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Hard Times for Sulz (NYer)
Ken Auletta: Twice in the last three years, the Times newsroom has suffered the equivalent of a nervous breakdown, and critics say that Sulzberger has managed the latest crisis as poorly as he did the episode involving the fabrications of the reporter Jayson Blair. NYer: In a web-only conversation, Auletta discusses the Times, Miller, and their impact on American journalism. E&P: Miller's defense attorney "was astonished that Keller and Sulzberger had not inspected" her now-famous notebook until long after they had fully embraced her legal defense. Huffington Post: Nora Ephron adds another motive that led to the latest Times meltdown: how much journalists love going to war. Rush and Molloy: NYer's Pinch punchout. WWD: Unconfirmed reports circulated over the weekend that CIA operative Valerie Plame left the agency Friday. Vanity Fair: Seth Mnookin deconstructs the Miller saga at the Times.

What Viveca Novak Told Fitzgerald (Time)
The Time reporter recounts her grand jury testimony about the Valeria Plame CIA leak investigation and details her involvement in the widening scandal. AP: Novak is now on leave of absence. Huffington Post: If Karl Rove doesn't get indicted for perjury, it will be because of Viveca Novak, writes Jeralyn Merritt.

Pentagon's Information War Is Vast and Secretive (NYT)
The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives.

Case: Time to Cut Losses on AOL-TW Merger (WaPo)
Steve Case: Although I played a key role in bringing AOL and Time Warner together six years ago, it's now my view that it would be best to "undo" the merger by splitting Time Warner into several independent companies and allowing AOL to set off on its own path. NYT: AOL is pondering how it can best expand its advertising revenue, which it is counting on to replace declining income from Internet access subscriptions.

'Family Friendly' Cable Plan Sets Rift (WSJ)
A split has developed within the entertainment industry as several major cable operators signaled their willingness to give in to regulatory pressure by providing a so-called family-friendly package of programming, despite resistance from many cable programmers.

Satellite Radio As an iPod Alternative? (NYT)
Richard Siklos: Sirius and XM have yet to make a penny in profit but together are approaching 10 million subscribers, most paying nearly $13 a month. Doubters, deal with it: Satellite radio looks as if it is here to stay. NYP: Howard Stern's move to satellite radio has yet to produce the advertising jackpot his old and new companies hoped it would. NYDN: Cheaper radios boost to satellite biz. Chicago Tribune: Shift to Sirius, Stern says, "represents freedom. It's not about getting vulgar."

Chron Collapsing (LAT)
The venerable San Francisco Chronicle's woes are being closely watched around the country as the newspaper finds itself on the front lines of the battle between old and new media. Analysts warn that newspapers elsewhere might join the Chron in a steepening fall.

MSNBC to Carpetbomb Internet With Ads (NYT)
The cable network plans to flood the Internet this week with its largest concentrated online pitch, running advertising on hundreds of Web sites and blogs. The cost of the campaign, to promote three prime-time programs, is estimated at just under $1 million.

Does Bad News Travel First-Class From Iraq? (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: With American soldiers being killed almost every day, there is no shortage of bad news from Iraq. But are journalists painting an unduly dark portrait?

Christina Kelly Tweaks Elle Girl (Mediaweek)
The veteran editor of defunct teen titles YM and Sassy needs to keep the title humming. Effective with the February issue, Kelly will unveil some new features while retaining the magazine's "dare to be different" mission.

Yellow Journalism (Page Six)
The pranksters at PETA are vowing to slap stickers with Anna Wintour's face—accompanied by the caption, "#1 Fur Hag"— on them in the urinals of the Vogue editrix's favorite hotspots.

Google's Cheaters (Newsweek)
If search engine rankings are supposed to represent a kind of democracy, then search engine optimizers are the Web's lobbyists. High-priced and in some cases slyly unethical, SEOs try to manipulate the unpaid search results that help users navigate the Internet.

Movies Give Press a Bad Name (NYT)
David Carr: Hollywood renders many professions as cartoons—pity the lawyers, if you can—but part of the reason that the news media are held in such low esteem is that they are cast as such.

Edit Staff Cuts a 'Disgrace to Journalism' (Newsday)
Todd Gitlin and Olivier Sylvain: By whacking back staff, newspapers are cutting the very newsgathering resources that are their wherewithal. They're cutting muscle, then cutting into bone. This is not only a disgrace to American journalism; it's a myopic business plan. Toronto Star: As newspapers realize that they sell content, not ink, their future is taking hold, writes David Olive.

Comedy Central Wake for Chappelle Show? (New York Mag)
"If Dave does not come back to do his normal intros [for the new episodes], the goal is to get Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, Martin Lawrence, the biggest comedians, whatever, to do a wake for the show," says a person familiar with the planning.

Sell Knight Ridder to the CIA (Slate)
Jack Shafer: Findings based on unclassified information are often superior to findings based on classified information. But in purchasing Knight Ridder, the CIA would take that admission one step further by acknowledging how much more spies can learn from journalists. San Jose Mercury News: Potential bidders emerge for Knight.

Can Ethical Investors Improve the Media? (CSM)
"I don't think the socially responsible investing community alone will change how the Internet is censored and monitored," says Dawn Wolfe, social research and advocacy analyst for Boston Common Asset Management. "But we are part of a much bigger group."

Man Apologizes for Wiki Prank on Editor (NYT)
A man in Nashville has admitted that, in trying to shock a colleague with a joke, he put false information into a Wikipedia entry about John Seigenthaler Sr., a former editor of The Tennessean in Nashville.

Car Bomb Kills Lebanese Journalist (AP via Fox News)
Prominent anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker Gibran Tueni was one of three people killed in an explosion in a mostly Christian area of eastern Beirut.

Forbes Watches the World's Elite (Independent)
Ian Burrell: Media mogul Steve Forbes is famous for publishing global rich lists and having run for the White House twice. But he is also a web-savvy ideologue with designs on the international market.

Media Goliaths Stung By Slingshots in '05 (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: More than anyone else in the media universe, author and Washington Post editor Bob Woodward, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Detroit Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom and Newsweek magazine had a year to forget.

Chinese Media Sharply Critical on Toxic Spill (LAT)
Since it was revealed that a river had been polluted by a chemical plant, the local media have been excoriating the provincial and city governments for their secrecy.

Publisher Challenges Zimbabwe Travel Ban (Guardian)
Zimbabwe's last independent newspaper publisher, Trevor Ncube, goes to court today to challenge a state-imposed travel ban, part of a new wave of repression by President Robert Mugabe against the press and civic organizations.

—David S. Hirschman