Setting aside the health implications of fast-food pioneer Wilber Hardee's death at the advanced age of 89, one is drawn to the mystery of his first name. No one seems to know how to spell it. The Times went with "Wilber" for its obit. But hey, Times, how about fact-checking your journalism with that most august and reliable of primary sources, the Hardee's Cool Kids website? As show above and to the right, it renders the name "Wilbur," as do about 3,140 Web pages in Google's index in an exact-phrase search, vs. just 1,510 for "Wilber." And "Wilbur" also wins in a Google News search, with 54 uses (including AP!) vs. just "about 10" for "Wilbur." But wait, there are so many more wrinkles to this obit mystery!

Journo-nerds rejoice: the AP Stylebook has been updated! It's the Bible of all that is considered acceptable in middle American newsrooms, and, like middle America itself, is consistently several years behind the times. So what changes can you look forward to in tomorrow's edition of the Mattoon Journal Gazette? More text messaging, less malarkey, and no more retarded people!

NBC on Tuesday settled a $105 million lawsuit brought by a woman whose brother committed suicide amid a raid involving the series To Catch A Predator. The man, an assistant county prosecutor, had engaged in a sex chat with someone posing as a 13-year-old boy on behalf of Predator, and an NBC crew accompanied police as they raided the man's home, where he shot himself. Probably as part of settlement, NBC scrubbed nearly all mention of the case from the Predator website. But the news network left copies of key documents scattered around the internet, including a blog post and an ardent defense of the suicide case.

If you're running for office, you really want your communiciations director to be at least respected by the journalists it is his or her job to manage. Hillary Clinton's flack was the oft-sweatered Howard Wolfson, who, it turns out now, was universally reviled. We already told you about how Vogue's Julia Reed called Wolfson "the most charmless human being on the planet." But Reed was not the only one who announced her hatred for Wolfson after the campaign ended! The Economist, while often subtly snide, is rarely so openly hostile as they were in their recent obit for the Clinton campaign:

Ring the alarm: the paper of record is treating rappers separately and unequally! In a surprisingly fresh piece of analysis, the Columbia Journalism Review unearths the NYT's sneaky tendency to "birth-name" rappers more than other musicians. (They also coin the term "birth-name," which I like, although for the sake of hip hop consistency they should say "government-name"). That means, for example, that RZA gets second-referenced as "Robert Diggs," but Marilyn Manson gets to keep his stage name throughout Times stories. That is so foul! Government names are nerdy. Plus, culture editor Sam Sifton gives a nonsense nilla explanation for the discrepancy:

Sports blogs might be losing their edge! Back in the good old days they were all bile-spewing, rumormongering perverts who cared about nothing but posting pictures of NFL players cavorting drunkenly with Buzz Bissinger (pictured, ranting). But as time went on, they actually started making money and gaining credibility and—wouldn't you know it—now they're paying more attention to making sure stuff is true! At least that's the theme of the weekend's sort of obvious-day LAT trend piece. The reality is that this entire "These kids are finally maturing, thanks to us" angle is primarily designed to make old school sportswriters feel better about themselves as blogs steal their lunch money.

So the guy who posted early news Tim Russert's death to Wikipedia? He's been fired by the NBC News Web contractor that employed him, because the network had been trying to notify Russert's family before breaking the news. In fact, according to the Times, the network waited roughly an hour before putting word of the Meet The Press host's passing on-air and was "flabbergasted" to see it on Wikipedia. The "junior-level employee" who posted the information did not know the news was being kept quiet. But it's still hard to have any sympathy — he or she worked for a contractor that does newsgathering and publishing on behalf of a broadcast journalism organization. The employee had no business spending time writing for any site that didn't belong to NBC News. [Times]

The world may be in the midst of an awful news drought, but does the once-august Times of London let that keep it from publishing a lively website? No! It is a Rupert Murdoch-owned news source, after all, so up with book burning, red-baiting and medical experiments! If there is no news, make it. I'm looking at you, WSJ.com. [Times of London via Something Changed]

In his "On The Street" slide show for the Times Style section today, longtime fashion photographer Bill Cunningham (pic) can't get over the kids today and their saggy jeans. In fact, Cunningham keeps waiting for a pair of low-slung trousers to fall off someomne's torso, yet they refuse, and the whole thing is a tragedy. Said Cunningham: "I have waited and thought, 'Oh my God, I'm going to get one right now, his pants are going to fall off. And it hasn't happened. It's just terrible. I've waited and waited." But he'll probably get his coveted "saggy jeans fall off some kid" shot soon enough since, according to Cunningham's theory, male waistlines seem to fall in sync with the ailing stock market. Video excerpt after the jump.

The Wall Street Journal has a piece today in which it attempts to scientifically determine the best overall male athlete in the world, by submitting a long list of famous athletes to a panel of exercise physiologists who rank them on this and that. This is the newspaper equivalent of Rolling Stone's "100 greatest albums" list—pointless, and meant to generate argument. But they do settle the issue of who is not the world's greatest male athlete: WSJ reporter Reed Albergotti, who goes up against a top decathlete to prove that reporters are, as suspected, goofy, unathletic white guys. God, what a 'Nilla. Video of Albergotti's good-natured crusade of unathleticism is below.

