In your Friday media column: Facebook is unholy, business is business, and Nicolas Sarkozy got you a present!:

The French government is giving all French 18-year-olds a free subscription to a French newspaper of their choice! In print. The move is basically a gigantic handout to the newspaper industry, which can't be a bad thing for Sarkozy. The small portion of teenagers who do read newspapers will continue to read them online, and maybe trade all those papers to a homeless guy, for some weed. [AP]


Insanely rich Mexican businessman Carlos Slim assures the world that his $250 million investment in the New York Times was made for strictly business reasons, on the same day another ratings service cuts the NYT Co.'s debt further into junk territory.


"On Wednesday at 8 p.m., CBS will pre-empt 'The New Adventures of Old Christine,' which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, to put on a program featuring a star arguably even bigger: a special edition of 'The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.'” You can never quite tell if the Times is mocking people on purpose. [NYT]


Haha, the Pope (!) warns that Myspace and Facebook could turn us all into isolated perverts who only socialize virtually, and watch porn. Too late, your holiness. [AP]