In your bracing Tuesday media column: rumors of Newsweek closing a bureau [UPDATE: or maybe more than one], Barbara Walters tells the truth, questions are wrestled with, and Flex sells:

Unconfirmed rumor from a tipster: "I just heard from a senior writer that Newsweek is shutting its London bureau, its largest foreign outpost. Apparently reinventing yourself means getting rid of all yr overseas staff." Well that would fit in with Newsweek's reinvention, yes. [If you know more, email us]
UPDATE: Another tipster says that Newsweek is "essentially closing it's L.A. and San Francisco buros, too." The final San Fran staffer is taking a buyout, and the LA office—shared with a skeleton crew from the Washington Post—is like a "ghost town" with only one Newsweek staffer left, our tipster says.


Today in "Wrestling with weighty questions about the future of journalism": Is J-school worth going to any more? Should newspapers charge for online news? Is real reporting dying? And does the LA Times suck big time now, or what? Answers: No, Yes, Yes, Yes.


Barbara Walters: "I think the only programs that will still be there as they are now in 10 years are the morning shows. Everything else you can TiVo and watch later or read about on the internet." Ha, whoa, Barbara Walters is the most forward-thinking and honest TV news personality in America, all of a sudden!


Monthly magazine ad pages in March are down 26% from last year. The bright spot: "Ad pages rose 33% at muscle magazine Flex and 25% at Muscle & Fitness." First reader to come up with a satisfying explanation for that wins a free Muscle Milk, and this.