In your desperate Wednesday media column: Baseball writer fired at baseball game, a Harpers ripoff, News Corp has big plans like everybody else, and even more!:

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the Kindle DX, a large-screen e-reader, today at the site of the New York Times's former headquarters in Lower Manhattan. The message: He's the future and newspapers are the past.

• Walt Disney reported that profits plunged 46% last quarter. [Variety, WSJ]
• Mort Zuckerman's plan to save newspapers involves bingo. Really! [NYM]
• The New York Times Co. has reached a deal with the unions at the Boston Globe, although it may take a few weeks to vote on the compromise. [E&P]
• NBC's Washington headquarters is contaminated with asbestos! [NYO]
• Tricky Dylan Ratigan isn't joining ABC after all. He's going to MSNBC. [Gawker]
• Michael Wolff may hate the New York Times, but if it weren't for the Times, he'd probably have nothing to rant about on his unknown website. [HP]
• Amazon unveiled its fancy, new Kindle reader today. [NYT, E&P]

The New York Times has, in recent months, started punching back at its critics, rather than maintaining the usual dignified silence. But with letters and memos, which, let's face it, are for wusses, right?

Leave it to the tabloid sensationalists at the New York Times Co. and in the Boston Globe newsroom to make labor negotiations exciting. Their complex labor deal to save the paper is TOP SECRET.

Everyone's joining Twitter, did you know? Even New York Times editor Bill Keller has gotten on board, we hear — and he's just as self-promotional as the rest! Today's other Twitter trivia.

This memo just went out to staffers at the New York Times. Five percent is just the beginning, guys!

Professional media beef-starter Michael Wolff is starting another beef! It's just what he does. Today's target: NYT media columnist David Carr, who Wolff says "I've never personally liked very much." We know why, Michael!

• New York Times union members approved a five percent pay cut last night, which takes effect today. Meanwhile, the NYT will resume negotiations with the Boston Globe's largest union at 5pm this afternoon. [NYP, E&P]
• The Onion is killing off its LA and San Francisco print editions. [Gawker, MP]
• How desperate has NBC become? Execs have announced that Jay Leno "is not afraid to experiment with live commercials and with sponsorships." [AdAge]
• Better news for NBC: It scored big with its coverage of the Derby. [NYP]
• Ad spending in the fourth quarter fell 9.2% from a year earlier. [WSJ]
• Writers gathered last night to say goodbye to the Times' City section. [NYO]

The James Beard Awards were held at Avery Fisher Hall last night, gifting Jean-Georges Vongerichten's eponymous flagship the title of "Outstanding Restaurant." Other notable winners included David Chang's Momofuko Ko (Best New Restaurant) and opulent dinosaur Daniel (Best Service), with Drew Nieporent (left) knighted Outstanding Restaurateur for his (apparently outstanding) work at Corton and Nobu. But, much like the Costume Institute Gala across town, the night was not without a bit of drama.

In a 427-to-36 vote yesterday afternoon, the union that covers the New York Times newsroom ratified the 5% pay cut that management asked for in March to mirror the pay cut they put in place for all non-union employees.

Did you know Arianna Huffington's godson is so afraid of Gawker, he can't say its name aloud on Twitter? Or that Ruth Reichl can be bought? The things one learns from the media's Twitter addicts:

In January, the New York Times' standards editor issued guidelines about how editorial staffers are allowed to use Facebook and other scary online tools. Is reporter Twittering making a mockery of those guidelines? Let's explore!

In your cloudy Monday media column: Rumors of woman-centric layoffs at Men's Journal, Warren Buffett gives up on newspapers, Newsweek goes through "the change," job moves galore, and more!:

While the New York Times Co. is threatening to shut down the Boston Globe if its unions don't agree to steep cuts in its labor contracts, employees covered by the Newspaper Guild at the NYT are voting today on whether to accept a 5% pay cut for the remainder of the year in exchange for 10 days of paid vacation (which together adds up to a 10-day furlough).

• Tense negotiations over proposed budget cuts continue between the New York Times Co. and unions that represent workers at the Boston Globe; in the meantime, the Times has postponed plans to shut down the paper. [NYT, WSJ]
• Another way the Times is planning to rake in some much needed cash: It may raise newsstand prices as early as this week. [FT]
• NBC announced several shows that it plans to add to primetime. One show noticeably missing from the lineup: Law and Order. [Variety, NYT]
• Ex-Portfolio publisher William Li has landed at Condé Nast Traveler. [NYO]
• A positive aspect to the cuts at Conde Nast? Media buyers "say that publishers and salespeople are becoming easier to work with. [Crain's]
• Wolverine grossed a whopping $87 million at the box office. [Variety]

The New York Times Co. Sunday night said it would shut down the Boston Globe if its cost-cutting demands weren't met. As it's been saying for a month. The deadline came and went. And?

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are now in a full-blown pissing match over circulation. The name calling must be more comfortable for the newspapers than grappling with their real problems.

Wall Street Journal editor Robert Thomson sent out a staff memo this week crowing about beating the NYT in circulation growth. Now the NYT strikes back with its own sternly-worded response. This is catty war!

In 2007, a New York Times editorial writer slammed Carlos Slim Helú as a "robber baron" who leeched his nation's wealth through overpriced phone service. Funny how a $250 million investment changed the paper's tune.