Outside the Beltway

Dear New York Times: Your tireless efforts to make me stop reading you are having the desired effect.

The Atlantic made a $1.8 million profit, mostly from Andrew Sullivan’s blog.

Statue of Liberty goes through airport scanner.

Internal memos reveal that Fox News spins the news in ways that favor conservative Republicans. Is that really news?

Joe Biden: “Obama: On the way to a failed presidency?”

Michael Wilbon departs the Washington Post after more than 30 years to work full time at ESPN. Here are his last — and first — columns.

Wayne State has canceled the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in the Media Award, citing its namesake’s controversial remarks.

Meghan McCain doesn’t know what a “blue blood” is but doesn’t want to be called one.

The two English language newspapers who have been Julian Assange’s accomplices in disseminating stolen secrets defend themselves.

The over-hyping of President Obama’s lip getting cut while playing basketball is a bit much.

NYU’s Jay Rosen: “On Fox, the news exists in order to generate controversy. Controversy exists in order to generate resentment. And the resentment is what generates ratings.”

federal judge on Saturday ordered the website Gawker to pull down unauthorized excerpts from Sarah Palin’s forthcoming book, “America By Heart.”

The Washington Independent goes dark in December, failing to find profitability in three years.

Arianna Huffington has become an online mogul by convincing big donors to pay her for content others generate for free. Did she steal the idea?

Is the current media environment a problem for proper political discourse?

Tina Brown has confirmed the merger of the venerable Newsweek and the upstart Daily Beast.

The two episode suspension of Keith Olbermann lends credence to the theory that the whole thing was a publicity stunt designed to support MSNBC’s assertion that its opinion shows are somehow more pure than the shows on FOX.

Keith Olbermann was reportedly suspended for failing to apologize for making political donations to Democratic candidates, but it really seems intended to serve to justify the illusion that MSNBC’s programming is not partisan.

US News & World Report is going to stop printing magazines, except for a handful of niche issues like the annual college and graduate school ranking guides.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner held a private, off-the-record meeting in comedian Jon Stewart’s office back in April. Speculation abounds.

Politico runs this morning with the shocking revelation that Keith Olbermann is a Democrat.

After three months, Rupert Murdoch’s strategy of walling off the Times websites isn’t looking so smart.

A News Corporation donation to a group opposition a ballot initiative in California is casting doubt on the objectivity of reporting at Fox Business Channel

David Broder offers up some odd ideas on the relationship between a war with Iran and the economy.

The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear ended up having a point after all, but it’s not one that anyone is likely to take to heart.

The guys at Gawker took the web yesterday in an effort to justify their sleazy article about Christine O’Donnell. They failed.

Jonah Goldberg has written a bad column. In this case, an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune headlined “Why is Assange still alive?”

Starting Tuesday night, the results of statewide races will be reported by giving the percentage of “expected vote” rather than precinct-by-precinct.

After months of media reporting on the Republican advantage in outside spending, NYT reports that Democrats retain a sizable advantage at the campaign level.

Washington City Paper editor Michael Schaffer has put out a satiric memo mocking the policies NPR and others have issued to reporters regarding this weekend’s Jon Stewart – Stephen Colbert rallies

It’s apparently legitimate to call Sarah Palin a liar without producing any evidence or bothering to check facts.

The firing of Juan Williams from NPR has led many conservatives to call for an end to government subsidies. As is often the case, they’re right but for the wrong reasons.