Eek, what was The New Yorker thinking?! I think the intended satire is totally lost in this cover... I'm curious to read more analysis of this in terms of race (for example, what's up with Michelle Obama's hair?)

Quoted: Barack Obama's campaign sharply rebuked the New Yorker magazine for its cover this week.

Interesting article on how magazines are thriving in India, while they seem to be tanking here...

Quoted: An explosion of Western magazines has hit newsstands in India in the past year, pitching a familiar mix of gossip, relationship advice and expensive goodies.

Jack Shafer takes the position that there's actually a silver lining in the newsroom buyouts - younger, newer blood comes into the field. But that's only true if the publications stay afloat long enough to hire new full-timers!

Quoted: Advertising revenue at newspapers has fallen off a cliff. Average circulation is down, too, and the combined trends are prompting publications to say goodbye with a wad of cash to their most experienced and decorated hands. Yet, good news can be found inside the bad news.

Important for any of you who have to talk to the press. Once a journalist has AGREED that a conversation is off the record, then it is unethical for them to use anything said after that point. However, if there is no such agreement, it's fair game.

Quoted: Samantha Power stepped down from her position as Barack Obama's foreign-policy adviser Friday, after she was quoted in the Scotsman calling Hillary Clinton " a monster, too—that is off the record—she is stooping to anything." How do you go off the record with a journalist?

This has been a real crap week... year... (okay, few years) for journalism and book publishing in terms of plagiarism and fraud. I wonder if it's just that more people are getting caught, or if this is a growing problem.

Quoted: When a journalist gets caught plagiarizing the first time, he can usually duck the charge by claiming that the theft was really an accident. I mistakenly mixed my own notes and a Nexis dump. Or, It was a cut-and-paste error. But when a journalist gets caught plagiarizing a second time, it's much harder for him to plead to a mere blunder.

Well, maybe this explains why the Republicans haven't been getting much coverage from the media - there are no front-runners emerging as the "media darlings" with inspirational speeches and daring ideas. In fact, it seems like they're all pandering a little - a problem Democrats could relate to not too long ago.

Quoted: The GOP front-runner isn't Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney. It's "none of the above."