Here's MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan behaving like your high-school gym coach this morning when his guest Mark McKinnon tried to talk about something that wasn't marked down on Ratigan's clipboard as an approved topic of conversation.

• Who hasn't looked at buying BusinessWeek by now? Daily News and US News owner Mort Zuckerman appears to be the latest mogul to join the party. [BW]
• The wave of job cuts at Condé Nast could begin in a few weeks or in a few months, depending on who you ask. But either way, it's going to be ugly. [NYO]
• Fox News continues to trounce the competition: Both CNN and MSNBC experienced big declines in ratings during the third quarter. The situation appears to be especially bleak at CNBC, however. [B&C, HuffPo, ZH]
• Simon & Schuster is shaking things up at a couple of its imprints. [Crain's]
• The New York Times is planning to introduce a Chicago-centric edition of the paper. That's in addition to the San Fran edition launching this fall. [NYT]
• Related: Is the New York Times going to start charging readers to access its website? That's still unclear, but the answer should be coming soon. [NYO]
• "Print is undead," reports the undead print newspaper the Village Voice. [VV]

Keith Olbermann has worked 13 days this month, leaving Countdown to be guest-hosted by Lawrence O'Donnell or David Shuster on eight nonconsecutive nights. This is after a two-and-a-half week vacation in July. He's back tonight, and MSNBC says he'll explain.

• It's all over for Dan Rather and his long-running legal campaign against CBS. A state appeals court dismissed the ex-anchor's lawsuit today. [Reuters, NYP]
• At least four parties are still in the bidding for BusinessWeek. But Bloomberg LP remains the most likely acquirer of the struggling magazine. [BW, Reuters]
• An "unbelievably conscientious" Sarah Palin has finishing her memoir in less than four months. You can not buy the book beginning on November 17. [WP]
• Michelle Obama will appear as guest on Sesame Street's season debut. [NYT]
• TLC announced today it's dropping Jon Gosselin from Jon & Kate Plus 8. This news calls out for name change, obvs, so it'll be Kate Plus 8 from now on. [THR]

Deceased NBC newsman Tim Russert's father, "Big Russ," has died. He was 85.

• As expected, ratings for Jay Leno's new show are falling fast. [THR]
• Bloomberg LP appears to now be in the lead to buy BusinessWeek. [NYP]
• Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol sold 1 million copies its first day. [NYT]
• Don't try to talk to Vogue publisher Tom Florio about what changes are in store for the mag now that those McKinsey consultants have finished their review. (He's not talking about it.) Meantime, McKinsey's final report will be handed over to Condé Nast's management next week. [NYO, WWD]
• Fox News boss Roger Ailes collected $24 million in compensation last year, which is $2 million more than his boss, Rupert Murdoch, took home. [BW]
• Jay-Z has his 11th No. 1 album. That puts him ahead of Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most chart-toppers. But he's still behind the Beatles. [LAT]

• Today's awkward cable moments: CNN reported this morning that the Coast Guard opened fire on a boat on the Potomoc. (Not true.) And the geniuses at MSNBC thought it would be a really neat idea to once again commemorate 9/11 by re-airing its coverage from the fateful morning. Thanks, guys.
• Fran Drescher is in discussions to host a Fox News show. No joke. [USN]
• President Obama sits down with Steve Kroft on Sunday's 60 Minutes. [CBS]
• A long list of media figures turned out for Dominick Dunne's memorial service yesterday at Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer on the UES. [NYT, WWD]
• Anna Wintour is "bigger than ever," at least according to Tina Brown. [TDB]
• Obits: Larry Gelbart, the man who developed the TV series MASH and co-wrote Tootsie, is dead at 81. And Frank Batten Sr., the man responsible for bringing the Weather Channel into the world, is dead at 82.
• As if Twitter wasn't inundated with enough self-promotion as it is, the company now says it plans to start accepting advertising. [Reuters]

There are many ways to memorialize the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. This morning, MSNBC chose the worst: re-airing the tape of their coverage from that terrible morning.

On the morning he was arrested on corruption charges last December, Rod Blagojevich was the nation's biggest greaseball. So obviously, the national press was willing to say anything to land an interview. And we've got their emails to prove it.

The deluge of media e-mails to Rod Blagojevich's press secretary in the wake of his arrest, obtained from the state of Illinois through the Freedom of Information Act.

All MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, Mike Brzezinski, Willie Geist, and their biker-gang of strung-out analysts talk about is getting drunk and high. Here's a video compilation, with Brzezinski staring blankly at the camera and saying "vodka" over and over again.

On MSNBC today, Mediaite's Glynnis MacNicol and Contessa Brewer speculated that none other than this humble site is responsible for the State Department's investigation into contractor misbehavior in Kabul, Afghanistan. Oh, you crazy kids.

• Charlie Gibson is retiring as anchor of ABC's World News Tonight at the end of the year; he'll be replaced by Diane Sawyer, who is stepping down as anchor of Good Morning America to take the job. And now Brian Williams will soon be the only man anchoring a nightly network newscast. [NYP]
• The 66th installment of the Venice Film Festival kicked off today. [THR]
• Thanks to the success of Royal Pains and Burn Notice, USA has scored the highest summer ratings in the history of cable television. [B&C]
• Current TV's Laura Ling and Euna Lee have broken their silence and are now describing some of what happened when they were captured in North Korea. Not all it, though. You'll have to buy their book to read the rest. [LAT]
• Is Jared Kushner looking to unload the Observer? That's the rumor. [Gawker]

Fox News again beat its competitors for primetime cable ratings. There's no accounting for taste.

These news anchors just love to laugh and chuckle and mock Rod Blagojevich's new book where he compares himself to Jesus. Guess who was also mocked, by primitive Roman "news anchors"? Jesus the first. And history repeats.

Those Fox News folk were on a roll tonight. First there was Glenn Beck's "poor me" soliloquy. And then Bill O'Reilly went on to break the ceasefire between his network and NBC. And totally called out NBC honcho Jeff Zucker.

One guy is really "burning up the blogs" with some "controversial wishes for the President," according to MSNBC. Hey, a great excuse to publicize yet more crazy death threats against Barack Obama!

Why does Jonathan Capehart let people treat him this way? The dashing Washington Post editorial writer wore Prada pants to MSNBC today and it was the funniest thing Joe Scarborough had ever seen.

Remember Damon Weaver? The young envy of D.C.'s press, who's now Barack Obama's homeboy, was interviewed by MSNBC. They learn that he'd rather be on CNN, and how he wants to interview Michael Vick. They then shame him! His response?

• Another media company falls: Reader's Digest Association, the publisher of Reader's Digest (duh) and a handful of other titles (like Every Day with Rachael Ray), says it will file for bankruptcy protection shortly. [Reuters]
• As you may have heard, things haven't been too well for Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob. So what will happen if they don't turn the mini-studio around? "I'll be... making cheap hamburgers, or selling trailers, or refrigerators, or something," says (a refreshingly honest) Harvey. [NYT]
• Fashion mags are looking a bit thin this fall, in case you haven't heard. [WSJ]
• Don't expect the feud between Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann to dissipate: Ratings for both have been up since the war of words began anew. [LAT]
• Comedian Steve Harvey is joining Good Morning America. In related news, comedian Mo Rocca is hosting a web-based show for CBS News. [ABC, NYT]
• District 9 was No. 1 at the box office this past weekend. [ABC News]