A couple of writers in the Washington Post Style section filed some heinous "charticle"-type story on deadline, which made their retirement-aged colleague so mad he had to punch one of them in the face, like POW!

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.

Peter Braunstein is a convicted rapist and certified psycho with serious mental problems. But he's so tabloid-y! What's his latest crazy celebrity obsession, for the public to point and laugh about? Inside Edition knows!

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?

One week ago, Dominic Carter was a well-respected stout political news anchor on NY1. Now he's just an unemployed dude who can't even get on a plane. Flight attendants now have far more power in New York than Dominic Carter.

Graydon Carter—the George Washington of Vanity Fair—was (allegedly) on a jet to Bermuda when layoffs hit the magazine last week. That's okay! Graydon (allegedly) has a very generous way of making it up to the layoff victims.

• Miramax's chief, Daniel Battsek, has been forced out of the company. [LAT]
• The Washington Post Co. reports revenue and profits were up in the third quarter, not that it had anything to do with its newspaper division. [AP]
• Sony posted a loss for its most recent quarter even though it says it's sold 9 million Michael Jackson albums since his death in June. [AP, Wrap]
• The Travel Channel may fetch $1 billion as part of a bidding war. [NYT]
• Shepard Smith is Fox News' man of reason, according to Lloyd Grove. [TDB]
• Related: Jon Stewart ripped Fox News apart again last night. [TDS]
• Will new talk shows hosted by Wanda Sykes, George Lopez, and Mo'Nique revive the late night format? Probably not, but they're going to try. [WSJ]

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.

Politico—it is a tiny niche newspaper in DC with a money-losing website—is expanding! They are going to do a "local news" thing out there in Washington, where "local news" means "The Redskins."

This morning Joe Scarborough was like, hey, I'm a Republican, but Republicans sure do say and do many stupid, stupid, stupid things these days, due to the innate stupidity of Republicans! And Pat Buchanan kind of looks at him, silently.

The hard part about covering a baseball event called the "World Series," which is 106 years old? Finding new angles. Hey, here's one from the WSJ: Find a town halfway between Philly and NYC—who do they root for?!? Sounds...familiar.

Burly NY1 desk-sitter Dominic Carter, host of Inside City Hall, has problems. Legal problems. Marriage problems. Job problems. Media problems. Name-dropping problems. Political problems. Quite a few problems. We'll itemize.

• Time Inc. is expected to announce plans to slash $100 million in costs next week; naturally, lots of layoffs will be involved in making that happen. [NYT]
• The Wall Street Journal is closing its Boston bureau. Also in Beantown: The Boston Globe's publisher has announced he's stepping down. [BW, NYT]
• The war between the White House and Fox News is over. For now. [DF]
• Esquire's latest bid for relevance: Its December issue will be tricked out with "an emerging technology called augmented reality." Sounds hot. [WSJ]
• Lou Dobbs says someone fired a shot at his New Jersey home/horse farm. He's yet to blame the population of Mexico. But just give it time. [CNN]

In your thinly-spread Thursday media column: A vicious backbiting war amongst Birmingham's press corps, David Remnick still has money to spend, Germany looks to screw bloggers, and Bernie Kerik: Journalistic Hero.

Did someone really think it would be a good idea to have Katie Couric dress up in various ball gowns for the socialite rag Avenue? Apparently so!

Sweeps week is coming up, so hey, a TV station in DC just had an idea: Breassstsss! Nekkid breasts on your television screen being beamed straight into your home, uncovered and uncensored! Because of news.

WSJ managing editor Robert Thomson announced that the newspaper — which has recently been crowing about having the largest circulation in the country (if you count online subscribers) — is shutting down its Boston bureau. Nine reporters will lose their jobs, and that's rotten. But the memo he sent out to the newsroom, and first obtained by Fishbowl's Amanda Ernst, says that while no other bureaus are slated for closure, other "unthinkable" changes may be coming to the Journal.

When you think "Esquire's Greatest Achievements in Its 70+ Years of Design Innovation," you think "Hidden ads on the cover" and "That other weird flashing electronic cover gadget." Until this new doohickey!

Sexxxy New York Post sex columnist and chief purveyor of thinly-veiled sexy bisexual fantasies Andrea Peyser knows this "Sex addict rehab" thing is for quitters. Take your sex rehab and shove it up the hole of your choice, sexy celebs!

Lee Abrams, Tribune Co's futurist genius executive who has guided the company on its current path to wild success, has himself a TV special coming up! It's called "History of the Future, Hosted by Lee Abrams." What is it? Boogidyboogidy!