One arranged marriage to a Hellenic blogging empress and massive employee cull later, obsolescence-battling internet service AOL finally finds itself facing the music. But despite an 86% tumble in profits, chief executive and content cheerleader Tim Armstrong remains unflappably optimistic about the company's prospects. His plans might be bold, he acknowledges to The New York Times, but they're working!

In your brash Wednesday media column: Chris Matthews' wacky idea of "influential journalists," Alex Kuczynski strips, AOL's momentary earnings lapse, Adam Moss's reading list, crazy UK libel laws, and Newsweek's subtle Bin Laden cover.

Ever since The Huffington Post sold itself off to AOL for an enormous pile of treasure, the legions of people who've been happily blogging for HuffPo for free for all these years have been asking themselves: Hey, shouldn't we get a piece of that pie? Now, they are demanding it.

Two months after AOL acquired her website the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington has begun refashioning the internet conglomerate into a gigantic digital mirror whose reporters will document every last twitch of her ego. Or so says Arianna Huffington.

Meet Greg Coleman, Sundar Pichai and Neal Mohan. They are having an awesome week. A week that involves, collectively, roughly $150 million dollars in bonuses; monster severance for short-lived jobs; and orders to report to a new boss in Paris.

Few managers enjoy firing people, but at efficiency-obsessed AOL, layoff skills are apparently considered crucial: The internet conglomerate just dismissed a top editor for firing writers and then telling them they could write for free.

Extending a wave of layoffs, AOL reduced its entire business news team to one or two people and is expected to use Huffington Post staff to pick up the slack. Because that's what HuffPo is famous for: business news.

Now that the Huffington Post has taken over editorial operations at AOL, freelance AOL movie writers will be transitioned to a new compensation model that replaces contractual pay with deep, deep appreciation and possibly compliments.

Employees at Google and AOL are among those going barefoot today to raise awareness of shoeless poor kids. If only there were some other way rich techies could help third world children, aside from disgustingly and dangerously removing their shoes!

Former Engadget editor Joshua Topolsky and a bunch of his old staff have defected from Engadget owner AOL to a blogging company run by their former boss. But not before making clear how much AOL sucked.

In your springy Monday media column: reporters get great bonus opportunities, Katie Couric's future in detail, the SF Chronicle eyes a paywall, the freelancer purge at AOL, and Ken Auletta on Robert Thomson.

In your improbably snowy Wednesday media column: CNN's new strategy, all important and unimportant NYT news, HuffPo tells AOL freelancers their fate, Jane Pratt's back, and an honest journalism job ad.

Yesterday, Tech Crunch writer Alexia Tsotsis did a noble thing: she more or less told her parent company to fuck off, in public, after a Moviefone/ AOL rep emailed her suggesting that the "snark" be "toned down." That was entertaining. But the response of Moviefone is even more entertaining! If you like unbelievable things.

The two top content generators—er, editors at AOL's massively popular tech blog Engadget, Josh Topolsky (pictured) and Nilay Patel, have quit, according to All Things Digital. We were hoping for a juicy tale of combat with AOL's new content manager, Arianna Huffington's Blackberry, but the departure has more to do with AOL's lame corporatism. It can't be a coincidence that this comes just a month after new AOL boss Tim Armstrong unveiled his insane scheme to squeeze way more content and pageviews from fewer bloggers (aka "The AOL Way"). Well, here's fewer bloggers.

While what comes before the @-symbol may include the letters and characters you picked out, what comes after it still says a whole lot about you. A new study breaks down the types of people that use different types of free email services.

In your painful Thursday media column: major layoffs at AOL, reporters in peril in Libya, the latest Katie Couric career rumors, anonymous commenting debated, and Newsday is new, somehow.

In your crumb-sucking Wednesday media column: Morning Joe loves Starbucks for some reason, layoffs loom at AOL, Al Jazeera is coming for your kids, the NYT and Pro Publica have the same interests, and Spike Lee enjoys The Ed Show.

In your trampled Tuesday media column: rumors of blog consolidation at AOL, Darell Issa's spokesman canned for leaking to the NYT, Dan Abrams is a proud television journalist, the new NYT Magazine considered, and fairness is dead.

In your trenchant Thursday media column: Glenn Beck apologizes for something, Slate in Palin Cunt scandal, AOL execs make way for Arianna, Yahoo grabs a Politico writer, and a Katie Couric career check-in.

In your sleepy Monday media column: Rupert Murdoch is buying his daughter's company, CBS News gets set for new management, MSNBC's branding geniuses speak, and an AOL resignation.