Andrea Peyser: "To say that elevating [Diane Sawyer to news anchor] is anything other than affirmative action is a fantasy...Yes, the long-ago aide to President Nixon is a WASP with a long on-air career. But she is a dame." Okay?

Conde Nast's beautiful holiday gift this year: a $15 gift card to the Conde Nast cafeteria. Oh, you really shouldn't have!

We've updated our New York Times layoff victims list. If you have info, email us.

It's (another) bad day to be Tiger — this time because the AP voted him athlete of the decade and everyone has new jokes about his 'athleticism'. But it's a good day to be an insurgent fighting US predator drones!

A reliable tipster tells us Forbes waited until after they laid off dozens of people to announce bonus paid leave. Several victims are talking to lawyers because they worked ten months of 2009 and feel entitled to any reward.

Yowza. About those New York Times layoffs everybody's been waiting to hear about: Daily Intel got a partial list of layoff victims, and some surprisingly big names are on it. Including the Seymour Hersh of the Styles section! [UPDATED].

• Did Hugh Hefner abandon a deal to sell Playboy because he insisted he be allowed to live at the Playboy Mansion until he dies? That's the rumor. [PC]
• CNN will finish 2009 behind MSNBC, which is a first. How is it that CNN chief Jon Klein still has a job? Ask Jeff Bewkes if you bump into him, please. [NYT]
• Daily Intel has a list of the latest layoffs at the New York Times. [NYM]
• Roy Disney, nephew of Walt and former top Disney exec, is dead at 79. [NYT]
• The war between the Times and Wall Street Journal continues apace. [NYO]
• The Journal is boosting circulation of its glossy quarterly, WSJ. [WWD]
• Pressure's on! Jim Cameron's $300 mil. Avatar debuts this weekend. [THR]
• Two of Hollywood's big PR firms, BNC and PMK, have joined forces. [AdAge]
• Teen Vogue editor Amy Astley is making a cameo on Gossip Girl. [WWD]
• Painful truths: Your boyfriend secretly loves soft-rock, Celine Dion. [NYT]
• Time's 2009 "Person of the Year" is Fed chair Ben Bernanke. Yawn. [Time]

Breaking: Bill Keller responds to the WSJ's latest response to Keller's letter responding to the WSJ's award that was referenced in the WSJ's response to David Carr's column about the WSJ. Will they respond? Stay tuned!

In your arctic Wednesday media column: the NYT freelancers grow restless, News Corp hands out Christmas bonuses, the Miami Herald is sad, fabulous corrections, and layoffs at TNR.

Earlier this week, WSJ editor Robert Thomson took a shot at NYT editor Bill Keller over a letter Keller wrote to an awards committee last year regarding an award-winning WSJ story. Now, we've obtained the WSJ's original response letter.

The New York Times layoffs are supposedly starting today. Know any names? Email us.

To no one's surprise, it appears that Tiger Woods' wife is planning to divorce him. Sorry, golf fans momentarily distracted from your sedate sport by a wild sex scandal: this story is coming to its end.

The number is a rough estimate — the story today is that his wife has moved out. Also: there may be casinos in New York soon, the LA Times still loves drugs and young people these days are square dancing.

Managing editor Rick Stengel announced, on the Today Show, that the Federal Reserve chairman gets the nod. He Noted that Bernanke led "the most powerful, least understood government force shaping our lives."

• Closures: Design magazine I.D. is shutting down. And while Editor & Publisher revealed last week it's folding, there's now a small chance it'll survive. [E&P]
• More bad news: The New Republic laid off some staff today. [Politico]
• Diane Sawyer's farewell to GMA last week and George Stephanopoulos's debut on Monday both did okay, but neither one topped Today. [NYO, NYT]
• More TV news: CNN's ratings continue to suck; Oprah's Obama special scored big ratings; and Oprah pal Nate Berkus is getting his own show, as rumored.
• Golf Digest says it has no regrets about its new Tiger Woods cover. Which is a tad convenient since it went to press before the scandal broke. [Us]
• Men's Health editor Dave Zinczenko got snubbed by his bosses today. [DF]
• Paramount plans to start selling movie clips on the Web next week. [NYT]
• As for plans to create the "Hulu of magazines," it isn't going to be easy. [PC]
• The guy who stalked ESPN's Erin Andrews pleaded guilty today. [AP]
• Advertisers are totally loving Lady Gaga right now. Her "Bad Romance" video managed to squeeze in ten product placements in under five minutes. [LAT]
• Golden Globe noms were announced today. Just in case you missed it. [NYM]

Many thanks to the faithful reader in Australia who directed us to this article in The Cairns Post which has some totally vital info on the whereabouts of media mogul Barry Diller's $200 million sailboat, EOS. It's located in lovely Cairns right now—as you probably could have guessed—along with Diller's crew of "two chefs, three engineers, nine deck crew and captains and stewardesses." But it won't be docked there for long! The paper reports that Diller will be climbing aboard the 304-foot beast in January when it sets sail for the Solomon Islands. [The Cairns Post]

In your tricky Tuesday media column: Ski Resorts are the Stasi of Colorado journalism, the White House press corps exercises its shit-eating grin, The New Yorker cuts its fiction, and a dead magazine overview.

Rupert Murdoch sent out his Holiday Greetings to his minions today. Fox News and Fox Business Network are mentioned by name, but the Wall Street Journal is not. Take that to heart, WSJ! The full dose of corporate cheer, below.

Venerable old trade mag Editor & Publisher folded last week, cast aside as Nielsen sold off several magazines. But! We hear there's still hope for an E&P resurrection.

The following memos went out to members of the Newspaper Guild, the union representing the New York Times newsroom. In the first memo, the Guild says it has successfully managed to make the NYT adhere to seniority rules regarding the year's final round of layoffs—coming today. In the second memo, the Guild says it's offered a plan to the company regarding the outsourcing of News Service jobs to Gainesville. [If you know more about the NYT layoffs, email us].