Cable news nets have upped the weaponry in their wars of words as Fox News, CNN and MSNBC take aim at one another, feeding off controversies, real and imagined. One recent spat occurred just this week when "Fox and Friends" hit out at CNN's "God's Warriors" series, calling it anti-Semitic and questioning its accuracy. "There have been a number of religious organizations who said that CNN absolutely got this story completely wrong,' said co-anchor Steve Doocy on the air. Of course, the CNN series gave the net a ratings boost as it beat Fox News all three nights it …

Toymaker Mattel has tapped Aegis Group's Carat for its global media planning -- and most of its media buying -- accounts, insiders says. Carat topped incumbent MindShare and Zenith Optimedia to snare the biggest chunk of the $500 million business, although MindShare will keep buying for domestic network TV. Mattel spent about $220 million on that medium last year, the bulk of it in the fourth quarter, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The account switch comes at a time when Mattel has been battered by recalls of many Chinese-made toys that turned out to contain potentially toxic materials.

Westwood One has inked an agreement with CBS Radio that will extend the two's programming and distribution contracts through March 2017. Under terms of the deal, the companies' management and representation agreements will terminate, and Westwood will now manage its business separately from CBS Radio, with all CBS employees stepping down from its board. But Westwood will still get first crack at syndicating CBS programming while some non-competition and non-solicitation rights will continue through 2010 and 2012. The companies are dropping claims they have against each other, and stations owned by CBS will broadcast Westwood One commercial …

If lighter, lifestyle-oriented coverage is now de rigeur in magazines like Forbes and Portfolio, BusinessWeek takes the opposite tack with a new design and editorial overhaul. Indeed, the title is jettisoning its "Executive Life" and focusing more on news. It's also changing its cover, dumping the blue bar that separated the logo from the cover image. "The notion was, it's clean, simple, it's bold but elegant, and kind of straightforward," says Stephen Adler, editor in chief. "The reader is much busier, they're much more engaged with the global economy than they were before, and they're consuming business information …

Concerns of a softer economy are slowing down mergers and acquisitions in the media and information industries, according to a study by the Jordan Edmiston Group. Third-quarter M&A activity has been clouded by credit market disruption and concerns for a potential advertising and broader economic slowdown, even though deals for the first nine months of 2007 outpaced 2006, which was a record year. Online media acquisitions were particularly hot with R.H. Donnelly's acquisition of Business.com and Disney's purchase of Club Penguin among them. Newspapers had a fairly robust third quarter, marked by News Corp.'s $5 billion-plus takeover …

Even though cable operators are getting more Hispanic subscribers, Spanish-language TV networks shouldn't expect to get slots on basic -- or even digital basic -- according to some distributors. For instance, Cablevision director of international strategy and product management James Moore says a new Spanish-language network would best get distribution if it agrees to either video-on-demand or slot in a premium tier. "When you're dealing with niche programming, it's hard to get that programming into the mainstream," Moore says, noting the Spanish nets are competing with major program suppliers like Discovery Networks. Meanwhile, FCC rules forcing cable …

A new Chevron corporate ad campaign is drawing fire from groups that are now pushing the oil giant to stop doing business with Myanmar's repressive regime. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and its OilWatchdog.org unit are calling on Chevron CEO David O'Reilly to "immediately sever Chevron's ties to Myanmar's brutal government and personally speak out against its violent suppression of peaceful protest." In a letter to O'Reilly, OilWatchdog cofounder Judy Dugan charges the multimillion dollar "Human Energy" ad campaign portrays a company that cares, but "given your investment in Myanmar alone, that is a gauzy, gorgeous …

Comedy Central has renewed both "Mind of Mencia" and animated series "Lil' Bush," ordering up 10 new episodes of the fourth season of the former, which features comedian Carlos Mencia's unique points of view. The program pulled an average of 1.5 million viewers during its third season, making it No. 1 among basic cable with men 18-24 in its time slot. "Lil' Bush," which shows the future president and pals Lil' Condi and Lil' Cheney terrorize the White House and solving the world's problems, will return next spring with 10 new episodes. It debuted June 13 to an …

Lifetime Television's 13th "Stop Breast Cancer for Life" effort will be the cable net's biggest yet, featuring on-air, online and print messages throughout the month. Tagged "Be My Strength, Be My Support, Be My Bra," the campaign was developed by ad exec Linda Kaplan Thaler, photographer Mary Ellen Mark and "Vixen" author Marisa Acocella Marchetto, all of whom have survived the disease. It features celebs, including Fran Drescher, Whoopi Goldberg, Reba McEntire and Jake Delhomme, and encourages more women -- and men -- to take part in promoting early detection, volunteering, and offering hope and friendship to the …

A new ad campaign for Campbell Soup Co.'s V8 that rolled out earlier this year has pump up sales of the juices with its retro approach. Like the products 1970s ads, new spots show people getting bopped on the forehead with the line "Could've had a V8." Since the campaign began, V8 has been on fire, with sales up 10% May through July. It is doing so well, the company is adding more juice-production capacity. Plus, the juices are more widely distributed because of a new deal with Coca-Cola Co. that could well put them into vending machines …