Romenesko

Cox Enterprises
ASP Westward, owned by private equity firm American Securities, is acquring the Longview News-Journal and Marshall News Messenger from Cox Enterprises.

ChicagoTribune.com | WhiteHouse.gov
The Obama administration's direct rebuttal of what Glenn Beck said about the Olympics bid "may seem like a footnote," writes Mark Silva, "but it's emblematic of something bigger: An administration's refusal to play ball with a widely watched cable news network which it views as slanted translating into an administration's willingness to challenge the network's fast and loose foot-play with the facts -- or, more specifically, Glenn Beck's carelessness."

CJR.org
Today's Journal piece on how Detroit school officials get kids into classrooms on headcount day deserves praise. Dean Starkman warns, though, that he'll be writing about "deeper and troubling trends" at the Journal in upcoming posts.

WashingtonPost.com Ombudsman Blog
"It’s never going to be wine and roses, but it's certainly a much more functional relationship than it was," says Post education reporter Bill Turque. For about a year, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee refused to talk to him.

Slate | Huffington Post
Jack Shafer delivers it: "We're substituting one flawed business model for another. For-profit newspapers lose money accidentally. Nonprofit news operations lose money deliberately." || Texas Tribune founder John Thornton responds.

Temple Talk
That's what John Temple writes from the UC Berkeley Media Technology Summit at Googleplex. "At Google, you don't feel the drag of history that you feel when working with legacy media companies," says the former Rocky Mountain News editor. (Read his speech.) || SFGate.com: Summit takes a hard look at the future of journalism.

Boston Phoenix
Stephen Taylor and cousin Benjamin, who are pursuing the Boston Globe, can learn a few things from what's going on at the Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News, says Adam Reilly. For example, don't overestimate the value of new blood. Philadelphia Newspapers CEO Brian Tierney erred in thinking that his local roots and salesmanship could succeed where Knight Ridder had failed, ex-KR editor Ken Doctor tells Reilly.
> Two very different suitors for the Boston Globe

Washington Post
"I don't see it as a corporate attempt to crush creativity and sap the soul," Howard Kurtz says of the Post's guidelines. "No one is saying we can't engage on these sites, or that some Post editor has to provide tweet-by-tweet approval."

LATimes.com
Mark Milian shares "a few wild ideas" for using Wave, including live editing and smarter story updates.

Washington Post | LAObserved.com
The two papers, which each owned 50% of the venture, will now compete to provide their articles to subscribers to the joint service, reports Howard Kurtz. || Read LAT publisher's note.

Harvard Citizen
"I listen to people say, 'I love the Times, but that guy, that Douthat, he's a conservative, and David Brooks is a right-winger -- well, if you only want to read people who agree with you, read The Nation," says former Times public editor Daniel Okrent. "If it's to survive and flourish, the Times has to be an honest broker, and the perception left by that op-ed page and the adjoining editorial page is that it's not."

> Sun-Times: "There is, as of today, only one bidder"
> National guild stays away from Totten probe
> Why TV news should show US-hating "Three Stooges"
> Ex-Portland Press Herald opinion editor starts PR firm
> Star Tribune biz/local news editor quits for PR job
> Fung named LAT online arts/entertainment editor
> Are required iPods too distracting for freshman?

New York Times
The Times is talking with potential news providers in Chicago about adding local content to the paper, says spokeswoman Diane McNulty. "Our intent is to roll out these expanded reports in several key markets around the country, with Chicago following San Francisco."

FishbowlNY
Laurel Touby, who started Mediabistro in 1994 and sold it for $23 million in 2007, tells Amanda Ernst: "I learned that I'm not interested in running a multimillion dollar company. I love startups, I love the challenge of startups. I'm more of a startup CEO than a maintenance CEO. I'm a highly entrepreneurial CEO."

BusinessWeek
New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman declines to discuss his offer or his plans for how he might integrate BusinessWeek with his other media holdings, including U.S. News & World Report.

Newsweek.com
Aaron Britt was 24 when he was hired as Bill Safire's researcher. "'I'm for you,' he'd say," writes Britt, "and then he would grade my most recent research file with a C-. Then he'd tell me why, what to do better, and send me off again." Now a San Francisco Chronicle fashion writer, Britt says "I've always come back to [Safire's] idea that a columnist is worthless if he's only opinion and no reporting. I don't go to press until I've done an interview or two."
> Three liberal writers say nice things about Safire

NPR.org
A listener questioned Scott Simon's pay after it was included in a recent Washington Post survey. "There are a few other people in public radio who earn more, both at weekly and daily programs," says the "Weekend Edition Saturday" host. "Most everybody in commercial broadcasting earns a lot more."
> NPR CEO Schiller reduces her own pay

Temple Talk
John Temple delivered it at the UC Berkeley Media Technology Summit.

E&P Pub
Ron Royhab, 67, asked to retire, says general manager Joe Zerbey. Editor director Dave Shutt is also leaving.

Westword
The New Times-owned Denver weekly says applicants must have a medical condition that necessitates marijuana use. "Keep in mind this isn't about assessing the quality of the medicine on site; it's about evaluating the quality of the establishment. After all, we can't have our reviewer be stoned all the time.