In your arctic Wednesday media column: the NYT freelancers grow restless, News Corp hands out Christmas bonuses, the Miami Herald is sad, fabulous corrections, and layoffs at TNR.

Earlier this week, WSJ editor Robert Thomson took a shot at NYT editor Bill Keller over a letter Keller wrote to an awards committee last year regarding an award-winning WSJ story. Now, we've obtained the WSJ's original response letter.

The New York Times layoffs are supposedly starting today. Know any names? Email us.

There is history behind the current WSJ/NYT spat: The New York Observer today has found a 2008 letter Times Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote in an effort, basically, to make a Journal reporter lose an important award.

The New York Times is gearing up to lay off another big bunch of staffers. And just last night the paper announced that it's appointed someone new to head up human resources at the Times beginning December 31. Best of luck, Todd McCarty. You're going to need it. [Gawker, NYT]

The following memos went out to members of the Newspaper Guild, the union representing the New York Times newsroom. In the first memo, the Guild says it has successfully managed to make the NYT adhere to seniority rules regarding the year's final round of layoffs—coming today. In the second memo, the Guild says it's offered a plan to the company regarding the outsourcing of News Service jobs to Gainesville. [If you know more about the NYT layoffs, email us].

Perhaps it's time to stop using the word "anemic" in reference to the New York Times' internet efforts; judging from these pictures, Times Company Chief Information Officer Joseph Seibert seems determined to project an image of strength.

• The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are feuding once again. [DF]
• Thanks to a $200 million investment in new printers, Mort Zuckerman's Daily News can now print any page of the paper in color! Exciting! [Crain's]
• Does the fact Glenn Beck is a highly paid pitchman for a gold company explain why he promotes it on Fox News show every night? Probably! [NYT]
• MSNBC is changing up its daytime lineup a bit, just so you're aware. [NYT]
• Despite the recession (and $12 tickets), film attendance was up in '09. [LAT]
• The New York Film Critics Circle announced its yearly picks today. [AP]
• Congress is devoting (wasting?) $30 mil. to battle music/movie piracy. [THR]
• Disney's The Princess and the Frog dominated the weekend box office [THR]
• CNBC has poached the WSJ's Nikhil Deogun as its new managing editor. [NYT]
• Sarah Palin's book tour is over. "Now what?" Good question! [LAT]

In yesterday's New York Times, Frank Rich says the George Clooney flick Up in the Air will, "salve national wounds that continue to fester in the real world." Did he see the same movie we did? Because he's totally wrong.

Fight! The Wall Street Journal enjoys newspaper feuds, remember? Which is the only sensible explanation for WSJ editor Robert Thomson's pugnacious statement that just went out regarding David Carr's New York Times column today.

Proof that nothing happened this weekend: A recipe for healthy buttermilk blueberry pancakes has been the most-emailed Times article for like two days. So, we present the first-ever Gawker Recipe for Disaster: The Whiskey Scramble:

Gawker Weddings Expert Phyllis Nefler's on vacation, and I'm forcing her to file today, because it's late and Angela Merkel has yet to get facepunched. NYT's Weddings & Celebrations, we're taking you on this week together, gallery style.

Even all of your favorite bloggers have taken sweet, sweet Sulzberger severance deals and will no longer be working after 6pm today. Luckily fictional freelancer Betsey Morgenstern was skulking around looking for something to do. She had quite the week!

• The New York Times is gearing up to cut another two dozen positions at the newspaper, but that's fewer than NYT execs were anticipating. [NYP]
• Cancellations: MTV has pulled the plug on Alexa Chung's daytime show; and HBO's Flight of the Conchords is finished after two seasons. [THR, Variety]
• Diane Sawyer and Chris Cuomo bid goodbye to GMA this morning. [ABC]
• NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker, who will remain in charge of NBC after Comcast takes control, has been signed up to a new three-year contract. [THR]
• Ex-Daily News editor Debby Krenek is Newsday's new editor-in-chief. [E&P]
• Stodgy Harvard Business Review is getting a sexy makeover! [NYT]
• Grim stat du jour: 367 magazines were shuttered in 2009. [Crain's]
• More on Dave Zinczenko, the laziest magazine editor alive. [Gawker, DF]

The relevant passage from a memo sent out this afternoon by the union representing the New York Times newsroom:

As the war in Afghanistan intensifies, the New York Times has relieved its Kabul bureau chief Carlotta Gall of her duties, ostensibly so she can do more reporting. She's not happy about it and hasn't been showing up for work.

The New York Times buyouts are done, leaving only a round of layoffs to get up to 100 staff cuts before the year's end. In January, the paper will be a different place. A look at what was lost, below.

We've added several new names to our New York Times Buyout List this morning.

Got a non-white person on your Christmas list? Know nothing about him/her other than his/her race? For racist grannies who maybe feel funny about their adopted Chinese grandkids, The New York Times offers a very special "Of Color" gift guide.

John Koblin reports that Jennifer 8. Lee, New York Times Metro reporter, Twitter enthusiast, and master of the trend story, is taking a buyout. Shocking. Below, an internal staff memo that went out this afternoon honoring the Metro section's departed.