Fox's Fiesta Bowl OT thriller wins Monday night
Its going to be hard to top Boise States unexpected win over Oklahoma in Monday nights Fiesta Bowl in terms of exciting finishes. But in terms of ratings, the late-running Bowl Championship Series premiere could have been better. Though new carrier Fox won the night with a solid 8.3 household rating and 13.7 million total viewers for the overtime contest, which lasted until 12:51 a.m., that was down from last years average for the Fiesta Bowl. That was somewhat expected, as it was only the second BCS game to feature a team from a mid-major conference. The last, 2005s Utah-Pittsburgh game, averaged a 7.4 household rating and 12.2 million viewers. Fox easily won the night and produced its best Monday night household average since the season finale of 24 in May. The network averaged a 4.0 rating in adults 18-49 in primetime, its best average in 19 weeks.

Reports dub 2006 most deadly year for journalists
For the journalism profession, 2006 was a year of great danger. Some 137 journalists and 30 support staff died last year while doing their jobs across 37 countries. It was the most deadly year on record, according to figures out from the International News Safety Institute. Iraq proved the most lethal place to work, with 68 deaths; all but two of those were Iraqis. Since the start of the conflict in Iraq, some 169 news gatherers have now been killed. Globally, most journalists who died did so while reporting on conflicts, corruption and crime in their own country. Outside Iraq, the most lethal country for journalists was the Philippines, where 15 died. This was followed by Mexico with eight deaths and Sri Lanka with seven. Figures from another organization, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), also record 2006 as the having had the highest number of murders, assassinations and unexplained deaths ever for the journalism profession. The IFJ puts the number at 155. At the end of 2006, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning deliberate attacks on journalists.

Unhappy new year as Philly Inquirer dumps 68 jobs
In the newspaper industry, the new year is beginning much like the old year ended -- with layoffs. Philadelphia Media Holdings (PMH), the new owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, announced yesterday that the paper will dump 68 editorial workers, or 17 percent of the newsroom staff, leaving the staff with 325 employees. PMH, a group of local business moguls led by public relations man Brian Tierney, purchased the Inquirer and sister paper the Daily News in June. Speculation over job cuts had grown ever since, especially after management and the Newspaper Guild, which represents about 900 Inquirer and Daily News workers, completed contentious negotiations over pensions and seniority last month. The Inquirer and Daily News, like other papers across the country, have suffered as advertisers and readers desert them for the internet and other new media. Thousands of newspaper staffers around the country have lost their jobs over the past five years.

Graphic gaffe: You say Osama, CNN says Obama
It seemed bound to happen, somebody mixing up the remarkably similar names of Senator Barack Obama, the likely 2008 presidential candidate, with Osama bin Laden, the infamous terrorist holed up in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan or maybe Pakistan. And now it has. CNN inadvertently made a mistake on a graphic during Mondays evening edition of Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room," writing "Where's Obama?" instead of Osama in a piece about Osama bin Laden. The network and Blitzer himself apologized for the gaffe yesterday, and the Obama camp has apparently accepted the apology. There has been much talk in the media about the senator's name and how it may play into the presidential election. His middle name also brings to mind a newsworthy character from the Middle East; it's Hussein.

And while we were gone: Shock shudder, WSJ debut
While many agencies essentially shut down for the holidays, there were some media developments of import. Heres a few highlights that happened while Media Life was on a two-week break: Just before the New Year, Hachette Filipacchi shuttered Shock, its six-month-old photo-heavy magazine aimed at Gen Y readers. The company will maintain the ShockU.com site, however. The magazine, which did not offer subscriptions, was an offshoot of a similar French publication entitled Choc. Meanwhile, yesterday the Wall Street Journal introduced its new, smaller redesign, which drew mixed reactions from media pundits. On the same day, a union representing the papers staffers ran an ad in the New York Times questioning WSJ owner Dow Jones commitment to quality. The union is negotiating new contracts. CBS will shake up its Monday night lineup next month with the new comedy Rules of Engagement taking the place of The New Adventures of Old Christine Feb. 5 at 9:30 p.m. Christine will return March 12 at 8:30 p.m., taking the place of The Class, which wont return. And King of Queens, which will end this season, will take over the 9:30 slot April 9 for its final few weeks. Finally, McClatchy sold the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to a private equity group for $530 million.