♦ Michelle Obama may end up on the cover of Vogue in the next few months: "It's been a long-standing tradition to photograph the new first lady. So needless to say, we are very interested in working with Mrs. Obama." But Ebony may get there first. [WWD]
♦ Shares of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. plunged today following the company's announcement it's revising its 2009 forecast. [Bloomberg]
♦ New York television critic John Leonard has died. [Vulture]
♦ A round of layoffs have hit Hearst, although the exact numbers haven't been released. [Folio]

Former NBC news correspondent and possible "Next Katie" Campbell Brown somehow ended up a serious anchor on CNN, and... she's quite good? Brown (married to GOP strategist Dan Senor, because lol DC media) has become a convert to the popular new "hey, we are allowed to call bullshit" school of television reporting, which is quite heartening and will probably last until the Republicans reorganize and mount another offensive against the media. Anyway! She was on The Daily Show. They talked about Tucker Bounds, the poor McCain surrogate abused by Campbell, starting a national trend. She's had a good election!

♦ Campbell Brown is reportedly pregnant. [TVNewser]
♦ Arianna Huffington and Tina Brown aren't in competition. They're best friends! [NYT]
♦ The Robb Report is on the market. The price? "Upwards of $100 million." [Folio]
♦ NBC has exiled the struggling Lipstick Jungle to Friday nights. [Variety]
♦ CNN's new (and appallingly unfunny) political humor show starring D.L. Hughley debuted this past weekend. [NYT]

♦ Not surprisingly, ratings for SNL this past weekend exceeded expectations. Some 10 million people tuned in for Tina Fey's Sarah Palin skit. [WSJ, THR]
♦ Michelle Obama will appear on Jon Stewart on Wednesday. [HuffPo]
♦ Beverly Hills Chihuahua took the top spot at the weekend box office with $29 million. [Mojo]
♦ Joe Hagan takes a long look at the Times-owning Sulzbergers in this week's issue of New York. [NYM]
♦ AdAge has released its list of the 10 best magazines. [AdAge]
♦ Campbell Brown is working out nicely for CNN: Ratings are substantially higher than they were for Paula Zahn and she's beating Keith Olbermann most nights, too. [NYT]
♦ Ratings for Desperate Housewives continue to decline. [TVDecoder]
♦ HBO's Entourage has been renewed for a sixth season. [THR]

Everyone's favorite set of child-star-turned-media-tycoon twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, turn 22 today. Congrats, girls. We expect there'll be lots of shots involved in your celebration tonight, although we're guessing you decided to forgo the birthday cake. Also celebrating around town today: U.N. head honcho Ban Ki-Moon turns 64. Portly congressman Jerry Nadler is 61. Celebrating tomorrow: Donald Trump will turn 63, although with that rug on his head, he doesn't look a day over 62. CNN's Campbell Brown turns the big 4-0. Book editor Alice Mayhew will be 72. Hedge fund tycoon Stanley Druckenmiller will be 56. Restauranteur Phil Suarez turns 68. And veteran sportscaster Len Berman will be 62.

Born in Ferriday, LA (that's about four hours north of Nawleans, y'all) with the lilting name Alma Dale Campbell, Brown grew up the daughter of a State Senator and his artist wife. She attended Louisiana State University and Regis University. She's now Jewish, despite having been raised Roman Catholic, and is married to a nice Jewish boy, Damiel Samuel Senor, former spokesperson for the Coalition forces in Iraq. They have two sons.

Paula Zahn resigns from CNN. (We hear next week is her last.) [TV Newser]

• Thomson Corp. has made an overture to take over Reuters. Will they? Is good for stock price so far! [Globe & Mail]
  

Pity pretty Campbell Brown: In another EXCLUSIVE, Radar reports that the perky hostess of Weekend Today was denied a shot at the Couric chair "on account of her youth, looks, and, especially, her lack of kids." Whether this revelation is a sneaky attempt to damage Brown's value as a possible host of CBS' Early Show or is merely one more tragic case of the beautiful being denied what's rightly theirs because of their looks, it provides us the opportunity to once again share this video, which we think makes the best case as to why she didn't get the gig.

Are you the kind of person who gets so excited some times that you can't be quiet even for a second to let whomever you're talking to get a word in edgewise? If so, maybe a career in broadcasting isn't the right move for you. Yeah, you heard us, Campbell. Actually, you probably just talked right over it.

• Campbell Brown, you naughty girl! The Today show interim co-host flashes her inexplicable ankle tat — no idea what that's supposed to be, but she really should've gone for a fairy or a dolphin. [Animal]
• "Management thought it was very important that Dan Abrams hire someone he wouldn't try to fuck." [FishbowlNY]
• Remember Friendster? Vaguely, even? They've been awarded a patent for their search methods and may be awarded another in the near future. MySpace pretends to shake in its enormous boots. [WSJ]
• Scarlett Johansson is becoming increasingly suspect of touching human petri dish Wilmer Valderrama. [HWoW]
• Who doesn't want to see John Stossel get slapped? [iFilm]
• Fall asleep to the sounds of Brooklyn hipsters and enjoy your inevitable nightmares on Bedford street. [BrooklynRadio]
• Palm Beach Police Chief thinks naughty financier Jeffrey Epstein is getting off easy (ba dum dum). [The Blotter]

For those of you growing beyond tired at the sight of Today co-host Katie Couric's increasingly tan, puzzlingly pinched face morning after morning, there's some news on the speculation front. While Couric has not announced any plans to vacate her grip on Matt Lauer's lapels, we can all dreamily wonder who might fill Couric's chair when that fateful day finally comes. According to U.S. News & World Report, the lucky lady just might be Campbell Brown: