The deaths of two CBS personnel over the weekend marked another grim milestone in the U.S. occupation of Iraq: The war there has now claimed the lives of more journalists than any other, The New York Times reports. Cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan lost their lives while correspondent Kimberly Dozier was wounded. Their deaths bring the tally to 71, eight more than died in Vietnam and two more than perished in World War II. “It is absolutely striking,” says Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We talk to veteran war correspondents who have covered everything going back to Vietnam and through Bosnia. Even those who have seen a number of different wars say they have never seen something like this conflict." Read the whole story...

NBC is making the right moves in its schedule reshuffle, according to a number of media buyers, MediaWeek reports. The network made changes on every night of the week except for Saturday, which came as a surprise, but buyers apparently accept NBC’s rationale of, “Let’s just launch our new shows in the most opportunistic time periods.” According to one anonymous buyer:  “We are talking about the fourth-rated network here. NBC needs to be reacting to what the networks ahead of it do… so it can try to improve its ratings.” Read the whole story...

A Canadian columnist takes aim at such staples of North American culture as the Jerry Springer and Maury Povich shows, likening their presence on the airwaves to a sign that we may be in the last days of Rome. "Famous for trolling the shallow end of the gene pool when booking guests, 'The Jerry Springer Show' and others of its ilk seem determined to pander to the worst in human nature," writes Gordon MacFarlane in the Winnipeg Sun. But, he insists the shows are not the cause of our decline but a symptom: "Contrived nonsense on the airways, while stupid and tasteless, may well be embarrassing but is unlikely to be significant. At best, or worst, the popularity of today's more noxious programming is likely a result of the decay rather than the cause." Read the whole story...

“No more influential piece of the federal apparatus has been captured more effectively by the Republicans’ Christian right wing than the Federal Communications Commission,” writes Kurt Andersen in New York magazine. And, he says, “it has been running amok, mullah-like, throwing out old rules and precedents willy-nilly and making up new ones as it goes along.” Fortunately, he adds, the cavalry is on the way and it isn’t the American Civil Liberties Union. “No, the improbable free-speech white knights riding in for this battle are suits, members of the corporate Establishment, virtual and actual Republicans--the four big broadcast-television networks and their 800 local affiliates, who’ve joined forces to file a federal suit appealing the latest FCC rulings.”   Read the whole story...

The venerable Times, Rupert Murdoch's London newspaper, has its eyes on the colonies, Reuters reports, and is aiming for an initial 10,000 readers for a new U.S. edition. Times editor Robert Thomson tells the newswire that the move here is apt to be followed by others aimed at raising the paper’s global profile. “We're looking at other parts of the world where partnerships may be possible," he says. Thomson was in charge of the U.S. expansion of the Financial Times when he worked there and says the Times might satisfy a growing demand for foreign news, which has been neglected by American rivals. Read the whole story...