In your comeuppance-laced Thursday media column: Bill O'Reilly tussles with Newsmax, an airline magazine that doesn't suck is discovered, business journalism salaries revealed, and the AP kills the "Ground Zero mosque."

  • Ha, Bill O'Reilly did an interview with fine upstanding conservative journalism organization Newsmax, and then Newsmax turned around and stuck him in a newsletter shilling for a "dubious financial scheme," (see here) without his knowledge. Now Fox News has made them pull it. We're giving Bill the benefit of the doubt here, because we judge Newsmax to be even shadier than Bill O'Reilly is.
  • Safi Airways, serving beautiful Afghanistan, has an in-flight magazine that includes "an article on Kabul heroin addicts, photos of bullet-pocked tourist sites and ads for mine-resistant sport-utility vehicles." A non-craptastic airline magazine? Craziest damn thing I ever heard.
  • The median salary for business journalists: $65k to $70k. Though about 3% said they make less than $30k, so use your imagination to determine what exactly qualifies as a "business journalist" these days.
  • The AP is telling its staff not to use the phrase "Ground Zero mosque" in news stories. About time yall. (It's okay if you use it snidely with scare quotes, though).

[Photo via Getty]