Sixth borough advocate Jessica Pressler has abandoned her dreams of legitimizing Philly and instead turned her attention to the revival of the zine, those lovingly crafted obscure magazines with miniscule circulations and offbeat content. While the zines of old were likely pasted together in basement bedroom (or Krucoff's apartment), nowadays they're high-design productions with significant cover prices. There's also heavy advertising, which defines the difference between these small, independent publications and their bigger counterparts. Swindle mag's Shepard Fairey explains:

We know it's been bugging you. Why can't the Times have freelancers and stringers who are as ethical as its staff reporters? (Because Times staffers are always paragons of ethics, right, David Pogue?) But now there's no more need to worry, kids. A mere three years after the Jayson Blair scandal broke, and a lickety-split year after the Siegal Committee delivered its report, the paper is pleased to announce its finally figured out how to ensure freelancers' integrity. Effective today, all Times freelancers and stringers won't be allowed to work for that paper until they have — of all onerous burdens — completed a questionnaire.

Jim Romenesko provides a nice roundup today of how most of the nation's newspaper ombudsmen weighed in on the major media-ethics question of whether papers should stand up for free-speech rights and publish the Danish Mohammed cartoons that have sparked worldwide protests or respect religious sensitivities and refrain from publishing them. Some of the dozen columns highlighted included:

We always love our slutty sister Wonkette, but we particularly love her at times like this, when she's busy digging up — by which we mean idly sitting back and waiting for others to tell her about — a potential journalism scandal involving none other than The New York Times. Wonkie tried to tip us to this last week, but there were no explicit mentions of Nicole Richie or gay sex or Alessandra Stanley, and so our eyes just glazed right over. Today, however, sis drops in phrases like "Jill Abramson" and "Sharon Waxman" and "Big Ol' Journalism Scandal," and now she's got our attention. Here's the charge:

It's times like this that we find ourselves, despite all our better intentions, actually rather liking the Daily News's star-crossed Lowdowner, Lloyd Grove.

A reader remembered this entry on the Mediabistro bulletin boards from two years ago. It was posted by user "peterbraunstein."

She just couldn't handle all that love being sent her way.

For those of you inexplicably itching to get a jump start on your holiday shopping, a few of the holiday shops at Bryant Park have opened up early, presumably for the cracktards who happen to be ice skating in 70-degree weather at the new pond. Lucky for us, one of those early-bird shops is the New York Times Store, which carries a wealth of options for the Sulzberger lover in your life.

Last night we were reading the latest from the Times, a carefully worded report on note-passing fun that makes us a little wet with hope that Libby and Cheney will disappear from the face of the Earth for their involvement with the leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. But, as focused reading makes our heads spin, we were automatically drawn to the Times' interactive graphic (a portion of which is featured above), Timeline of a Leak. A handy chart showing who was involved with what and where, it's an invaluable decoding tool for two years' worth of political and ethical crap-slinging.

From zeitgeist queen Tina Brown's column in today's Washington Post:

FishbowlNY makes a great point: Leaky Times reporter Judith Miller and the Daily News' very-Christian headline writer Dawn Eden have a lot in common: They're both on some sort of hiatus (Eden from her blog, anyhow), they're both working on books (Dawn's writing some "don't have sex" thing, and Judy's making bank on her rumored deal), and they both threw their own shit at the office fan (Eden left the Post after her editing skills got a bit too pro-Jesus, and Miller, well, you know). Plus, we'd like to add, they both do what they're told without skepticism or question (Miller by the government, Eden by G-d).

Our lady in D.C. reports:

How to score a book deal in 10 easy steps:

Now that Times reporter Judith Miller has finally agreed to testify regarding the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, the national celebration of Miller's "hard-won" freedom can begin. A Gawker spy on the left coast sends word:

How low do you have to be for Ron Galella — the ur-paparazzo against whom Jackie O. won a restraining order in 1973 — to look down on you as scummy? In WWD, Jacob Bernstein found out.

We don't much like panel discussions. No one says anything new, no one changes anyone's mind, and the food is rarely any good. But Court TV promised breakfast at Michael's and a crew of media bigshots who don't much like each other, and so it seemed worth showering earlier than we have in months and getting on the E train to midtown.

But seriously: Lucky her.

The Times and the Newspaper Guild finally worked out their differences on ethics training for newsroom employees, and now each employee must take and pass the big ethics testby next Monday. The Observer's Gabriel Sherman scored a copy of the exam.

• The Deep Throating trio of Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and Ben Bradlee think Time Inc.'s editor-in-chief Norm Pearlstine has half the balls of late WaPo publisher Katharine Graham. Time whipping-boy Matthew Cooper is inclined to agree. [R&M]
• When learning that Glamour magazine is planning an exposé of Scientology with a former Scientologist for its September magazine, the "church" sent a gang of OT-IVs to bully up the Condé Nasties. Let the battle of the cults begin. [Page Six]
• Donald Trump, Jr. is rumored to be shopping around exclusive rights to his November wedding to Vanessa Haydon and looking for around six figures. Like father, like son. [Lowdown]
• Here's a shocker: Journos forced to interview celebrities say the stars don't shine all too brightly. [Page Six]

In preparation for today's upcoming Gawker Hotties, New York Times edition smackdown, we've closed the polls on Monday's extremely important debate on the power of Robert Novak's fleshy folds versus those of Angelina Jolie. Despite Gawker's opinion that the outcome should be completely reversed, we thank all of you for your overwhelming participation.