• The bleak outlook for network news is getting bleaker: Both the CBS Evening News and ABC's World News suffered all-time ratings lows last week. [HuffPo]
• CBS chief Les Moonves's compensation was slashed by 76 percent last year. He still earned $13.6 million, though, so don't feel too bad for him. [Crain's]
• Depressing: Monday's breakup episode of TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8 was the most-watched episode of the show ever with 10.6 million viewers. [THR]
• MySpace is closing four of its international offices and cutting two-thirds of its staff abroad advertising falls and Facebook and Twitter take over. [NYT]
• A woman in Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against Elisabeth Hasselbeck for allegedly ripping off her self-published book on celiac disease. [BH]
• Bravo honcho Andy Cohen is going to be hosting a live show once a week called Watch What Happens. You can watch what happens on July 16. [LAT]

In your plastic Wednesday media column: Greta Van Susteren explains why she's a better friend to "poor African Americans" than Barack Obama is, along with newspaper news, TV news, and New York Post blowjob news.

The crackdown in the foreign press in Iran has intensified significantly today. This morning, foreign reporters were barred from covering protests. Now ABC News' Jim Sciutto says via Twitter that he's not allowed to leave his hotel.

In a look at the shifting geography of late-night TV as Jay Leno prepares to move to 10 p.m., the New York Times' Bill Carter and Brian Stelter drop an idea we hadn't heard before: ABC is thinking of moving Nightline up to 10 p.m. as well.

A while back, we mocked Jake "The Octogon" Tapper's habit of reproducing his exchanges with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on his blog with his own tough, no-nonsense questions in bold. He didn't like that!

Dylan Ratigan, the CNBC anchor who abruptly left the network a month ago, is heading to MSNBC. Funny thing, because he promised ABC News he was all theirs as soon as his noncompete agreement was up.

• Walt Disney reported that profits plunged 46% last quarter. [Variety, WSJ]
• Mort Zuckerman's plan to save newspapers involves bingo. Really! [NYM]
• The New York Times Co. has reached a deal with the unions at the Boston Globe, although it may take a few weeks to vote on the compromise. [E&P]
• NBC's Washington headquarters is contaminated with asbestos! [NYO]
• Tricky Dylan Ratigan isn't joining ABC after all. He's going to MSNBC. [Gawker]
• Michael Wolff may hate the New York Times, but if it weren't for the Times, he'd probably have nothing to rant about on his unknown website. [HP]
• Amazon unveiled its fancy, new Kindle reader today. [NYT, E&P]

ABC News' Brian Ross styles himself a gumshoe of the old-school, and his network calls him "one of the most honored and respected journalists in the country." So why is he wrong so often?

A "former" CIA officer named John Kiriakou told ABC News that spies broke an al Qaeda terrorist in "30, 35 seconds," using waterboarding. The story spread everywhere. Of course it was a horrific lie.

ABC News' Jake ("The Octogon") Tapper just can't keep all his tough-as-nails, ballsy, hard-hitting questions inside, so he's started interrupting his fellow reporters and posting about it on his blog IN BOLD.

Anyone have a handkerchief? What? Oh, nothing in particular — just the tearjerking phenomenon of seemingly intelligent people like Jake Tapper, Rachel Sklar, and Paul Carr spending so much time sharing so little on Twitter:

Jake Tapper, a.k.a. the Littlest Sam Donaldson, told the National Review that he's so so serious about reportorial objectivity that he doesn't vote. Which is funny because he once dated John McCain's flack!

The Feds have accused Robert Allen Stanford of being a mini Madoff, running a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent certificates of deposit. Watching Stanford on ABC News tonight, it's easy to believe that's true.

• It's been a dark day at the New York Times: Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Janet Robinson announced a five percent salary reduction for all editors and said 100 employees on the business side would be laid off. [Gawker, NYO, NYT]
• Blender has been shuttered; April will be the mag's last issue. [AdAge]
• The Washington Post is offering buyouts again. And if enough people don't take 'em, the paper says a round of layoffs will follow. [Politico]
• Richard Beckman is out as Condé Nast's marketing chief; he'll be heading up the company's Fairchild Fashion Group instead. [WSJ, Crains]
• It's getting a little stormy over at the Weather Channel! [NYP]
• Rod Blagojevich may have some sort of reality show in the works. [CST]
• ABC News has settled a lawsuit filed against Diane Sawyer. [NYP]
• Barry Diller is the proud new owner of SportsPickle.com. [PaidContent]
• The most newspaper-friendly city in America? Rochester! [E&P]

The outrage beast is hungry, and ABC News is feeding it a new story: JPMorgan Chase officials are fighting hard to build a new, $18 million private-jet hangar in Westchester County.

George Weber, a longtime WABC newscaster turned ABC News freelancer and blogger, was found stabbed to death at home in Brooklyn. He was 47.

Why is Jake Tapper profiling Paul Rudd and talking about Bromance? Because he can and because there's not much happening on the White House beat these days anyway. Suck it, Chuck Todd!

CNBC, Fox Business and Bloomberg didn't warn investors about financial armageddon, and they're not providing much catharsis now. Which is why it's fantastic that the likes of TMZ and Extra now chase financial stories.

• ABC is scrambling to find advertisers for the Oscars. [AdWeek]
• The New York Times takes a delicate look at Carlos Slim Helú today, the media mogul who also happens to have bailed out the paper last month. [NYT]
• Sam Donaldson is retiring from ABC News next week. [WP]
• Tina Brown's advice to young journalism students: Go to India. [HuffPo]
• BlackBook is cutting staff and reducing its frequency to stay afloat. [P6]
• Tim and Nina Zagat are launching a Zagat guide for doctors. [NYT]
• Friday the 13th was No. 1 at the box office this weekend. [THR]
• Alfred A. Knopf Jr. died over the weekend at the age of 90. [NYT]
• Project Runway may return to the air later this year. [WWD]

• ABC is reportedly thinking about giving Jimmy Kimmel the Nightline slot, putting him in competition with Conan when he takes over for Leno. [NYT]
• ABC News is cutting 35; Disney-ABC TV is dismissing 300. [TVN, THR]
• Congressional Quarterly is for sale. [WSJ]
• The Washington Post is dropping Book World as a Sunday section. [WP]
• AOL is laying off around 700 employees, or 10% of its work force. [WSJ]
• Ex-MTV prez Christina Norman will run Oprah's new TV network. [THR]