Richard Beckman, the former Conde Nast media group chief who was demoted to CEO of Fairchild fashion group last March, may leave Conde to head up trade publisher e5 (Update: Confirmed). But he was so popular! [NYP. Pic: Getty]

• NBC finally confirmed yesterday that it's canceling Jay Leno's 10pm show and moving him back to late-night. Whether Conan O'Brien stays at the network or jumps to Fox remains an open question for now. [NYT, TMZ, NYP]
• More bad news for NBC: The network expects to lose money broadcasting the Winter Olympics from Vancouver later this year, which would be a first. [NYT]
• Sarah Palin has signed on to join Fox News as a contributor. Exactly what she'll be doing there—and how much she'll get paid—is unclear. [NYT]
• In case you missed the front-page Times story about Fox News CEO Roger Ailes yesterday, he makes a ton of money for Rupert Murdoch, doesn't get along much with Murdoch's kids, and hates liberals. Oh, and he's armed. [NYT]
• TV news: NBC has ordered six new drama pilots for the fall now that the network is moving Jay Leno out of primetime; CBS reports it's close to signing David Letterman and Craig Ferguson to new contracts; and Fox is renewing Glee for a second season, which should come as a surprise to no one.
• Simon Cowell wasn't kidding when he said he was leaving American Idol? He'll depart the show after the current season to host The X Factor on Fox. [LAT]
• As many as 1,200 AOL employees could get pink-slipped this week. [NYT]
• Avatar continues to rake it in. The movie was No. 1 for a fourth straight weekend and has now grossed $1.34 billion around the world. [MTV]
• Erica Hill is saying goodbye to CNN and is joining CBS News. [NYDN]
• Tucker Carlson's politics site, The Daily Caller, launched today. [WaPo]
• Did NBC try to poach Barbara Walters last year? Seems so. [HP]

In your provocative Monday media column: debates over the National Enquirer's respectability and women's ability to be funny, a journalist is killed, and a new Vultureperson is hired.

Sarah Palin is coming to Fox News, as a contribucommentator! She will not have her own show but will be allowed to sit in a chair and speak, or possibly strut around(?). Get your Tivos ready. [Media Decoder]

The Observer reported last week that execs at Condé Nast have been thinking about cutting licensing deals to generate a little extra revenue, even though Condé chairman Si Newhouse has been resistant to the idea in the past since it has the potential "cheapen the brand." Presumably Vogue-branded toilet paper is a good example of a product extension that would never see the light of day. But it's nice to see that one Mexican company is giving it a go anyway! [Paper]

Perpetually put-upon man Michael Wolff says he was a key source for the NYT's Roger Ailes profile yesterday, but that the paper didn't credit him, because of his comical nonstop feud with David Carr. Free column topic, Michael! Win-win. [Newser]

Star Variety reporter Mike Fleming—the scoop outlet of choice for movie types—is leaving to run Deadline/New York, the NYC outpost of Nikki Finke's operation. Nikki made another hire in London. Good luck, trades! [Thompson on Hollywood]

Because we grew up reading newspapers, we take a look at what they print each day. Today: Mudoch-owned paper goes big with a report that Conan O'Brien is going to a Murdoch-owned network, and Goldman Sachs breaks out tiny violins.

A survey out today reveals that newspapers are still doing most of the original reporting that websites (like this one) rely on. But they're still losing money, readers and relevance. The solution seems… simple.

• The epic mess at NBC continues: The last-place network is now thinking above moving Jay Leno to a 11:35pm-12:05am time slot and then having Conan O'Brien follow him for a full hour. But no deal has been reached, and there's still a possibility that Conan will abandon ship. [NYT, LAT, BN, NYT]
• Rudy Giuliani is under fire for idiotic comments he made on Good Morning America today. George Stephanopoulos: He isn't looking so hot either. [NYT]
• Changes at the Times: Star reporter Sewell Chan is headed to the paper's D.C. bureau; and the NYT's City Room blog has a new editor. [Politico, NYT]
• If you love Jersey Shore, maybe you'll be interested in Jersey Couture? [THR]
• Bad news for tweens, pervs: Hannah Montana is coming to an end. [MTV]
• Ben Silverman's studio/glorified ad agency is teaming up with Yahoo! [NYT]
• President Obama's State of the Union address will not—repeat not—conflict with Lost's season opener on February 2. So you can relax now. [WSJ]
• Did Reuters kill a story so as to not offend billionaire Steve Cohen? [Gawker]
• If you work at Condé Nast and you go get a boob job, you probably shouldn't show your new assets to your colleagues when your return to the office. (Even if you're behind closed doors and you keep your sports bra on.) [NYP]

