In your dehydrated Tuesday media column: Sam Zell may be looking for a new business, a discrimination suit against the WSJ, Sharon Waxman has no idea who anyone is, and more!

The biggest problems with the New York Times: fluff stories being given prominence, a withering reporting staff, and credulous hacks ready to put lies from politicians on page one. Welcome to 1964.

In your sweltering Monday media column: Reader's Digest is going bankrupt, Ted Nugent loses his journalism gig because he is too hardcore, Dan Rather's madness debated, and Mediaite traffic numbers.

• Another media company falls: Reader's Digest Association, the publisher of Reader's Digest (duh) and a handful of other titles (like Every Day with Rachael Ray), says it will file for bankruptcy protection shortly. [Reuters]
• As you may have heard, things haven't been too well for Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob. So what will happen if they don't turn the mini-studio around? "I'll be... making cheap hamburgers, or selling trailers, or refrigerators, or something," says (a refreshingly honest) Harvey. [NYT]
• Fashion mags are looking a bit thin this fall, in case you haven't heard. [WSJ]
• Don't expect the feud between Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann to dissipate: Ratings for both have been up since the war of words began anew. [LAT]
• Comedian Steve Harvey is joining Good Morning America. In related news, comedian Mo Rocca is hosting a web-based show for CBS News. [ABC, NYT]
• District 9 was No. 1 at the box office this past weekend. [ABC News]

The New York Times Co., which you may know from glancing at your local news stand, is now also selling wine. Good wine! Not that cheap shit. Hey buddy, need some wine?

Explaining why newspapers (but not journalism) are dying, Bill Wyman doesn't romanticize them: "So, sure, an average newspaper did print some serious journalism. But is that most of what they did, or even anything more than a tiny part?"

In your thrombosis-like Thursday media column: Paul Krugman buys a home, NYT photogs are harassed by crazies, Garrett Graff gets a new job, and men's mag editors speak on abs, and gayness.

The LA Times has a new website! So does Newsday! And you know both these papers are in some serious trouble, so these redesigns better work. What's their secret success formula? Not so much boring "news."

A tipster tells us that Gannett's Westchester newsroom was told today that "50 out of 140 people would be laid off and everyone else would have to reapply for a job." This is unconfirmed. Know more? Email us. [UPDATED]:

In your green shoots-filled Wednesday media column: Vibe's coming back, a "magazine" holds a "launch party," Brian Tierney is unwanted, and Fox Business is unwatched.

In your motivational Tuesday media column: CNN sensibly bans Lou Dobbs types, Tina Brown spans the Atlantic, America's stupidest magazines flourish, and Times Square is getting .03% less irritating.

In your sweltering Monday media column: Don Imus may be back in the big(ish) time, one reporter gets arrested in pursuit of Deion Sanders, another reporter narrowly escapes beheading by the Taliban, and you kill photojournalism.

Well here's a bright ray of sunshine for the struggling newspaper industry: the Seattle Times, thought to be on the verge of collapse earlier in the year, is suddenly turning a profit again.

The Boston Globe will start charging for its website. The good news doesn't stop!

In your good old-fashioned Friday media column: A legal tiff over SEXTING (are your kids doing it?), the looming end of magazine subscription cards, Dana Milbank needs help, and thieving Oprah is sued, for $1 trillion. Yes.

Breaking: The New York Times Co. would maybe like to sell the tanking Boston Globe, the company revealed yesterday after everybody already knew it for months. More surprisingly, somebody might actually want to buy the paper!

Oh shit. Dylan Ratigan aired an embarrassing clip of Jonathan Capehart scarfing a bagel. So this morning Capehart's mom called in and chewed Ratigan out for mocking her son. She is cool, but somehow we think this isn't making Jon look cooler. [Jon Capehart is actually cool!]

Historical ghosts ranging from H.L. Mencken to Richard Pryor are weeping up in heaven today, because the nation's premiere combination of journalism and humor, the Washington Post's "Mouthpiece Theater" has been canceled. Dana Milbank is the Icarus of our generation.

In your leaky Wednesday media column: A DC editor accidentally forwards an email convo with a reporter about Blackwater, which we reproduce for you in full; layoffs come to Newhouse; the WSJ ends embargoes; and Jack Shafer abhors The Butt.

The New York Times has picked Frank Bruni's successor as holder of the NYT's Sweetest Job: Sam Sifton, currently the paper's culture editor. No successor's been picked for Sifton yet. The full staff memo is below.