Actor Robert De Niro won't be taking over the weekly The New York Observer after all, writes Keith Kelly in the New York Post. After months of talks and a letter of intent, negotiations between the actor's Tribeca Enterprises and Observer owner Arthur Carter fell apart. "We were approached by The New York Observer to take a look at acquiring a majority interest in the publication," says Craig Hatkoff, a partner with De Niro in the Tribeca Film Festival. "Unfortunately, we could not come to mutually acceptable terms." The Observer is "a terrific publication" and he wished Carter "the best of luck." Though the weekly has never made money, losing $2 million last year, it has launched many writers, including "Sex and the City" columnist Candace Bushnell. Read the whole story...

Playboy is losing more than Miss July's wardrobe. In a move to strip out costs, Playboy Enterprises will cut its annual programming and editorial budgets by about $4.5 million and cut about 30 jobs, Reuters reports. The reductions, part of a previously announced plan, come as the 53-year-old company started by Hugh Hefner struggles with mounting losses at its eponymous magazine due to lower ad and newsstand revenue. The percentage of the total budget to face the ax is unknown. A Playboy spokeswoman declined to say how much the company spends each year on programming and editorial. The company also says it expects to report a second-quarter loss. Read the whole story...

With The Wall Street Journal allowing ads on the front page and The New York Times printing them on the front of its business section, Crain's Chicago Business wonders if the Chicago Tribune is next. With some news-only pages being eyed for a makeover, a spokeswoman tells the weekly that the region's largest daily is "exploring opportunities" for advertising on the front pages of more newspaper sections. It currently only sells them at the head of classified sections, but not beefier sections, like Metro, Sports, and Tempo. The back page of the Tribune's weekday A section--a news-only zone right now--could also host ads in the future. While some purists have decried the trend, Steven Duke, managing director for training at Northwestern University's Media Management Center, says keeping front pages ad-free is a tradition that goes back only a half-century. Ads on front pages are common elsewhere in the world. "There is no clear logic that would say an ad on the front page undercuts the ethics of the news on that page," says Duke, "while an ad on page 3 does not." Read the whole story...

Charles Gibson took some time out from a visit to the latest round of bloodshed in the Middle East to speak to American TV writers via satellite, reports Ad Age. Gibson says he is excited about the 2008 election, since it may be the first since 1952 where the races for the nominations are wide open. He adds that one of his main areas of interest in politics now is the supposed disappearing middle ground and the redistricting that has made it tougher for politicians to occupy the center. "This is a real problem," he says. "We have to find a way we could do this on the news." Reporters also grilled him on the necessity of sending anchors into war zones instead of letting reporters tell the story. Gibson acknowledges the importance of reporters, but says his trip is valuable because it's important for him to spend time with key players. He also made a pitch to continue spending on news and on foreign bureaus. "It matters a lot," he insists. "One of the things you fight hardest for is to maintain budgets that give you representation around the world." Read the whole story...