"I delivered an unfortunate blow to a profession that not only did I personally love doing, but that I value for society," said Blair in an interview on Fox News Sunday. But don't worry! He also has a master plan.

Things To Watch Instead of Mad Men: the day Jared Kushner announced hiring Kyle Pope as the New York Observer's new editor, departed longtime Observer editor Peter Kaplan went on Charlie Rose. He gave some great quotes. Here's good storytelling.

Because David Gergen, Jon Meacham, Howard Fineman, Mike Allen, Josh Marshall, David Brooks, and Gail Collins did! Also: Mara Liasson, who works for NPR and the Fox News Channel that Obama wants to destroy.

PR Week, a trade journal for and about flacks, has come to the defense of the New York Times after we published a batch of emails showing how deferential some Times reporters were to flacks. Imagine that!

The New York Times (of journalism) is openly encouraging readers to submit questions for Big Bird, a fictional character. Here are some of the most incisive. They come from children, we hope.

In your thumping Thursday media column: Glenn Beck does not die on the operating table, more rumor-details on the Essence layoffs, Fortune and SI get hacked, and a dying newspaper goes glossy, for unknown reasons.

Near-retiree Washington Post editor Henry Allen punched writer Manuel Roig-Franzia in the face after Roig-Franzia called him a "cocksucker." Hank Steuver, a WaPo colleague whose editor is Allen, thinks the man may have some issues:

Michael Arrington, the TechCrunch publisher and noted feuding diva, has "banned" Microsoft's PR firm Waggener Edstrom for a blown embargo. Forever. What huge scoop was stolen from him, by Microsoft's terrorist network?

In your completely laid-off Wednesday media column: details on more Time Inc. layoffs and buyouts at People and Essence, Fortune Small Business folds, and various ways that magazine publishers are terrorists.

This morning, we published e-mails between New York Times reporters and Eliot Spitzer's flacks. Some commenters have suggested the post demonstrates a lack of familiarity with "journalism." Actually, we contacted the Times reporters for response, and a funny thing happened.

Last week the well-respected interim editor of the Observer, Tom McGeveran, quit in mysterious circumstances. New York Mag tells a tale of feuds and (media) hit jobs that might offer some explanation.

The Wall Street Journal is planning to hire a dozen new staffers to cover local news in NYC, Media Decoder reports. Let us point out every last implication to this news!

In your alluring Tuesday media column: An emerging catalogue of WaPo Styles fuckery, Russia has this whole "journalism" thing nailed, nothing about The Onion is funny except the actual words, and "Twenty ten" means you're gay.

Media jobs used to be cushy; nowadays, you can't even land a media job, and if you do, it sucks. But six-figure journalism salaries still exist! As do terrible, fly-by-night hellholes (Billboard). We've found the best and the worst.

The East Valley (AZ) Tribune won a Pulitzer last April. In December, it closes forever.

In your malicious Monday media column: the Detroit newspaper situation grows more depressing, Mika Brzezinski is one honest lady, Denver Post sportswriters have no opinion on these "sports," and Howard Kurtz is still the King of Boring Conventional Wisdom.

Blogger Michael Yon—one of the few people to break the New York Times' news blackout over the kidnapping of reporter David Rohde in Afghanistan—reports via Twitter that former CIA operatives paid a ransom to secure Rohde's release.

Newsday is going to start charging for its awful website. One columnist there quit over it. The New York Times says it will make a decision on charging for its (good) website "within weeks." Then what happens?

In your finally Friday media column: BBC execs must struggle by on $150k, Michael Wolff looks in the mirror and compliments himself, rumors of office closures at Newsweek, and more on the Time Inc. layoffs.

The success of New York Times business reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin's tome Too Big to Fail has provoked a debate in the fractious newsroom: is he a plugged-in wunderkind or an in-over-his-head cub reporter who mooches off his veteran colleagues?