The LA Times is changing its front section deadline to 6 p.m. (from 11 p.m.)—because they agreed to sell the late-night print run to Murdoch's Wall Street Journal. [Via David Carr's Twitter]

Sexy wrongful dismissal suit time! Conde Nast fired a Brides employee for making like a Brooklyn high school romance language teacher and showing her sports bra to friends, in her office, while talking about her breast augmentation surgery. [Via Romenesko]

• Is NBC shutting down Jay Leno's 10pm show and moving him back to late night? Is Conan O'Brien out of a job? NBC isn't denying that a schedule change has been discussed, but it's not saying much more than that for now. [NYT]
• ABC News is reportedly in negotiations with Ted Koppel to bring him back to the network as the anchor of This Week on Sunday mornings. [Politico]
• CNN is handing over the 1-3pm slot to Ali Velshi starting on Jan. 18. [NYT]
• Forbes has sold off its landmark building on lower Fifth Ave. to NYU. [NYO]
• Despite the standoff between Cablevision and Scripps, ratings for the company's two cable outlets, HGTV and Food Network, are up. [AdAge]
• Tucker Carlson's new website, The Daily Caller, launches next week. [WI]
• Avatar's streak continues: It's now the No. 2 biggest movie ever. [THR]
• A Blockbuster video kiosk is coming to a Duane Reade near you. [NYCTB]
• Fox is delaying the start of its sketchy new reality show. [THR]
• Break out a tissue: The Hof is leaving America's Got Talent. [People]
• Lady Gaga was the special guest on Launch My Line last night. [Gawker]
• Did ABC News buy George Stephanopoulos a booster seat when he joined the Good Morning America team? That's the rumor, at least. [Popeater]

In your thawing Thursday media column: Further evidence that Larry King is losing it (more so), Ted Koppel's still got that pizzazz, troubles at Print magazine, and everything remotely associated with the Redskins is corrupt.

New York Times employees are being forced to forage for food outdoors today. The cafeteria is closed because—oh yes—the last 24 hours have brought gastrointestinal sickness to countless innocent NYT employees! Cuisine of DOOM? Scandalous internal memo below.

Gallup, New Mexico mayor Harry Mendoza saw Gallup newspaper publisher Bob Zollinger in a parking lot and what happened? Yes, they got in a fistfight. "Mendoza told police that Zollinger started poking him in the chest hitting his pacemaker."

BusinessWeek has been absorbed into the Bloomberg mothership. Now, shouty Bloomberg standards enforcer Matthew Winkler is gently teaching the new guys how to do "journalism." A tipster forwarded us this lecturey item from Winkler's year-end "Weekly notes" memo, below.

According to network-news statistician Andrew Tyndall, Jake "the Octagon" Tapper's inquiring face was on ABC News' air for 370 minutes—or six long hours—last year, making him the most unavoidable network news reporter of 2009.

Condé Nast may start sullying itself by licensing its fancy magazine brand names for dreaded "brand extensions" to raise extra cash. Go big, we say! Click through for seven Condé Nast brand extensions that will really work.

• It's a new day at Condé Nast. The mag giant's chief exec, Chuck Townsend, has gone from firing staffers to giving them motivational speeches. [NYO]
• In Touch's editor quit yesterday, reportedly because he wasn't happy that his bosses wouldn't agree to increase his $750,000-a-year salary. [NYP]
• Is MSNBC's Ed Schultz thinking about running for Senate? [HP, The Hill]
• A draft of the script for the third Twilight film has been leaked online. [WSJ]
• Fox's latest reality show, Our Little Genius, is stirring up controversy. [NYT]
• It looks like Sam Mendes will be directing the next James Bond movie. [MTV]
• Advertising: Hanes is pulling its TV ads featuring Charlie Sheen. [People]
• Taylor Swift's "Fearless" was the No. 1 selling album of 2008. In other Taylor-related news, Taylor Lautner is now the highest paid teenager in Hollywood.
• "Newspaper reporter" is officially one of the worst jobs in America. [HP]