In your ever-gray Wednesday media column: Les Moonves can barely afford a dozen new million-dollar condos, The Daily Beast folds on freelance contracts, layoffs at MTV and TruTV, and the New York Times Co. is sick of your rumormongering.

Humble patron of the arts Les Moonves, the CEO of CBS, got a 76% pay cut this year, all the way down to $13.6 million, which is even a larger percentage drop than the company's stock price took (two thirds). Two thousand other CBS employees got 100% pay cuts.

More on successful novelist Joe McGinniss, who yesterday bemoaned the terrible state of the Daily Beast's freelance contracts: the contract has a "confidentiality agreement," for one thing, which, what the hell could be the purpose of that, for a freelancer? Anyhow TDB says they'll pay McGinniss his $250 whether he signs it or not, so all other freelancers, take note.

TruTV's 'In Session' programming is shutting down, which will leave up to 65 people out of work. And MTV Networks has laid off 75 employees from MTV, VH1, and Logo.

Now that the Boston Globe's newsroom has finally reached a contract deal with management, it should be much easier for the NYT Co. to sell the paper off to some charitable Bostonian. That's just speculation, of course, but watch it happen, quick! But, please, you god damn heathens, respect the fact that NYT Co. CEO Janet Robinson "resents" all these rumors surrounding her company. Don't you "media" people have any respect at all, for the wishes of media CEOs? Christ.