In your explosive Thursday media column: Iceland's bad bet, the wienermobile is the future of journalism, more hard times at USA Today, Conde Nast would like to be the new Wonkette, and a scary scene at Fashion Week.

It looks like Gerald Posner's "time out" from the Daily Beast is now permanent: After his editors found fresh instances of plagiarism, the lead investigative journalist offered his resignation, and it was accepted.

Bloomberg LP earned fabulous profits off its obsession with statistics. None, though, controls the day-to-day lives of the financial news drones like the "breaking news points" metrics scheme. Meet the most Stalinist production system in capitalist journalism.

In your blizzardy Wednesday media column: Luke Russert does it the Luke Russert way, the NYT has no iPad comment, a new journalism moneymaking scheme, and David Remnick acts so haughty you'd think he runs America's best magazine or something.

Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, who worked for the news agency as a freelance photographer and videographer, had been snatched from outside his Baghdad home. No reason was given. He's not the first journalist picked up by the military. [Reuters]

Rumors that the New York Times will take down David Paterson have spiraled into a factless, "self-referential frenzy," says the New York Times in a factless, self-referential blog post that adds to the frenzy and clarifies pretty much nothing.

In your brainstorming Tuesday media column: better journalism through crack, a Bob Schieffer vacation, Hugh Hefner gets sued, a star-studded media kid bar mitzvah, and newspapers discover a rich new source of advertising.

We all know that New York Times fake trend stories are annoying because they are 1) fake, and 2) trend stories. But do not neglect their third worst quality: many are terribly written. Allow us to show you.

Ever since Andrew Wiles solved Fermat's Last Theorem, the greatest intellectual puzzle facing humankind has been: How does The New York Times' "Most-emailed" list work? Science has finally given us the answer!

The Daily Beast writer who confessed Friday to "unintentionally" lifting several sentences from a Miami Herald article also copied passages on four other occasions, as far back as July 2009. And now he's taking a "time out" from the Beast.

The New York Times' David Kirkpatrick delivers the shocking and troubling news that Wall Street bankers are so disappointed in Barack Obama that they've started giving money to Republicans. Bankers! To Republicans!

In your Byzantine Monday media column: searching for a rich media savior, a recipe duplication scandal, the future of robot media is $1 per hour, and STEPHEN A. SMITH is back in your area code.

After the weekend's blindingly obvious NYT scoop that the police department fudges the crime stats for its own benefit (they showed that on the The Wire like years ago, duh), the question remains: What do New Yorkers "at churches, businesses, community meetings and along the sidewalks on a bitingly cold Sunday morning" think about all this? The paper sent lowly metro reporter and publisher-to-be A "to the" G Sulzberger Jr. to find out, mostly because it was a good excuse to send the kid out on a "bitingly cold Sunday morning." Stay strong, AG. You'll be able to fire all those editors before long.
[NYT]

Terri Cullen, one of the founders of The Wall Street Journal Online, was announced as the wealth management editor at Reuters less than a month ago. Now, she's gone due to a story that required a White House-requested retraction. Huh?

The Nashua Telegraph quoted a White House official saying a Q-and-A with area high schoolers was "off the record." But it turned out the conversation about being "off the record" was itself "off the record," so they retracted that, too.

With great power comes great responsibility. But AOL's media borg Seed.com can't stop its horde of desperate underemployed journalists from mobbing story subjects, like the angry woman who heard from seven Seed writers in six days. Frightening.

This is how the transcript of today's White House press briefing begins. Can anyone explain who Bill is? And also what the hell was going on in the Brady Briefing Room today? Real journalists doing real journalism.

In your foreboding Thursday media column: Jared Kushner has a bright idea, Howard Zinn's reputation impugned, David Letterman plays a funny joke, and Janice Min somehow survives being rich as fuck.

Here is Chris "much dumber son of Mike" Wallace on the Don Imus show hoping that Sarah Palin sits in his lap this Sunday. You know what? People who want to be taken seriously should really stop doing Imus!

The White House Press Pool is getting crazy! This morning, Roll Call was the print outlet scheduled to cover Obama's movements today. But Roll Call was a no-show. And they paid for it.