Back in 2005, James Rainey reviewed coverage of casualties in six prominent U.S. papers over a six-month period and found virtually no pictures from Iraq of Americans killed in action. And not much has changed since then, though the American death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan is more than 5,000. A substantial minority of Americans continue to argue that the media and the public have no business witnessing a soldier's dying moments. It's uncomfortable to argue with a parent at the time of their greatest anguish. And most big media outlets try to be sensitive to their pain, …

U.S. radio broadcaster Regent Communications filed for Chapter 11 protection as part of a prearranged deal that will cut its debt by $87 million and transfer majority ownership of the reorganized company to certain funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP. Anthony Vasconcellos, Regent's CFO, said in a court filing that the company was looking to get the reorganization plan confirmed by the bankruptcy court within 40 days. Regent said it has about $11 million cash, which will be enough to pay all its vendors and employees. Cincinnati, Ohio-based Regent owns and operates 62 stations in nine states and …

Children's TV will get some big competition in 2010. Discovery Communications' The Hub--its rebrand for Discovery Kids--and SyFy will look get a piece of the billion-dollar market. But as the kids upfront pitches get started on March 11 with Nickelodeon's presentation in New York, the emergence of new players doesn't necessarily mean there's any more money to go around. While the scatter market is running as much as 30% above upfront levels in other sectors, the kids marketplace scatter is just a bit above upfront rates. The 2009 kids upfront was pegged at $850 million, according to industry …

The AP is setting up a division, AP Gateway, to help the news cooperative newspapers and broadcasters sell digital products directly to readers on the next wave of Internet-connected devices such as Apple's iPad. AP Gateway will focus on expanding the AP Mobile news service for cell phones and the kinds of online platforms that the AP developed for the Winter Olympics and Copenhagen climate talks. Some services might be supported by ad revenue, others might require readers to pay subscriptions. Much like the AP Mobile news product, the iPad app will show custom packages of headlines, stories, …