In your temperate Monday media column: How ABC landed the octuplet-grandma "scoop," yet another plan to save the NYT, journalism lives(?), and a magazine dies (no question):

Ann Curry at the Today show got the exclusive with the octuplet mom, but Good Morning America got the exclusive with the octuplet mom's mom. How did they get it, according to TVNewser? Splash News paid the lady for the interview, then Radaronline bought it, then ABC paid Radaronline to license it. This whole gossip-laundering business is going swimmingly! Of course, networks don't pay for interviews.

Media thinker (and father of Emily Brill) Steven Brill has a big plan to save the New York Times, which involves charging for the website, better marketing, and maybe not printing on the slowest day of the week. These are all very worthy ideas, so we would just add, Mr. Brill, please order your daughter to resume blogging at once. It will, ah, help the New York Times somehow.


New journalism idea: a site called Spot.us lets you, the public, submit ideas for stories for professional reporters to do. Then the public kicks in cash until a reporter accepts the offer and, ta da, story. "That groundbreaking model has helped Spot.us to midwife and then post six stories in its first three months." PROBLEM IN NUTSHELL.

MountainTime, a luxury travel mag, has been folded by its owner, Forbes Media. If you work for a luxury travel magazine, brother, you're in trouble.