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Editor & Publisher
The Times wins for Best Business Blog, Best News Website and Best Overall Newspaper-Affiliated Website. USA Today wins in the Best Entertainment Blog and Best Sports Website categories. PLUS: More winners.

New York Review of Magazines
Students in the magazine department at Columbia University j-school -- advised by Victor Navasky -- have put out another issue of the New York Review of Magazines. The first issue was published in 2001.

Radar Online
Charles Kaiser hears that an announcement could come as early as today. He says columnist David Ignatius and managing editor Phil Bennett are the leading inside candidates to succeed Leonard Downie Jr. (For what it's worth, Kaiser's brother is Post associate editor Robert Kaiser. CHARLES WRITES TO ROMENESKO: "Robert is indeed my brother but he is almost never a source when I'm reporting a Post story. The one about his boss was not an exception.")

Minnesota Monitor | Star Tribune
David Hanners admits that asking another paper to fire a columnist -- the Strib's Katherine Kersten, in this case -- "is a grave step and one I don't take lightly...but on a professional level, when Kersten [writes] stuff like this, it reflects upon all of us who have to go out there day after day and try to get people to talk to us for stories." The Pioneer Press reporter adds: "While columnists should be granted wide latitude in expressing opinion, they -- like reporters -- have to maintain fidelity to facts." || Kersten writes: "I'm reviled on a daily basis as the poorest excuse for a journalist since ... well, since there was journalism."

> TV health reporters often re-voice stories done by outsiders (Deggans)
> Minnesota pols tell audio/video-equipped reporters to get lost (Strib)
> Why did the Forward pass over Newhouse for editor position? (HuffPost)
> Report: Star Tribune newsroom budget to be cut by 10% (MinnPost.com)
> Margolis: Good journalism requires more than just journalistic skills (CCJ)
> WP film critic Hunter looks primed for big things as a novelist (W'tonian)
> Sources say about 30 at News & Observer accepted paper's buyout (TBN)
> Shafer: Why the reverential treatment of Rauschenberg in obits? (Slate)
> Onetime foes Colorado Daily, Daily Camera now share space (Westword)
> Ex-OC Register publisher Anderson named visiting prof at ASU (E&P)
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Austin American-Statesman | Romenesko Memos
Michael Levy, who launched Texas Monthly in 1973, writes in his retirement announcement: "People who remember 'the good ol' days' have bad memories. It was scary. Our offices were in a walk-up with the Xerox on my desk so I could count the copies people were making. Gas coming through the heating system giving us awful headaches. Bats flying around. Too many times we should have been forced out of business. If our printer had not forgotten to send us a bill for the first six months because we were so small, we would have been bankrupt."

Philly.com
"When cameras roll, a lot of the extras stroll, making the newsroom look less librarylike -- and with a younger staff -- than usual," writes Peter Mucha. Former Inky columnist and "Marley" author John Grogan is played by Owen Wilson.

Romenesko Memos
Fred Schulte and June Arney win for their stories exposing real estate speculators who use an arcane law to seize the homes of Baltimore residents over debts that sometimes amount to little more than pocket change.

Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
LA Weekly leads the pack with finalists in eight different categories. Santa Fe Reporter and Washington City Paper closely follow with six finalists in five different categories.

Kansas City Star
Mike Fannin has been the Star's managing editor/sports and features. He replaces Mark Zieman, who was promoted to publisher in March.

Columbia News Tonight
Former Times executive editor Max Frankel says in a video interview: "Rupert Murdoch's aspiration of taking on the New York Times, I think, is a very reasonable ambition. He's a formidable competitor and if I were at the Times, I'd worry about it. And I think his ideas about shorter stories and a more user-friendly newspaper are right-on, and the Times had better watch its backside."

Newsday
After meeting with publisher Tim Knight and other Newsday execs, Cablevision chief operating officer Tom Rutledge released this statement: "We respect the editorial integrity of Newsday and the reputation of its employees and, when the sale is complete, we look forward to building a bigger and even better Newsday." He didn't meet with reporters, and Knight wasn't available to discuss his meeting.

Associated Press | Romenesko Memos
In this newly expanded position, Michael Oreskes will oversee all US news from the Associated Press, from state bureaus to national political coverage. Oreskes, 53, has been International Herald Tribune executive editor since 2005. Previously, he was deputy managing editor of the New York Times, supervising television and Internet content. || Read Oreskes' memo to IHT staff.

NYTimes.com | PaidContent.org | MarketWatch
The deal comes just as CNET Networks was trying to fend off activist investors seeking to take control of its board of directors. CBS is paying $11.50 for each CNET share, a 45% premium to where the stock closed on Wednesday. || Rafat Ali: "Everyone looked at CNET, but couldn't make the economics work." || Jon Friedman: CEO Les Moonves appears to be making a grand statement to his boss, not to Wall Street.

Portfolio.com
Jeff Bercovici says Will Lewis has many qualities of Rupert Murdoch's ideal candidate for Wall Street Journal managing editor: business acumen, impatience for change, familiarity with the Murdoch ethos, and a friendship with WSJ publisher Robert Thomson.

Boston Globe
A New England Patriots spokesman says a lawsuit against the Boston Herald "has been discussed" but adds, "I don't think we're pursuing that at this time." Media analysts say the Herald's front page apology left some questions unanswered. Alex Jones of Harvard's Shorenstein Center asks: "Were they lied to, or was this someone who gave them information that he or she thought was accurate? It seems to me you do not owe confidentiality to a source that lied to you."

Boston Herald
Even after Wednesday's front page retraction and apology to the Patriots, "I continue to stand behind the work of the Herald sports department and John Tomase, a talented journalist who has dealt with this difficult matter professionally while continuing to do his job under intense pressure," says editor Kevin Convey. || Earlier: Tomase reports a Pats employee filmed the Rams.

Boston Phoenix
Adam Reilly's list includes "hints of misogyny" and "physically fit to serve?"

Seattle Times Blog
Charlie Rose, Tom Friedman, Tom Brokaw, Michael Kinsley and Maria Bartiromo are all mingling with execs at Bill Gates' annual closed-door CEO Summit. "If Microsoft's inviting select journalists behind the curtain, does that mean we'll finally get news coverage from inside the event?" asks Brier Dudley. || Related from the Post-Intelligencer.

Washington Post
But with limitations, says Robert Novak, who celebrates 45 years as a political columnist. "I still occasionally go on the campaign trail, but not nearly so much as in past years. (When I have boarded press buses during the 2008 primary season, reporters some 50 years my junior have gazed at me as though Banquo's ghost had entered their midst.) Nevertheless, at 77, I still make it my principal professional endeavor to find out what is happening behind the scenes in politics and government."