TUESDAY'S LINKS: Libby Lawyers Want Journo Records, More on Colbert, World Press Freedom Day

By: E&P Staff In today's edition, lawyers for Lewis "Scooter" Libby want a federal judge to compel several media organizations to release their records about the CIA leak case, more reaction to Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, and more tech buys for News Corp.


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Libby Lawyers Want Media Orgs. to Release Records
Lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby urged a federal judge Monday to force several media organizations to turn over e-mails, drafts of news articles and reporters' notes they say the former top White House aide needs to receive a fair trial in the CIA leak case. In a 45-page filing, Libby's lawyers said reporters have "no right - under the Constitution or the common law - to deprive Mr. Libby of evidence that will help establish his innocence at trial."


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Critic: Colbert Killed Bush Sham With Irony
Washington "is still not ready for Colbert. The depth of his attack caused bewilderment on the face of the president and some of the press, who, like myopic fish, are used to ignoring the water that sustains them," writes Michael Sherer. "Political Washington is accustomed to more direct attacks that follow the rules. We tend to like the bland buffoonery of Jay Leno or insider jokes that drop lots of names and enforce everyone's clubby self-satisfaction."


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Newspapers to Observe World Press Freedom Day Tomorrow
"Locking up journalists instils fear and sends a clear message: Don't meddle with affairs that don't concern you. Government corruption, for example, or criminal activity linked to influential personalities, or the absence of political pluralism and human rights. With the exception of a handful of prominent cases, our colleagues who, deep in prison cells, are paying the price of their excessive curiosity or attachment to press freedom, are faceless and unknown other than to their families and colleagues."


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News Corp. Buys Two Web Startups
News Corp. bought Newroo Inc., whose tools scan websites to find relevant information and news, and Ksolo Inc., which gives singalong, or karaoke, fans a way to create and share their own recorded songs. Los Angeles-based Fox Interactive Media didn't disclose terms of the acquisitions.


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Longtime Wenatchee, Wash., Journalist Dies
George Richardson, who spent four decades working at The Wenatchee World newspaper, has died at the age of 74 after a brief battle with spinal cancer. The lifelong newspaperman also owned the Pretentious Antique Co. in Wenatchee for more than 20 years and served 27 years on the Wenatchee Park Board.


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'NYT' Promotes Ad Exec Buryk
Alexis Buryk, group vice president for advertising at The New York Times, has been promoted to senior vice president. She succeeds Jyll F. Holzman, who has resigned for family reasons, the newspaper said. Ms. Buryk will oversee all advertising sales for the newspaper and will report to Denise F. Warren, chief advertising officer of The New York Times Media Group.


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Harvard Author's Book Was Packaged to the Hilt
It's no excuse, but with all this third-party positioning, is it any wonder that a person -- especially a teenage person -- could forget (or ignore) the fact that some of the writing in her book is not actually hers? How easy it is for authenticity to be obscured in a world in which hired help packages preschool applications, in which the line between a real relationship with an adult and strategic sucking up is blurred.


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U.K. Children's Newspaper Launched
First News is an adventurous project which, if it succeeds, could help to regenerate the press industry by introducing the humble newspaper to a new generation of readers. Aimed at children aged from nine to 12, the paper is intended to be an authentic primer for grown-up papers, combining fun and games with concise explanations of issues such as global warming and terrorism.


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Livingston Awards Finalists Announced
Finalists for the 2005 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists have been announced. The Livingstons, the nation's largest all-media, general reporting prizes, award three $10,000 prizes for Local, National, and International Reporting to journalists under the age of 35.