Just Say No: Talked to George Hacker today. Real nice guy. Charming. Knows his stuff. Says that he used to drink “but never swallowed.” I have one major problem with Hacker. He wants to curtail advertising for beer, “alcopops” like Smirnoff Ice, and hard liquor. Like most people who think restricting advertising will cure society’s ills, his energy is misguided. Hacker is the policy director at a group called the Center For Science In The Public Interest. He believes that advertising alcoholic products is not in the public interest, because teens might see them and think they’re cool.

Oh, Rosie: Back when I worked on the publishing side of magazines, a title I was working on was being slandered by a competitor’s promotional campaign. Me being Irish and impulsive, I started ranting about suing them. The guy who I worked for at the time sent me back to my office with the advice: “Nothing, and I mean nothing, drives advertisers from a magazine like legal trouble.” Never sued, needless to say.

All About The Benjamins:I promise you that Dennis FitzSimons, president and chief operating officer of the Tribune Co., makes more money than I do. Probably forgot about more money in his career than I’ve made. So line the two of us up to media business strategy, and make sure you bet on FitzSimons. Having said that, I need to take exception with something he told the money men over the weekend.

The Big Synergy-Energy Switch: Call it synergy, cross-media or just smart media buying. The kinds of synergy AOL/TimeWarner is now getting kicked in the teeth for now need to come from media planners and buyers. If you want synergy, or if you want to access the various properties owned by big media companies, come up with the ideas yourself. I know this is already happening, but now the AOL/TW changes have given the agency community a chance to push this issue to a client’s advantage.

OPRs (Other People’s Riffs) For The Week: Pardon The Pun: As a tough ad market has forced many newspapers to accept adult entertainment ads, Don Farley publisher of the Baltimore City Paper told Editor and Publisher: “You’re always kind of riding this line of ‘how big do you want this section to be?’ ”

Nothin’ But The Facts: I get lost in the alphabet soup of financial reports sometimes. EBITDA to me is something my two-year old says when he wants pizza. I have found one magazine company that is trying to state its results in a relevant way. The company is Ziff Davis. It has split its financial quarterly reporting into two areas – an established business segment (like PC Magazine) and a developing business segment (like the Microsoft Watch newsletter).

Mogul Memo: Every year at about this time the media media hitters meet in Idaho for a look at where the media business is and isn't. I suggest to the Pittmans, Malones and Redstones that they stop worrying about their own personal fortunes and maintain their focus on developing three things. One is a renewed mission to provide the best programming for consumers and advertisers.

This Year’s Newspaper Model: Earlier this week, Media News Group CEO William Dean Singleton urged his colleagues in the newspaper business to start acting like a technology business. This guy’s thinking. He’s not looking at the plague of lower readership and scattered ad revenue drops among many newspapers as a fad.

Acquired Confidence: I’ve been on the publishing side of magazines in a former life, and I know it’s a tough hustle. Which is why I know that the magazine business as a whole is performing at an extremely high level right now, even though ad pages are down year to date. I think you have to take a look at the obstacles magazines have been able to overcome so far this year to really get a handle on how well the business is doing.

OPRs (Other People’s Riffs) of the Week: Didn’t They Leave Something Out of His Bio? Like His Source For Column Info? Best-selling author and leadership trainer Stedman Graham has joined the staff of Personal Branding as a Senior Editor and regular contributor. Graham has authored several best-selling books, including You Can Make It Happen and Build Your Own Life Brand!