Carrie Underwood said winning "American Idol" was "the best night of my life"  and she had an estimated 29.4 million witnesses. The preliminary audience estimate from Nielsen Media Research was up slightly from the 28.8 million who watched Fantasia Barrino take the "American Idol" crown last year. Read the whole story...

Gannett, parent of USA TODAY, said Wednesday that its top television executive, Craig Dubow, will take charge of the USA's largest newspaper company on July 15. He replaces CEO Douglas McCorkindale, 65, who'll remain chairman until July 2006. Read the whole story...

Broadcasters in the nation's capital, including five stations owned by Allbritton Communications (which also owns a cable channel in the market), Gannett Television, Tribune Broadcasting and Fox Television, are calling for Nielsen to delay the June 2 launch of the LPM service until it receives accreditation from the Media Rating Council, which isn't scheduled to audit the market until September. Read the whole story...

Neal Shapiro, the president of NBC News since 2001, has told his superiors at the network in recent days that he would like to leave his post, two senior executives at NBC Universal said yesterday. Read the whole story...

A member of the Federal Communications Commission, Jonathan S. Adelstein, today warned about the "increasing commercialization of American media" and called on his agency to toughen its requirements and expand its investigations into the practice of product placement. Read the whole story...