
David Zinczenko, the Rodale vice president and Men's Health editor-in-chief who is coming off the most successful year in the history of the magazine, is overseeing the latest venture. Advertising sources say that Rodale will begin cranking out about 400,000 copies to newsstands across the country by next week.

InStyle and Men's Health Top Capell's Circulation Report List of Top Performers (MIN)
Capell's Circulation Report has released the audit information for the top-performing magazines of the past decade, honoring those who managed to meet and exceed their rate base time after time over the years. InStyle and Men's Health were both extremely impressive, each being a Capell's Circulation Report top ten performer every year for the past decade, a new record for the newsletter.

Travel & Leisure Family No Longer a Stand-Alone (AdAge)
American Express Publishing has decided to fold Travel & Leisure Family, which had been a quarterly stand-alone since June 2006, back into Travel & Leisure. Travel & Leisure Family's spring 2008 issue will be its last. In a memo to staff earlier this month, American Express Publishing president-CEO Ed Kelly told staff the move reflected an adjustment to the title's business model.

Hemmer Time: Fox's Ex-CNN-er Has the Last Laugh (NYO)
In February, Roger Ailes teamed Bill Hemmer with Megyn Kelly to host the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. morning show America's Newsroom. The name seems spliced from two CNN morning shows (CNN Newsroom and Mr. Hemmer's old show, American Morning), but the show has enjoyed early success, averaging 961,000 viewers in November, a 15 percent increase over the same time period last year.

Dow Jones Exploring Sale of 23 Small Newspapers (Dow Jones Newswires)
Dow Jones & Co., moving closer to its pending acquisition by News Corp., said it is exploring strategic alternatives for its Ottaway group of community newspapers and media franchises. Ottaway, the local media group of Dow Jones, operates eight daily and 15 weekly community media franchises in seven U.S. states.

Reviewer: Amazon's Kindle Won't Spark Your E-Book Fire (Salon/Machinist)
Farhad Manjoo: If you're on the fence about the utility of an e-book reader — if you doubt that reading e-books can match the experience of reading "real" books — a few hours with the Kindle will do much to change your mind. Still, its $400 price tag, its zany user interface, and some of its sillier restrictions make the Kindle a non-starter for all but the travelingest, readingest early adopters. LAT: The experience of looking at a page on the Kindle screen is more like seeing one in an actual book than gazing into the glare of a computer or cellphone display.

Caroline Kennedy Is AARP's 'Cover Girl' (AP)
Caroline Kennedy turned 50 Tuesday, becoming eligible for membership in AARP. But the nonprofit organization has bigger plans for Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie. The former first daughter is featured on the cover of the January/February issue of AARP The Magazine, on newsstands next month, and will receive the magazine's Inspire Award next week.

Punch-Up in SoHo Over Creem's Legacy (NYO)
Different people are saying different things about the showdown that took place at the John Varvatos store in SoHo on the night of Nov. 15 during a book party in honor of Creem, the storied Detroit-based music magazine that launched the careers of legendary rock critics like Dave Marsh and Lester Bangs before folding in 1985.

ABC's Nightline Walks Away From Iraq (Media Matters)
Eric Boehlert: What's so distressing is that television's wholesale withdrawal from covering the war comes at a time when Americans, week after week and month after month, tell pollsters that the "situation in Iraq" is the story they follow most closely, according to the Pew Research Center's weekly News Interest Index.

How Do You Tell a Web Name From a Typo? (WaPo)
Paul Farhi: Among the many things the Internet has added recently to contemporary life, there is this: Many grown-ups now sound like babbling toddlers when speaking about the digital world — because many corporate names now have the ring of a collection of Dr. Seuss characters.