Gnomish billionaire CEO of the bankrupt Tribune Co. Sam Zell may give up control of his company to creditors. Is it too early to declare Zell the biggest failure of the "Death of Newspapers" era? No, let's just declare it!

This week, Stephen Colbert is bringing laughter and joy to a devastated quagmire of misery and destruction: Newsweek. Oh, and Iraq.

Today is showdown day! In one corner: the Boston Globe, a storied failing newspaper. In the other corner: the NYT Co., a storied failing newspaper company. Neither one will give in until they're both dead.

Laura Ling, the sister of former The View co-host Lisa Ling, and fellow Current TV journalist Euna Lee have been sentenced to twelve years in a labor camp by a North Korean court for crossing that country's border.

Al Gore was at the 92nd St. Y earlier this week, making jokes about drug addicts. Meanwhile, as of this morning, imprisoned Current.TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee - Gore's employees - are facing further hearings in North Korea.

What are laid-off journalists doing these days, besides growing ever angrier? One of them is going to play his guitar in the subway! Which we guarantee is a more fun job:

The New York Observer said goodbye to Peter Kaplan for good this week. Today, they've laid off a huge portion of their writing staff—including some of their very best [Updated below]:

• Heidi Klum can now add "magazine editor" to her resume. She assembled a 140-page spread for German Vogue called "Heidi by Vogue." [NYDN]
• Stephen Colbert will be broadcasting from Baghdad next week. [AP]
• Silvio Berlusconi is vowing to sue the Spanish newspaper El Pais for publishing pics of topless women and a naked man at his vacation home. [AFP]
• Were you aware Conan O'Brien debuted this week? Hard to miss, huh? [NYT]
• Bonnier Corp. paid $3-5 million to purchase five magazines from Hachette, including Popular Photography, Flying, and American Photo. [NYP]

Pulitzer-winning critic Robin Givhan is the Fashion Editor of the Washington Post, but today she totally broke some news. There has been a shake-up at the White House! The East Wing of the White House. (That is the lady wing.)

In your all wet Friday media column: Hachette figures out how to get money, ABC figures out how to save money, the NYT Co. vows not to lose money, and a website that will not make money:

A bloodbath at Jared Kushner's New York Observer is unfolding this afternoon. Gawker has the details. [Gawker]

Rush Limbaugh unleashed an exquisite blast of paranoia on Sean Hannity's show last night, predicting that newspapers, television networks, and radio networks will all go bankrupt (true), at which point Obama will personally take them over (crazy).

The government just released the latest US unemployment figures: 345,000 jobs lost in May, bringing the national unemployment rate to 9.4%. Is that good, or bad? Yes.

Microsoft's new search-dealie "Bing" is going up against The Google, which is hard! Fortunately, Bing's marketing wizards have devised the world's most annoying ways to promote it. (*Bing* sound)!

Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee went on trial in North Korea yesterday for vague crimes which could land them both in jail for the next decade. Current's keeping its mouth shut. To the rescue: Al Gore, maybe!:

In your inexorable Thursday media column: Nickelodeon magazine folds, newspapers face threats from within and without, Glenn Beck is allegedly a superstar, and the answer to a question you didn't know you had:

• The newspaper industry may look to take a cue from the music business in its elusive hunt for new sources of revenue. Because, clearly, if there's one industry to gleam some wisdom from, that's the one. [MP, WSJ]
• The Justice Department is looking into whether tech giants like Yahoo! and Google violated antitrust laws in their recruiting efforts. [WaPo]
• NBC's two-part White House special scored big ratings. Conveniently, it also squeezed in plugs for every other show on the network. [HP, Newsday]
• Laura Ling and Euna Lee went on trial in North Korea today. [WaPo]
• Silvio Berlusconi is feuding with Rupert Murdoch. And so now Michael Wolff says he really likes Berlusconi. Business as usual, clearly. [Gawker, Reuters]
• Here's something really depressing to chew on: Glenn Beck is No. 81 on Forbes's "Celebrity 100" list and made $23 million last year. [Forbes]

A Current employee has shed (a bit) more light on why Current has steadfastly refused to mention the fact that two of its reporters have been detained in North Korea for months. The legal department's "overzealous." But why?

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. China is celebrating by attempting to censor every single piece of information, anywhere, pertaining to the incident. Let's review China's tactics for keeping this anniversary a big secret:

Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were arrested in North Korea in March, are finally going on trial in the psycho dictatorship today. The one media outlet not covering their case: Current TV.