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I've Got One Word for You: Plastics (WaPo)
Tina Brown: ABC's newly anointed co-anchors, Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff, look as if they were spawned in the same electronic petri dish. Perhaps somewhere in Korea there is a lab where they farm raise these made-for-TV faces. NYT: Amid rumors, Today marks 10 years as weekly ratings king.

Old Media's New Math (NYT)
In the next day or two, the world will get a glimpse of how desirable, or not, newspapers are, when preliminary bidding begins for Knight Ridder. NYT: Newspapers offer a case for keeping them around. E&P: Tribune not interested in Knight. Fortune via CNN: Investors unsubscribing to old media.

Business Week to End Some Overseas Editions (IHT)
Business Week magazine said it planned to replace its English-language European and Asian editions at the end of the month with one global edition. Mediaweek: Business Week creates desktop alerts.

Pulitzers Plugged In (WaPo)
The changes for breaking news eligibility could aid the Pulitzer Prize chances of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which lost its ability to print newspapers briefly after Hurricane Katrina but continuously published storm coverage online.

News Corp. Looking to Get Into Online Search Biz (Red Herring)
Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn told a UBS media conference that the New York-based media giant was listening to proposals from several search providers, including Quigo. LAT: News Corp. developing software for ad sales.

Jailed Chinese Journo Honored (NYT)
Zhao Yan, a researcher for The New York Times who has been imprisoned in China for more than a year, was named journalist of the year by Reporters Without Borders

Was Time 'Person of Year' Pick Leaked? (Jossip)
After a series of "suspicious betting activity" on Sportsbook.com, the online wager house shut down betting on who (or what) would be the issue's cover subject. Further investigation revealed bets placed through accounts tied to a PR firm that reps Time Warner.

Sometimes the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy Wins a Battle (AP)
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter gave up trying to finish a speech at the University of Connecticut yesterday when boos and jeers from the audience became overwhelming.

New AOL Gossip Site to Launch (NYDN)
The company's new dishy site, TMZ.com, has lured the likes of Revlon, Chrysler, Hilton Hotels and New Line Cinema, and is part of a strategy aimed at luring eyeballs and advertisers to its newly free AOL.com site.

Music Labels See New Threat From Satellite Radio (WSJ)
The beleaguered music industry faces a new, unexpected threat in its battle to protect copyrights and royalties: the arrival in stores of new satellite-radio receivers that mimic iPods in their ability to store and organize hundreds of songs.

The Propaganda Presidency (Slate)
Jacob Weisberg: George W. Bush arrived in Washington avowing he would never parse, shade, or play nice with the truth the way that Clinton had. But if Bush has shunned spinning, it has been in favor of something far more insidious. Slate: A sample from the Baghdad Post?

Jimmy Jams (The Black Table)
"The blogosphere... has proven once and for all that news and journalism are whatever you decide it is," said Stuff EIC Jimmy Jellinek. "All that matters is what you stand for, the emotion and ideas behind your brand that make people want to log onto your venture or pick up your publication."

The Octogenarian Swinger (Independent)
Legendary Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner's still holding back the years with three girlfriends, a lot of Viagra and a new reality TV series.

Why Don't More Journos Go to Jail? (Slate)
Jack Shafer: The compromises reporters and publications made in the Plame investigation—and the lack of criticism directed at them by their peers—indicate that very few Washington journalists really believe that protecting sources is a paramount and holy duty. Cincinnati CityBeat: Joseph Wilson blasts the media's Plame game, and warns of the "worship of access."

Inbox Journalism (AJR)
The e-mail interview eliminates endless rounds of phone tag, and it gives sources a chance to provide well-thought-out answers rather than top-of-the-head responses. But critics warn that it's hardly a substitute for real-time conversation and may be a recipe for sterile journalism.

MoveOn Petition Doesn't Get Through at Tribune (CJR Daily)
Paul McLeary: The annual meetings in midtown Manhattan of newspaper executives trying to impress stock analysts aren't where we usually look for fireworks. Until yesterday, when MoveOn.org tried to crash the party.

Iranian Press in Mourning After Plane Crash (Iran Heritage)
Reporters Without Borders voiced deep regret at the death of 84 Iranian journalists and media technicians when a Hercules C-130 military transport plane crashed into an apartment building in a southern district of Tehran yesterday.

Plum Package (WWD)
Earlier this year, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists launched a new publication, Plum, to target pregnant women aged 35 and older—which, as it turns out, is a rather large group.

—David S. Hirschman