More moves at the top at the Wall Street Journal. In two memos to the staff, editor Robert Thomson announces that Deputy Managing Editor Laurie Hays is leaving the paper. He then announces the creation of a "central news desk" helmed by three new Deputy Managing Editors: Matt Murray, Mike Williams, and Nikhil Deogun. In a face-saving move, ethics editor Alix Freedman "will have expanded authority as a defender of the paper's ethical and journalistic standards," rather than being axed. Left up the air: the future of DC bureau chief John Bussey, who had been rumored to under consideration for a promotion. Full memos after the jump.

Look, it's an adorable polar bear, roaming free in an ice field! Awww. But, wait, why is the BBC using it to illustrate their lead story about President Bush's renewed push for offshore oil drilling? Because Bush is also calling for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, which could be allowed by Congress, and then there could very well be (33-51% chance!) an oil and gas "leak," which in turn could hurt polar bears. This wouldn't be media bias, would it? Choosing this distantly, arguably related photo instead of, say, a shot of an oil rig? Or of Bush? Oh, right, it is bias, but it's the kind only POLAR BEAR HATERS get upset about.

Sports reporters are making bank. Some of them, at least. While foolish idealistic journalists shell out cash to go to J-school and get petty jobs reporting on corporations or wars or political campaigns, a handful of lucky guys sit around spouting completely unverifiable opinions on ballgames and burning $100 bills to fuel their tailgating barbecues. A few of these people-who do nothing that an average American male does not do every weekend, for free (yap about sports)-are making millions. Millions, we say! The Big Lead has a list of the (estimated) top earners in sports journalism, which we have assembled into a handy chart, after the jump. Contemplate the fact that the 15 highest-paid reporters average close to $1 million per year; then go read Deadspin to find out how many of these guys are pricks.

So we were vaguely aware Katie Couric had a YouTube channel, but had no idea the CBS Evening News anchor put so much energy into it. It's almost as though she feels stifled at work! Can't imagine why that would be. Anyway, Los Angeles Times writer Matea Gold watched all the videos so you don't have to, and wrote up the highlights, which we've assembled into a quick montage after the jump. Couric snaps Larry King's suspenders, chats up the paparazzi, sings with Bette Midler, makes a Saturday Night Live joke and hangs out barefoot with a bunch of mom bloggers.

Is it possible that beer advertising is becoming "silly" and "arbitrary?" We're going to go with "what do you mean, 'becoming?'" But the lack of "weight" and "integrity" to the "brand stories" of beer companies these days is really weighing on Seth Stevenson, Slate's generally sharp ad critic-and a man who obviously takes beer very seriously. While you or I might just accept that beer ads, of all things, are destined to be stupid in order to appeal to drunks, Stevenson allows a vapid Amstel commercial to send him into a deep spiral of despair. Why aren't they emphasizing the "five valid, logical criteria for choosing one beer over another" in their TV spots?!?!:

Whenever you think you've truly gained access to an exclusive club of some sort-particularly in New York-think again, fool. There is always another inner sanctum far too exclusive to admit the likes of you. That was a great piece of wisdom passed down by Graydon Carter long ago, and confirmed in former Gawker-er Josh Stein's new article in Page Six Magazine, which takes a peek "Beyond the Velvet Rope" at the hottest spots in the hottest city where the hottest people go. And you want to know the even bigger secret? The most exclusive places in the city are just as boring as everywhere else you've ever been:

BusinessWeek Magazine sure is one big hellhole, judging strictly by the internal backstabbing, sniping, and intra-office gossip wars that go on there. The latest scathing editorial criticism comes in the form of a comment on a blog interview of BW.com editor John Byrne. A helpful reader takes the opportunity to point out that Byrne's predecessor was the widely despised Kathy Rebello, infamous for once hyping stories on her own site with praise from a fake commenter. Also discussed by the angry commenter: a celebrity gossip-refugee news editor with a shelf full of Barbie dolls, and a napkin-folding Rebello underling who fetched his boss water on command (we need one of those!). The provocative comment-along with some context from a BW insider, and our request for more information-after the jump.

Page Six Magazine's Kelly Killoren Bensimon, your source for both trendsetting woman-about-town news and the latest dispatches from poverty-ravaged Africa, unspins the saga of her almost-trip to the Third World in her column this past weekend: "Last week I was supposed to go to South Africa with the group CC Africa, which has arranged safaris for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in the past. I was very excited to go-I was going to help open a school there-but I missed my flight by 10 minutes!" OMG OMG what happens next? The answer will sadden you, shock you, and make you despair for the future of Africa and New York high society alike:

The New Yorker profiled MSNBC editorializer Keith Olbermann and the Post, as the designated attack dog of Olbermann enemy News Corp. excerpted only the most damaging bits. But it still left out plenty of juicy scraps of information about the many coworkers the MSNBC Countdown host has insulted and alienated over the years, and about the arguably insulting things even supportive NBC executives said about him. A quick roundup, starting with Olbermann's insults, including the co-host he moved to tears:

The good news for the Wall Street Journal's editors is that the above story was not moved in violation of its embargo — it ran just after midnight, as apparently required by the originating source. As the Silicon Alley Insider notes,that signals the Journal's adherence to a choreographed style of journalism recently-departed managing editor Marcus Brauchli opposed. The bad news: The fact that the story starts with "EMBARGOED!" signals that the Journal's copy editors are stretched quite thin this summer weekend (the LA Times feels your pain, WSJ). [Silicon Alley Insider]