Three advertising campaigns by political groups harshly critical of President Bush are getting under way in 17 states, in an effort to counter Republican commercials that began showing last week.

On Monday morning, E&P Editor Greg Mitchell and Senior Editor Joe Strupp sat down with Jayson Blair at the E&P office in Manhattan to talk about the ethics scandal that rocked The New York Times last spring and whether anyone should believe a word Blair says about it in his new book, "Burning Down My Masters' House." E&P had solicited questions from readers, and as the interview rolled along, many of them were put to Blair.

The board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. met Monday without reaching any firm conclusions as to the future of its founder, Martha Stewart, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal.

EchoStar Communications Corp. plans to remove channels from Viacom Inc., including local CBS affiliates, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, from its DISH Network satellite system in 16 markets because of an unresolved dispute over programming fees.

Chairman Sumner Redstone said Monday evening he could imagine buying a cable TV system, but he gave a thumbs-down to getting into the satellite TV business. Redstone also predicted that the company's local advertising businesses, which disappointed investors last year, would rebound by the second quarter.

The National Hockey League's immediate future is uncertain, with the possibility of a work stoppage next season. But one thing is virtually certain: the league will not duplicate its five-year, $600 million deal with ESPN and ABC, which expires after this season.

Comcast, the US cable operator, on Monday said its bid for Walt Disney would bring stronger returns for investors, but indicated that it was unlikely to sweeten its offer of nearly $60bn.

Marketers say finding 18-34-year-olds is the holy grail of the business, a way to find people with lots of money.

Liberty Media has lost much of its cachet on Wall Street. First came some poor investments during the Bubble era, then a growing sense that the company has become too complex. Many figure that chairman John Malone just isn't the force he was in the 1990s, when he built Liberty into one of the country's most formidable media empires.

Shock jock and self-proclaimed "King of All Media" Howard Stern believes his reign on the radio is coming to an end. "The show is over," he announced Friday morning on his nationally syndicated radio program. "It's over."