Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's editor Pete Osnos steps to his author's defense on Editor&Publisher today, accusing the media of misinterpreting the excerpt of McClellan's book in PublicAffairs' spring catalog. The snippet, widely publicized last week, seems to accuse high-ranking administration officials, including the president, with direct involvement in the Valerie Plame scandal. "But what was amazing about the response was that it became a huge story before anyone pursued its context," grumbles Osnos. If the "frenzied" "vituperative" media had peeped said context—thought it's a little unclear as to how they were meant to do so, considering that the misleading excerpt was the only part of the book made available!—they'd have realized that "McClellan believes that Bush, at least initially, did not know he was telling his press secretary to relay a series of howlers about who said what to whom."

"Americans say the media is to blame for the saturation of celebrity coverage on TV, a new survey finds. The Pew Research Center for People & the Press said Thursday that 87% of respondents said celebrity scandals get way too much ink and airtime." Additionally, 93% are dying to know why Lindsay Lohan just can't get it together. [THR]