The revamped Hollywood Reporter, which in 2010 began a "transformation from a dull daily trade publication into a glossy large-format magazine" thanks to "money from new private-equity owners," has begun to be compared to Vanity Fair, writes Brooks Barnes. "That’s certainly a stretch when it comes to making money." Still, like the Conde Nast glossy, the Hollywood Reporter now hosts star-studded parties and covers more of Hollywood's social scene. And "ad sales rose by more than 50 percent, while Web traffic increased by more than 800 percent," writes Barnes.

CNN's continuous coverage of the stalled cruise ship Triumph docking in Alabama last Thursday more than doubled the cable network's ratings "compared to the prior four Thursdays, according to Nielsen data," writes Andrea Morabito. The network "was still a solid number two to Fox News" but beat out MSNBC. In another lifetime, we covered the cruise industry -- and the only "reportage" of last week's debacle we enjoyed was the "Saturday Night Live" spoof showing a cruise director attempting to entertain the passengers stuck onboard.

Jimmy Dolan, Madison Square Garden's executive chairman, is considering the debut of a national cable channel to be called MSG National, writes Claire Atkinson. "MSG affiliate sales are already pitching the concept to distributors, sources said, though there is no launch date yet." Of course MSG already owns a group of regional sports networks, including MSG, MSG+ and MSG Varsity.

It's the design of Mail Online, the digital version of the British tabloid Daily Mail, that at least partly accounts for the "remarkable magnetic pull of the website, which isn’t particularly beautiful and isn’t known for its in-depth reportage," writes Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan. The site also "now outperforms The New York Times, The Guardian, and pretty much every other online news property in terms of unique visitors." Campbell-Dollagan spells out the site's design principles -- including "More is more,  ad placement be damned!" -- which have also led to the site's winning a Design Effectiveness Award from the British Design Business …

The influential blog from Kara Swisher and Walter Mossberg was their idea, but News Corp. owns it.  But the publishing giant might be agreeable to a split, Reuters is reporting. Potential suitors include Hearst, Conde Nast and AOL.  Swisher and Mossberg have the right to approve any new partner. 

Meredith Corp.'s purchase of most Time Inc. titles  -- a deal reportedly being considered, though neither company will confirm discussions -- is analyzed here, in a piece that begins by comparing the launch of  each company's flagship pubs in the same year, 1922: Time versus Fruit, Garden and Home (which two years later became Better Homes and Gardens). "From afar, it might appear as though the country bumpkin were about to marry the sophisticated city slicker," writes Keach Hagey. "But while not as much in the limelight as its New York rivals, Meredith in recent years has evolved into …

In an effort to differentiate between the paywalled bostonglobe.com and the free boston.com, "We’re going to start removing our in-depth Globe journalism from Boston.com, which is not a small move," Boston Globe Editor Brian McGrory notes in this piece. And to strengthen its art coverage, "the paper plans to hire a reporter -- not a book critic... to cover Boston’s literary scene, which [McGrory] said is particularly vibrant," writes Andrew Beaujon.

The publisher of the iconic 91-year-old magazine Readers' Digest, RDA Holdings, just filed for bankruptcy. "The company listed assets and debt of more than $1 billion each in Chapter 11 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York," writes Dawn McCarthy.

SPOILER ALERT: For those still reeling from the plot twist in last night's season finale of  "Downton Abbey" (we, like many U.S. viewers, were spoiled in advance, but were still heartbroken): Executive Producer Gareth Neame discusses how the way U.K. TV productions cast and pay actors led to that development (which we won't spell out, though the linked-to article does.). Neame also discusses season 4 and such issues as whether  Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes will ever fall in love. (Probably not, since "[T]hey sort of are in a marriage," says Neame. "Aren’t they? A sort of non-sexual, non-romantic marriage. …

The Washington Post reportedly has laid off 54 people -- all on the business side, according to one source cited by Andrew Beaujon. According to FishbowlDC's Betsy Rothstein, "Sources say the entire Mobile Product Management and IT Project Management staffs have been eliminated."