The Washington Post tonight named former Wall Street Journal editor Marcus Brauchli its new executive editor, replacing Leonard Downie Jr. after 17 years. The transition comes thanks to a new publisher, Katherine Weymouth, who wants to put her own stamp on the paper. With Brauchli, it will be hard to avoid doing just that. While the Post has remade itself over the past decade as a local paper with a focus on national politics, Brauchli is basically a foreign news reporter who, prior to a replacing Paul Steiger atop the Journal masthead, edited global and national news. Then again, we hear Brauchli is prepared to sacrifice much of what he has accumulated at the Journal to take the Post gig - and not just the wealth of his experience.

Fox bossman Roger Ailes is the best teacher any media attack flack could have. He's been screwing with the media for decades. Ailes is the man who perfected the art of hammering the media with charges of bias in order to deflect negative coverage from oneself. Kerwin Swint's new biography of him, Dark Genius, has plenty of examples from throughout his entire career. And you have to hand it to Ailes: his clients-all the way up to the President-got the best media haranguing tactics money can buy:

A Fox colleague has written in to defend Irena Briganti, who we dubbed The Most Vindictive Flack In The Media World in an item earlier today. Erica Keane, VP of media relations for Fox Television Stations, "strongly disagrees" with us, as well as the "cowardly anonymous individuals" who were sources for our "hate filled hit-piece." Her full letter, after the jump:

Intervention is the realest reality show on television. The A&E series is the starkest imaginable look at drug addiction and alcoholism that you'll find anywhere outside of, well, real life. I'm constantly amazed that the show not only finds addicts willing to be filmed smoking, snorting, and drinking their way to the depths of despair, but also that these same addicts keep on being surprised when the intervention is sprung on them. Too many drugs, not enough time watching TV. And it's heroic work; the show's creator, Sam Mettler, told the Washington Post that the heroin smoke in one subject's bedroom was so thick that Mettler eventually fell down on the bed and "could not stop shaking and drooling." Bear Grylls' job is a cinch in comparison! Keep on inspiring us all to be less fucked up, Intervention. Below, the first installment of the "Caylee" episode that turned Mettler into a temporary junkie:

The feel-good issue of Italian Vogue featuring all black models in honor of Obama is about to hit the newsstands, washing away the last remnants of racial strife in the world. But some people are asking: why do they have to do the all-black issue during the slowest time of the year for magazines? Why not put it out in the busy season and really make a statement? We hate to even suggest it, but could it have something to do with... money?

Writes author Tom Wolfe on New York magazine's late founder, Clay Felker: "One afternoon I came by to see Clay at his Xanadu on 57th Street and found him sitting at a desk going through a date book to put together some income-tax data. 'Look at this,' he told me, riffling through the date book, 'I only ate dinner at home eight times last year!' I don't think I can adequately convey the pride he took in this discovery. He had developed night vision for detecting new styles of life." [NY Mag]

Movies about war: even more important than war itself! The Army has never been able to quite get this whole Iraq business to go well, but it's damn sure not going to sit back and allow moviemakers to make their films about this Iraq business without the extensive input and assistance of the US Army. They've always used their leverage-cooperation in filming-to try to influence movie scripts. But they're having a darned hard time with this most recent crop of war movies, which seem to present the Iraq war as big problem. The military's problem with films like In The Valley Of Elah or Redacted? They're just not nuanced enough, you see:

So, David Carr has gone and pulled the curtain back a bit on Fox PR-the single most vicious PR operation in all the media. Good for him. So let's do our part by zeroing in on the one flack who is the face of Fox's feared, vengeful media relations operation. Her name is Irena Briganti. She's the female alter ego and mouthpiece of Fox boss Roger Ailes (pictured). She's been described as bubbly and charming in person. But she's the one holding the bloody hatchet that Fox regularly brings down right on reporters' heads. Here's everything you need to know about the scariest flack in mediadom:

WHICH eccentric media mogul likes to smoke weed on his balcony at work? The answer may—or may not—surprise you. (And anybody who can send over a photo of the boss getting lit at the office gets a special prize).

