Washington Post.com executive editor Jim Brady announced the hiring of former Talon news reporter and male escort Jeff Gannon to write a blog named "Red-Faced State." Brady said the perspectives of Gannon are intended to add balance to the "extreme liberal, socialist tendencies of the web site's online reporters who have difficulty masking their antipathy of President Bush." Gannon said he intends to highlight the positive side to such stories as Iraq, global warming, cancer and genocide. 


CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves selected Jessica Simpson as the new anchor of the network's Evening News in a surprise move that shocked many CBS news employees as well as NBC's Katie Couric.  Moonves explained his selection by claiming he wanted to "spice up the news" and felt that Couric had too much gravitas but not enough sex appeal.  Ms. Simpson will do away with the anchor desk and read the Teleprompter perched on a stool in short skirts. Mr. Moonves boasted that his choice will bring in younger male viewers coveted by advertisers. "For the first time you'll see beer ads during an evening newscast," he said. 
>CBS Public Eye calls move "f**ked up"
>CBS cancels Public Eye


Apple's popular iTunes service will soon offer several of the nation's most respected newspapers for download and viewing on the video iPod. While providing customers with the convenience of having a digital newspaper available anywhere and anytime, reading it may be somewhat time consuming since the tiny screen will only allow three words to be displayed at a time. The content will be available for free courtesy an exclusive sponsorship by Lens Crafters, who anticipate a sharp increase in demand for their glasses. 


Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller says her peers at the paper were out to get her and that the last straw was when they stole a quart of frozen strawberries from the office fridge. Clutching steel balls as she spoke at a journalism luncheon in New York, Ms. Miller said professional jealousy was rampant by fellow reporters because she got all the scoops. "Even if most of them turned out to be wrong they still resented the fact that I got them first," Miller said of her former peers. She explained that once she discovered her strawberries had been filched, she no longer could take the growing mutiny and decided to resign. 


Twelve Knight Ridder newspapers are being listed on eBay by McClatchy, the company that bought the chain several weeks ago for $4.5 billion in cash, stock and discount coupons for Chi Chi's. The 12 papers are considered less of cash cows than the 20 others the chain will keep and squeeze for greater profits. "We're hoping to find one bidder who realize they're cheaper by the dozen. We heard there may be some Nigerian investors interested who have plenty of cash on hand," said a company spokesman. 


Aaron Brown, the former late night news anchor of CNN, has been named the host of a new reality pet program on the cable channel Animal Planet. The program will be called "Who's Your Pet's Daddy?" Brown will help families try to discover the fatherhood of their pets.  "OK, so it might not be a Charlie Rose type show but what do you expect after CNN?" Brown said.

The Wall Street Journal is revising the tabloid format of its European editions after reader complaints about the change. Gone will be the page six swimsuit girls as well as tawdry gossip. "We thought the European male business reader wanted a spicier version of the paper but they prefer us to remain as bland as the US edition," said an editor. 


In a bizarre mix-up, tens of thousands of copies of the New York Post were left in several dumpsters around the city while several murdered mobsters were delivered to prominent news stands. "We have no idea how this happened, but we're trying to get to the bottom of it," said the manager of the news delivery company. A NY Post spokesperson said the incident would not affect their circulation figures for advertisers. 


Cybersatirist Bob Hirschfeld (bob@bobsfridge.com) lampoons the Poynter online web site Romenesko for the 3rd year in a row due to the great feedback from readers from previous parodies.