GQ assigned photographer Jill Greenberg to shoot Glenn Beck for an interview, in a cheeky homage to Greenberg's notorious series of crying children. Funny! Hey, didn't Beck accuse Greenberg of "terrorizing" children for those photos? Of course he did.

• It's an ugly day at MySpace. The News Corp.-owned social network is slashing nearly 30 percent of its staff, or 400 people, due to a decline in sales. [BN, PC]
• Protesters in Iran have been using Twitter to keep up with developments on the ground. Now the State Department is stepping in and asking the company to put off a planned upgrade so service isn't disrupted. [Reuters]
• MTV entertainment president Brian Graden is departing the network. [NYP]
• It's official: NBC is dumping Live at Five and replacing it with an hour-long "daily information, lifestyle and entertainment show." [NYO]
• Interview dropped editorial director Glenn O'Brien last week. Now the magazine's parent company, Brant Publications, is suing him for allegedly breaking the terms of his confidentiality agreement. [WWD]

Last Wednesday a man named Gerald Walpin, a U.S. inspector general investigating the possible misuse of Americorps funds, received a call from the White House informing him of his firing, a firing some believe was politically motivated and highly illegal.

One of the things we've been waiting all day to see in the aftermath of the shooting today at the Holocaust Museum was how the conservatives would spin the incident. Now, thanks to Glenn Beck and Debbie Schlussel, we know.

Don Broderick, an angry white male who works for Fox News, drove into a Central Park bicyclist with "psychotic intent" last week and dragged him four blocks. What is it with Fox News's angry white (plus Geraldo) guys?

Just in case you were wondering, "What's driving Glenn Beck insane today?", Glenn's bulbous head was on the verge of exploding on the air over a UN proposal to ban on plastic bags. He even did his vaunted "Flipper" impersonation!

In your inexorable Thursday media column: Nickelodeon magazine folds, newspapers face threats from within and without, Glenn Beck is allegedly a superstar, and the answer to a question you didn't know you had:

• The newspaper industry may look to take a cue from the music business in its elusive hunt for new sources of revenue. Because, clearly, if there's one industry to gleam some wisdom from, that's the one. [MP, WSJ]
• The Justice Department is looking into whether tech giants like Yahoo! and Google violated antitrust laws in their recruiting efforts. [WaPo]
• NBC's two-part White House special scored big ratings. Conveniently, it also squeezed in plugs for every other show on the network. [HP, Newsday]
• Laura Ling and Euna Lee went on trial in North Korea today. [WaPo]
• Silvio Berlusconi is feuding with Rupert Murdoch. And so now Michael Wolff says he really likes Berlusconi. Business as usual, clearly. [Gawker, Reuters]
• Here's something really depressing to chew on: Glenn Beck is No. 81 on Forbes's "Celebrity 100" list and made $23 million last year. [Forbes]

Well this is almost refreshing—-A clip from Glenn Beck's daily clownshow where the centerpiece clown is someone not named Glenn Beck. Who could it possibly be? Television's Coach Hayden Fox, naturally!

Arnold Schwarzenegger was a guest on Jay Leno's show last night and Glenn Beck, Fox News' resident Barnumesque dildo, just couldn't pass up the opportunity to make fun of the manner in which the California Governor speaks, and even managed to do so quite horribly.

Glenn Beck had an amazing transformation today on Fox News: In the morning, the conservative shouting head was saying Sonia Sotomayor was just your typical, politically correct Supreme Court nominee from a liberal president. By the evening, Beck had decided she was actually a dangerous racist.

Glenn Beck, Fox News' resident Barnumesque dildo, was a guest on The View today, and, predictably, things became contentious on set, even more so because of a bullshit story about an encounter with Whoopi and Babs that Beck recently peddled on his radio show, so Whoopi went off on him.

Today Glenn Beck, Fox News' maniacal dildo, had GM CEO Fritz Henderson on his show. Beck attempted to rope Henderson into his anti-governmentalism, even mocking Obama's "yes we can" slogan along the way, but failed.

Sometimes life can just be endlessly perplexing. Like when sane, rational people listen to Glenn Beck's maniacal rantings and they wonder, "whereforth dost this particular strain of lunacy cometh?" Now we know with absolute certainty.

Just in case there was any doubt as to Glenn Beck's status as a paranoid charismatic who regards himself as a Christ-like figure, last night he predicted his own assassination on television.

"Sopresso." "Brie." "Porcini Dusted Petite Filet." "Mascarpone Polenta." Do those sound like the sorts of things men of the people eat?

So Glenn Beck has agreed to write books for children and teenagers. We almost missed that when reading about the Fox Newser's book deal today. We almost weren't terrified.

• The New York Times Co. has reached a "tentative agreement" with its union to impose a 5 percent pay cut on employees through the end of the year. [NYP]
• Disney's ABC is joining Fox and NBC and taking a stake in Hulu. [AdAge]
• As expected, Time Warner said it may spin off AOL. But it may end up selling it, too. Either way, Gerald Levin, Dick Parsons and Steve Case will still be responsible for the worst merger in American corporate history. [NYT]
• Viacom reported that first quarter profit dropped 34 percent amid falling revenue at both its film and TV networks businesses. [AP]
• Related: Viacom boss Sumner Redstone is as senile as ever. At the Milken conference in Beverly Hills, he said he wouldn't comment on his competitors before lashing out at Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch, and Jay Leno. [THR]

No, Glenn Beck isn't just a bad dream you woke up from a few weeks ago; he's the rising star of Fox News Channel and still America's leading populist demagogue. How will he stay on top?

"I would like to nominate Miss California as the new face of the marriage movement," NOM head Maggie Gallagher recently said. A wonderful idea, she'll fit right in with the rest of the GOP leadership!