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Your daily fix of media industry news, commentary, and memos.<img src="http://www.poynter.org/graphics/rss_view.gif" alt="" border="0" height="1" width="1">

Lightweight celebrity profiles make Bronstein cringeOctober 24

SFGate.com

Phil Bronstein criticizes Sunday NYT pieces on Jeremy Piven and Angelina Jolie and writes: "When I became editor of The Chronicle, I had a meeting with the Features Department and insisted we wouldn't engage in "received culture", meaning we wouldn't be doing rehashed, better-written press releases and pimping for actors and writers and dancers and singers coming through town selling something. But I was paddling up a powerful cultural stream and that's not the way things work."

Ten questions for reporters to ask PalinOctober 23

Nieman Watchdog

Here are two from David Cay Johnston, who says items on the Palins' 2006 and 2007 tax returns suggest they cheated on their federal income taxes.
* How did your family build up more than $1 million in assets, given that as mayor you made $64,000 and your 2006 and 2007 income tax returns show that you and your husband together earned $128,000 in 2006 and $166,000 in 2007?
* How did you finance the construction of your home, which you value at a half million dollars?

PEJ: McCain coverage the most unfavorable of all four candidatesOctober 22

Project for Excellence in Journalism
In the six weeks following the conventions through the final debate, unfavorable stories about John McCain outweighed favorable ones by a factor of more than three to one, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism. It finds that Sarah Palin's portrayal in the press isn't the major factor hurting McCain. Her coverage, while tilting negative, is far more positive than her running mate's. || Phoenix mag on Matthew Scully: Palin speechwriter's '80's-era columns in the State Press were scholarly, moralistic and elitist.

Police investigate suspicious substance mailed to NYTOctober 22

NYTimes.com
Editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal's secretary opened a letter around noon and a white powdery substance came out of it. Three Times employees were asked to take showers as a precaution against contamination. The Times says police are investigating the substance to determine if it's dangerous.

San Jose Mercury News explores sale of headquartersOctober 22

San Jose Mercury News
The MediaNews-owned Mercury News has operated out of the facility since it was constructed in 1966. Publisher Mac Tully says the paper could save money by moving to a newer and smaller headquarters because the current building is outdated, needs repairs and is larger than the company needs.
> NYT Co.'s Herald-Tribune seeks to rent office space