"Tim Russert was a spokesman for power, wealth, and privilege. That's why 1,000 people came to his memorial service. Because essentially he was a shill for the government." [New York]

"Marcus Brauchli, who recently stepped down as managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is believed by people familiar with the search to be the leading candidate... staffers expect one of the new editor's first tasks may be further downsizing the newsroom." [WSJ]

As a member of two vindictive cults - Fox News and Scientology - cable news anchor Greta Van Susteren is an absolute pro at channeling rage. Witness the blog post she typed up on the 4th of July holiday. The executive producer of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 last week called Susteren's On The Record "not a news program. It's missing-person of the day." Hoo-boy. Susteren's 1000-word response swiftly pinned blame for the comments on Cooper, since he should be able to control his producer, then basically called the silver-haired anchor a coddled, commercialized, Katrina-exploiting, polygamy-obsessed pretty boy. Susteren, meanwhile, has a magical law degree that obviates the need for a teleprompter, ever. A breakdown (and partial refutation) of her rant, after the jump.

The ranks of Glamour dating bloggers are nothing if not distinguished. There was tardblogger Alyssa Shelasky, whose dim-witted adventures in wannabe social climbing were amply documented here. Then there was dudeblogger Mike Cherico, fired for being a womanizing jerk who sparked an insurrection in the Glamour.com comments. Now there's Erin Meanley, pictured, who just debuted with a post about being 29 and not having a husband, already. Sigh. An even more ominous sign: In an email to friends, reproduced after the jump, Meanley explains that, now that she's a dating blogger, "I need some help with pimpage. Set me up!" Well, at least she's being honest, somewhere, about the transactional aspect of her "dating." We've redacted Meanley's email address, but no doubt she'll be combing the comments here for top-shelf prospective mates, so feel free to make like a pimp there.

Last week, Fox News aired nasty Photoshopped pictures of two Times journalists responsible for a story about Fox losing ground among younger viewers. But it sounds like the cable network may have done much worse to another Times reporter, Tim Arango, who wrote a similar article in March. In his column for tomorrow's paper, Times media columnist David Carr recounts tales of Fox's dirty-politics-style PR tactics against journalists from his paper, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and others. One story, in particular, stands out:

Because global weather patterns will only get more catastrophic until the last human finally starves in a sea of sand and fire, NBC Universal is wisely buying the Weather Channel for $3.5 billion. The deal includes website Weather.com, but more exciting for NBC is surely the cable channel, carried in 97 percent of U.S. homes. Imagine the cross-promotional possibilities that will emerge as global warming engulfs both coasts, and their advertiser-coveted demographics, in slow but steady ruin!

Forty years before Valleywag, a middle-aged man named Clay Felker took over a newspaper supplement and turned it into New York magazine, deliberately breaking the rules in order to bring back readers who were abandoning reading to watch more TV. Felker died Tuesday at age 82. The New York Times obituary — I'm sure they've been lovingly crafting it for years — is that rare article worth reading beyond the first 100 words. You think Perez Hilton's nuts? Read up on Felker's career.

We will begin by thanking Emily Gould-former Gawker editor, recent NYT Magazine cover story, and recently-sold book-writer-for providing us with content on a slow news day before a holiday weekend. She's chosen the perfect time to publish a long screed on her blog, titled "How Your Emily Gould Gossip Sausage Gets Made." Whoa! Everyone gets called out. We're all crazy from the heat this week!

A couple months ago we brought you the elegiac newsroom photography of Martin Gee, a designer at the San Jose Mercury News who picked up a camera one day and documented the ghostly quality atmosphere inside a newspaper dessicated by layoffs. Well, guess what: Gee has now been laid off! With no warning. While he was on vacation. Sucks. He's pissed, but he never put down his camera. After the jump, three photos that express his feelings towards his old employer:

Two years ago, two of the Washington Post's political reporters urged the paper to start a separate political website. The paper turned them down, and those two guys-John Harris and Jim Vandehei-left the Post and launched Politico.com. Now, the Post has decided it does want to launch a separate political site. But! There was a SLIGHT PROBLEM.

Rebecca Gomez knew way back in the heady '90s that she wanted to get into the important field of business journalism. So she worked hard, paid her dues, and now her dream has come true! She co-hosts Happy Hour on the Fox Business Network, a show described as "easy to understand for those of us who are not financial gurus." Ha, yes, well Gomez helps bring complicated finance stories down to earth for even us simpletons. Like she does in this clip, by strutting her stuff in a dress made for "girls with well developed booties." Living the dream! [Hispanic Magazine via Talking Biz News]