• Tabloidism is allegedly the most radical change in the New York Observer's history. [NYO]
  

• Broad and Burkle talk to Tribune directors, who may not sell the company after all. Great, that's six months of our lives wasted. [LAT]
  

• Conrad Black allegedly "engaged in insider trading and used anonymous Internet postings to pump his company's flagging stock." Say what you will about the guy, he's not afraid to get his fingers dirty. [NYP]
  

All things being equal, it's hard to feel bad for someone making $15 million a year. But maybe that's just us. Then again, it's also hard to feel bad for someone who "is no fan of bloggers" because

• Washington Post: "The best-run newspaper company in America because [Donald Graham] is head and shoulders the best newspaper executive in America." [NYT]
  

A recent transplant to the city and eager to become a "real New Yorker," Dashiell is asking other New Yorkers to help him discover all the classic New York City locations.

On Monday night the CBS Evening News experienced some technical difficulties, forcing Katie Couric to stretch her words out and eventually shut the show down early. But, pro that she is, Katie didn't pull a Dan Rather and storm of the set. No, she stood there, for eighty-seven agonizing seconds, interrupted by commercial break, as the credits rolled. You might think that spending a minute and a half watching a woman standing in front of her desk is a waste of time, but it's oddly transfixing. Hypnotic, even. Our Richard Blakeley has produced a clip with a bonus second counter so you can enjoy each moment. If this whole anchor thing doesn't work out (and, if recent ratings are any indication, it won't) Katie might want to consider running for lieutenant governor.

Last week, Katie Couric mentioned her love of Dunkin Donuts Munchkins, a pleased DD franchise sent over a few boxes of the donutty wads, plus coffee. And because this is the world we live in, the blog commenter outrage began:

• So, important election results: Which anchor won? The general consensus seems to be Charlie Gibson, although Tom Shales gives it to Brian Williams, with Katie Couric getting an "affably in command." Meanwhile, the kids at Fox News were kinda bummed. [WaPo]
  

• Comedy Central rats out YouTube, clips pulled. [NYT]
  

• Federal judge orders the NYT to disclose its sources in the Hatfill defamation case. Times vows to appeal. [NYT]
• Katie Couric's taking all the good jobs away from the girls. [B&C]
• New Yorker Editor David Remnick attracts groupies. [FBNY]
• Tabloid Wars: News circulation up, ad revenue down; Post's circulation up, ad revenue up. Of course, the News is still ahead on that whole "not losing millions of dollars a year" thing. [Crain's]
• PBS brass doesn't give a shit who Charlie Rose honors. You can take your precious ethics and stuff 'em. [PBS]
• It's tough to be homeless in New York. [NYO]

• If you watched Katie Couric on Monday night you're in a pretty exclusive club. [Drudge Report]
• The publisher and editor of the Toronto Star have resigned. [NYT]
• There's a new head at Metro. [FBNY]
• The F.C.C. makes Sumner Redstone crap his Depends. [B&C]
• Louise MacBain sounds like a real pleasure to work for. [WWD]

With Katie Couric's ratings dropping back to third place, as is God's intended place for CBS News, the producers are pulling out all the stops to lure in viewers — and there's no harm in reminding everyone of Couric's highly feminine, all-American, Rockwellian wiles. From the Couric & Co. blog:

• To reiterate, Madonna did not adopt a boy during her visit to Malawi to help AIDS orphans. But since the Malawian keeps telling everyone that she did, you can bet she won't be back anytime soon. [Page Six]
• After putting Neosporin on her ego, former NBC News Anchor Mary Alice Williams heads to CBS to be Katie Couric's writer. [Lowdown]
• Nicole Richie breaks up with Brody Jenner after he offers her a potato chip. [Us Weekly]
• Tara Reid reportedly has her breast implants removed and liposuction scars touched up. So the next time she gets bombed and falls out of her dress, the image of her tits won't make you cry. Or not as hard, anyhow. [Page Six]
• Eva Longoria ditches Tony Parker for the loving embrace of AC Slater. [Scoop]
• Maggie Gyllenhaal finally spits out Peter Sarsgaard's child, a baby girl named Ramona. [R&M (bottom)]
• Kim Basinger is arraigned on charges of contempt after ex-husband Alec Baldwin sells her out with a list of custody violations. Honestly, we look forward to the day their daughter is old enough to buy a gun and shut her parents up once and for all. [TMZ]

