TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND THE NIELSEN WAY - Even when all the facts are clear and above board, truth always ends up being something of a subjective process. And don't even get us started about justice. As for Nielsen, let's get some of the facts clear.

HEAVY MEDDLE: WEIGHING IN ON WEB REACH - Anyone notice the surprising revelation in the research released earlier this week by DoubleClick and comScore Media Metrix? The team at Carat Insight did. The research, which purports to be the first ever audience accumulation study showing how websites build user reach over time, was touted as a breakthrough that would enable interactive agencies to apply reach-based planning approaches to their Internet buys, and which would allow full-service media shops to at least think about, if not actually plan the reach capacity of online media vs.

GOT MILK? NAH, JUST A PIECE OF PETER GARDINER - We've thought of some fairly odd things during our years in the media business, but never did we imagine taking a slice out of Peter Gardiner, much less having a bite. As it turns out, Gardiner was quite delicious.

'WHAT IS MEDIA, ANYWAY?' -- When David Cohen posed that question to an auditorium full of ad execs Monday morning he, of course, meant it in a good way. Certainly, Cohen, who heads up interactive and integrated media operations for Universal McCann, was not conceding any ignorance on the topic.

A DERMA FRESH START - While ad agencies often make Fountain of Youth claims for their clients' products, AdSouth Partners has decided to go them one better, buying the fountain and marketing it on its own behalf. Just the other day, the Boca Raton, Fl.

2005, A GREEK TRAGEDY - Talk about your quadrennial year in ad spending hangovers. As U.

SMALL TOWN CONNECTICUT GOES HOLLYWOOD, WELL, FOOD NETWORK ANYWAY - We moved out of Media Town a long time ago to get away from all the hubbub. So imagine our surprise when we woke last weekend in our sleepy Connecticut hamlet to find it transformed into a television set.

ADVERTISING WEAK -- Has anyone else noticed the schism that's been building between the creative and media sides of the advertising business? Lately, it's grown into more of a chasm. The most obvious example of that is next week's Advertising Week hoopla in New York, where there are scores of events - many competing directly with each other - celebrating the creativity of the ad business.

THE SHOW(S) JUST GO ON -- If the Riff has seemed a little more distracted than usual lately, it's because we have been. It's mainly because our colleagues at MediaPost have been inundating us with so many new developments.

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW, AND OTHER NOTEWORTHY ALLIANCES -- As far as media alliances go, there were some pretty strange bedfellows announced on Tuesday. Or, depending on your perspective, some extremely logical ones.