Last April, Giant magazine was targeted by (someone posing as?) rival XXL, which sent out letters to Giant advertisers warning them the mag would be going out of business. Denials all around! In May: another rumor denied. Today: Giant folds.

In your swashbuckling Wednesday media column: XXL-Giant feud update, NPR infighting, nobody's scared of ASME, the Boston Globe is mad, son, and dead goats save newspapers:

Whoa now, magazines are fighting dirty! Advertising is scarce. Magazines have that hungry look. The rules are gone. So one title (Update: or someone pretending to be) is telling advertisers a competitor's folding. HARDCORE!

When Vogue put LeBron James on the cover it was innovative: a black man on the cover of a magazine aimed at rich, white women? Anna Wintour's still got it. But now, the fallout. Didn't LeBron James sort of look like King-Kong? And why does that pretty white girl looked so scared? Oh no, racial stereotypes being reinforced on the cover of Vogue, a place normally dedicated to reinforcing an unattainable ideal of beauty. And it gets worse: James's mouth was agape, just like Jennifer Hudson's was on the March cover. Controversy!

• "This painting addresses the celebrity worship cycle." [Kate's Studio via Boing Boing]