• Jes s D az Jr. resigns as publisher of the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald as a result of that whole cash-for-propaganda thing. Hopefully the government will give him some nice parting gifts. [Miami Herald]
• Across the pond, the company responsible for the UK versions of Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Country Living decides to get heavy into the Web. Somewhere in England a blogger at a British media gossip site starts thinking about career opportunities. [Guardian]
• More people are actually interested in watching Charlie Gibson than Katie Couric. We can't quite figure that out. [WaPo]
• Enough with the goddamn CGI already. [NYT]

• Warner Music has signed a licensing agreement with YouTube; Sumner Redstone immediately rehires Tom Freston to fire him again. [NYT]
• Has Katie Couric settled on a sign-off? Apart from an under-her-breath "Fuck you, Friedman?" [TV Newser]
• There are fewer full-time journalists now than there were a decade ago, mostly because Sewell Chan is doing all of their work. [IU, via JR]
• Dicks at Gawker mock 26-year-old orphan who's just trying to make a difference, damn it. [ETP]

• LAT editor sticks it to The Man; refuses to make cuts requested by Tribune overlords. [NYT]
• Member of CBS Evening News' elderly demographic likes Katie Couric. [AP]
• City claims recycling has declined because no one buys newspapers anymore, but that fails to explain where people are putting the eight million Metros shoved at them as they enter the subway. [NYS]
• Dick-licking victim Mandy Stadtmiller wins "Funniest Reporter in New York" contest. The jokes, they write themselves. Or at least they're gonna have to for this one, because we've got nothing. [NY1]

• Katie Couric's first week is accompanied by her first blog, a rambling, 10000-word treatment on the importance of being perky, complete with Karen Carpenter lyrics. Congrats, Katie. You're really done something. [Couric & Co.]
• Kazakhastan is now denying that Borat will be a topic during meetings with the U.S. This is just fantastic, isn't it? An international debate on whether or not a fictional character will be discussed at a diplomatic summit. No wonder the terrorists hate us. [The Blotter]
• If JK Rowling has to give up the manuscript for the final Harry Potter book, then the terrorists really have won. [BBC]
• Fashion Week is all about luxurious balls. [Coutorture]
• Lydia Hearst fashion porn: scary, and yet we can't look away. [Bastardly]
• Path to 9/11 producers depict American Airways personnel cheerfully letting Mohammad Atta on the plane; it was actually cheerful US Airways personnel who did so, and it's going to cost ABC some advertising dollars. [Consumerist]
• Jay McInerney has yet to master the art of walking while tipsy. You'd think, but you'd be wrong. [Belle in the Big Apple]
• Sure is hard to make friends in this town. [NYP]
• Watching a blogger get his first death threat is like watching your child take his first steps. He's not our baby, but we're still proud of him. [Goldenfiddle]
• Read the New Yorker and live to be 102. Yay, ancient people! Yay, Conde Nast! [EmDashes]
• Critics still really, RILLY love The Wire. [Test Pattern]
• Drinking = money. No, really. Rejoice! [AP]

• After an extended period of darkness, 4-year-old Suri Cruise finally reveals herself to the world as a beautiful Asian-American.
• Katie Couric sashays onto the CBS Evening News, and the world is amazed that vaginas can read.
• And in other kind-of-vagina news, Rosie O'Donnell assumed the position on The View.
• Paris Hilton gets cuffed and it's got nothing to do with a sex tape.
• Cuddly rapper 50 Cent trades in his shiny Lamborghini for a trip to central booking.
• Glamour asserts itself as the most absurdly omnipresent magazine out there with four Today show appearances and a sponsored helicopter service.
• Sumner Redstone cans former prez and CEO Tom Freston, but not without the employees giving a cuddly send-off first.

• Laguna Beach alum Kristin Cavalleri continues to justify her relevance through the strategic use of her vagina, which has been programmed to hone in on any male remotely connected to any female celebrity. [Page Six]
• Paris Hilton may be in some trouble for her drunk driving arrest, but it's nothing her mafioso relatives can't take care of. [R&M]
• Speaking of the DUI Club, Mel Gibson emerges from hiding, unhappy to be faced with Jew paparazzi. [TMZ]
• Just now on The View, Babs admitted to having Botox — which is about the worst endorsement the treatment could have.
• Lionel Richie asks a doctor if his emaciated daughter Nicole is anorexic. Seriously? You had to ask a professional to get the answer? [Scoop]
• Warren Buffet disavows his granddaughter after she publicly admitted to being super fucking rich. [Page Six]
• Tom Brokaw joins Team Couric, albeit briefly. [Lowdown (last item)]
• Marcia Cross is pregnant, and nobody cares. Poor fetus. [IMDb]