Good Day, New York (owned by Fox) brought out a Marketwatch (owned by Fox) columnist today to read from the New York Post (owned by Fox) about why Eliot Spitzer's new CNN show is going to be horrible.

The New York Times and Washington Post are in informal talks about the online news business. The obvious subtext: The newspapers want Google to pay for their headlines. They're going about it all wrong.

Most popular story on Marketwatch right now: Why it's a bad idea to buy a home. #2 story: Why it's a good idea to buy a home. Written by: the same reporter. Americans: suckers.

MarketWatch media guru Jon Friedman just doesn't get the deal with that Anderson Cooper fellow. You know the one, right? Infinite blue eyes, enveloping gaze, powerful (but gentle) arms, distinguished and shimmering silver hair? Works on CNN? Well Friedman thinks he's the bunk! People just like Anderson 'cause he's adorable, and warm, and kind, and earnest! Not for any good reasons! Or, as Friedman puts it: "Yes, CNN's Anderson Cooper has heart. He oozes empathy. He's clearly a good-hearted fellow and, by all accounts, as likeable as all get-out." YES, YES, BUT WHY IS HE SO POPULAR? And, more importantly, why don't people feel the same way about Jon Friedman?? (Click thru to see the t-shirt we just bought for Jon, btw.)

Today was tumultuous for the stock markets, and the up-and-down swings took their toll on one MarketWatch editor, who typed "oh shit" into a subhead on the homepage. Whoever it was, we salute you for honesty in financial reporting. Rupert Murdoch, your new owner, should be proud.

Now that News Corp. appears to have locked up Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, every journalist on the planet is volunteering to be an unpaid consultant to Rupert Murdoch. I'm sure he appreciates the free advice. The News Corp. CEO is so known for taking it, after all. First up, there's Kara Swisher's tabloid-headlined call for more "promiscuity," which I was about to get behind. Talk about a paper that needs sexing up! But then I discovered that the word, in Swisher's hands, has gone entirely limp. Her deflated meaning?

Larry Kramer, founder of the MarketWatch stock-news site now owned by Dow Jones, has joined Polaris Venture Partners as a senior advisor. The firm's portfolio includes online-media companies like JibJab and Heavy. [LinkedIn]

God damn it, this whole time we've been investing in pheasants. No wonder we're stuck at this job.

For some reason there's a whole pile of media stories in today's papers, so we thought we'd take a page from our weekday friends and start the morning off with one of our famous Gawker media news round-ups. Let's ease into things today.

I am as tired of Rocketboom split-up news as you are.

Yesterday, as you may have seen but probably did not, Marketwatch's Jon Friedman published a short profile of LA Weekly columnist and Deadline Hollywood Daily blogger Nikki Finke. Friedman had contacted us — or, at least, half of us — for a quote about Finke, whose work we admire. We obliged with this: "I think what makes Nikki so compelling is that she's clearly at least a bit crazy — and you can never quite figure out if it's good crazy or bad crazy. She's a great reporter and a fun writer, and God knows I wouldn't want to be on her bad side." We intended that as a lighthearted and complimentary appraisal, and we know that Friedman, among several others who've mentioned it to us, took it that way. But Finke, who has written on her blog about her contempt for Friedman's entirely positive article, had a different read. She thinks we have defamed her, and she has repeatedly demanded a correction and apology. So here it is: We're sorry, and we in no way meant to suggest that Finke is actually, clinically crazy. Indeed, after the jump, please find our entire email exchange with her on this matter, which will show that she's not crazy in the slightest.

• MarketWatch launches a fake stock market. Now everyone can play-act as Larry and Sergey — "Oh no! My billions!" [Bambi Francisco]

Scott McNealy will resign as CEO of Sun Microsystems, according to a Forbes story reportedly in the works. But when a journalist (and tipster) called Sun, they'd heard no such thing.