A sold-out crowd of 300 plunked down at least $150 apiece to share a brief breakfast with incoming CBS anchor Katie Couric, reports the St. Petersburg Times. In town to kick off a colon cancer awareness campaign, Couric's stop was the first in a six-city "listening tour," featuring a meeting with residents and a visit with the local affiliate. "For most, it was a rare, in-person glimpse of the former “Today” star as she prepares for a groundbreaking debut in September as the first permanent female solo anchor of a network newscast,” the paper notes. The event was an …

The new owners of Vibe magazine, who fired six top staffers within hours of taking control, just dropped the hammer on more workers, reports Ad Age. "There's just things that are happening that are so unnecessary," said an unidentified Vibe employee before being fired. "New owners, new personnel, no problem. But there's a professional, dignified way to do this with some class - and then there's the way they're going about it, which is just incredible in its clumsiness." Among the Tuesday casualties: the managing editor; the executive director-events and artist relations; the design director; the associate music editor; and …

Following negotiations with Emmis Communications, Erich "Mancow" Muller, the morning man on Chicago's WKQX-FM since 1998, will be out of a slot as of July 14, reports Mediaweek. In an announcement, Emmis positioned the change as part of a plan to modify the station's format from alternative rock to "everything alternative" to reach a broader 18-49 audience. A new morning show is in development and set for a September launch, the station group says.  "We've decided the time has come for us to develop a morning show that will better serve the needs and sensibilities of this audience," says …

Two parties - Labor and the Australian Greens - will oppose an Australian government plan to overhaul media regulations, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. On Tuesday, the federal cabinet approved a package of media reforms proposed by Communications Minister Helen Coonan that will permit more foreign investment and give companies the opportunity to own print, radio and TV interests in one market. A spokesman for the opposition, Stephen Conroy, says it will oppose the reforms as they would not prevent buyouts and mergers that could concentrate media in fewer hands. "Australians living in rural and regional areas will be …

The former editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press, who resigned over the owner's alleged meddling in news coverage, says his fate should be a warning to others who see private buyers as saviors of a troubled industry, reports Editor & Publisher. "There is definitely a downside," Jerry Roberts says. "When you have one owner who is very wealthy and used to getting their way, you have this conflict between the audience of the paper and the audience of one--the owner.” Roberts refers to Wendy McCaw, who bought the News-Press from The New York Times Company in 2000. Although she …

With “The Sopranos” just about done and “Deadwood” riding into the sunset next year, TV critics are expected to grill Home Box Office executives at a meeting this week about whether it can come up with another groundbreaking hit, reports Multichannel News. But HBO chief Chris Albrecht has heard it all before; “I’ve been answering the 'What’s next?’ question since the end of ‘Sanders’ in 1996,” he says, referring the channel’s breakout “The Larry Sanders Show.” Two years after that, HBO delivered “Sex and the City,” and “The Sopranos” came along 12 months later. This time the network’s programming …

Consumer groups are aiming to do what the Chandler family hasn't pulled off yet--force Tribune Co. to sell off some of its newspapers or TV stations, reports Ad Age. As the Federal Communications Commission launches a re-examination of media-ownership rules, Tribune Co. is facing a breakup six years after it bought Times-Mirror and the cross-ownership violations thus created in New York, Los Angeles and Hartford, Conn. Though FCC rules banned newspapers and broadcasters from licensing new cross-ownerships, Tribune bet the rules would change by the time the licenses of its TV stations in the markets came up for renewal. …

Does Rupert Murdoch's DirectTV own a U.S. Senator? asks TVPredictions.com. The Web site notes that Alaska Republican Ted Stevens is pushing "for an anti-cable TV provision after being showered with oddly timed campaign contributions from Murdoch employees." Stevens, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is pushing legislation that would require cable TV operators to carry all digital TV signals from local stations, known as "must-carry." Stevens has not explained why he supports the legislation, but TVPredictions says that 10 percent of Stevens' individual campaign contributions in the current election cycle have come from employees of companies owned by the media …

Having done “a superb job of quelling dissent” in the wake of the attacks of 9/11, the Bush Administration “vigorously enforced the notion that questioning its anti-terrorism policies was simply unpatriotic behavior,” writes Rem Reider in the American Journalism Review.  “The U.S. news media retreated from their skeptical, not to say confrontational, approach to the federal government.” And the results, Reider continues, weren’t too pretty, including “credulous coverage” of the case for the war in Iraq. And now, with criticism of stories on programs to spy on private financial transactions, “some of the rhetoric seems a bit disingenuous.” It …

Disney has plenty to yo-ho-ho about after its "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" set a weekend box office record, reports the Associated Press. "Pirates" raked in $132 million over the three days. That sails past the previous all-time best debut, "Spider-Man," which took in $114.8 million in its first weekend in 2002. "Dead Man's Chest" also did nearly three times the business of its predecessor, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which took in $46.6 million over opening weekend in 2003. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer says he had expected "Dead Man's Chest" to open closer …