In your soothing Wednesday media column: the Boston Globe has a sense of humor, Jon Friedman turns 10, the Weekly Standard's getting dumped, Steve Doocy's kid finds a job, and crazy people want to start a new newspaper.

It's spreading. Earlier this month, Vogue was infected with the deadly Mexican Pig Flu. Did you imagine that they could contain it? They could not.

• It's only been a week since Conan took over the top-rated Tonight Show, but David Letterman has already passed over him in the ratings. [NYT]
• Also: Dave Letterman's new contract will keep him at CBS through '12. [LAT]
• Yesterday the Boston Globe's largest union rejected the New York Times Co.'s proposed package of cuts. The NYT responded by implementing a 23 percent pay cut anyway and now the union is taking the matter to court. [NYT]
• Ratings are down for CNN's Lou Dobbs. And thank God for that. [NYO]
• It's official: Ari Emanuel is the new Mike Ovitz! Both the New York Times and The Daily Beast invoke Ovitz's name in lengthy pieces on "the pre-eminent power player in Hollywood" and "Hollywood's new don." [NYT, TDB]
• Sound the alarms! Swine flu has returned to Condé Nast! [Daily Intel]

The New York Police Department confirms that it is investigating the alleged death ride that a Fox News staffer took a cyclist on in Central Park last week.

Current TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee are two days into a 12-year North Korean prison sentence. There's not much to do except wait for Al Gore to save them. In the meantime, have you watched their actual journalism?

Yesterday the Globe's main union rejected a proposal from its parent company, the New York Times, that would've resulted in 10% employee pay cuts. The Times then announced a 23% pay cut instead, which slightly upset the Globe's union.

Yes, the newsroom union of the Boston Globe rejected a contract proposal yesterday, causing the NYT Co. to say it will cut their pay by 23%. But then the reporters called Pinch Sulzberger a "mensch," so now it's all good!

Here's a new "revenue stream" that you can try out, whether you're in PR, or in media, or just particularly shameless: Giving a sob story to publicists and begging them up for free stuff. That's what this guy did:

In typical Fox News fashion, when we asked a Fox News writer how a Central Park cyclist ended up being dragged on the hood of his SUV for four blocks, he blamed the victim, calling the biker a "vigilante."

In your torrential Tuesday media column: No rock-breaking for Current reporters, a new job for Jesse Oxfeld, more Observer layoff victims, ad spending plunges (more), and one more unnecessary Obama book TK:

Thirty-seven years after Watergate, Bob Woodward is still America's most famous print reporter. But did you know he's one of those "I'm so impartial that I don't vote" reporters? Maybe because of how his last vote worked out:

• The Boston Newspaper Guild, the Boston Globe's largest union, narrowly rejected a package of pay concessions and benefit cuts last night. [NYT]
• David Letterman is close to signing a new, 3-year contract with CBS. [THR]
• Conan O'Brien has beat Letterman in the ratings every night since his show debuted last week. But that may very well change pretty soon. [Vulture]
• Rachael Ray's talk show has been renewed for two more seasons. Alas. [THR]
• Glenn O'Brien is out as Interview's editorial director. [Daily Intel, FWD]

The Boston Globe lost $50 million last year. It's projected to lose $85 million this year. So the New York Times Co. asked the newsroom to accept a package of cutbacks. Yesterday, they voted "no." Now they're really getting screwed.

Early this morning, at about 5AM, we were browsing through today's edition of the New York Times when we ran across David Carr's media column. Something about it struck us viscerally, so much so that we were unable to process it at the time and write anything about it.

The Times Magazine had a good story by Matt Bai (who's always annoyed us and we don't even really know why) about how Obama's philosophy of government is all about, in Rahm Emanuel's phrase, "the art of the possible."

When Fox Business News anchors "throw" a story to a "correspondent," that correspondent may know something, or may just sit there looking flummoxed and terrified. This may happen several times in a row! They do not know anything, these people.

Here it is, at long last, the idea that will save print and the newspaper industry as a whole! It's deceptively simple! And the chances of it backfiring horribly are...even or better!

In your shiny Monday media column: Spy magazine lives, David Carr survives, Dan Abrams hires, Dana Milbank thrives, and Fleur Cowles dies:

Spike TV, as you men know, is the cable network of choice for testicle-bearers. From MANswers to The Ultimate Fighter to Deadliest Warrior, only Spike TV caters directly to testosterone-based idiot viewers. But dude—a chick's picking their shows?!?

• Is Harvey and Bob Weinstein's film company headed for bankruptcy? That remains unclear, although the Weinstein Co's decision to hire Miller Buckfire to restructure its finances isn't a good sign, that's for sure. [NYT]
• Members of the Boston Newspaper Guild are voting today whether to accept the package of pay cuts proposed by the New York Times Co. [PC]
• Stephen Colbert is broadcasting from Iraq this week. In addition to an interview with the president, Colbert will get a military-style makeover. [NYT]
• Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor by a North Korean court late last night. The Obama administration has vowed to keep up its lobbying effort. And in the meantime, employees at Current TV—where both women work—continue to keep quiet about the matter, per instructions from network management. [NYT, AP, NYT]