Reality Wednesday gives Fox & ABC a tie
  It was a duel of reality bows and bow-outs Wednesday night as Fox and ABC tied for the lead among 18-49s, each posting a 4.5 rating (though ABC had a 12 share to Fox’s 11). The season premiere of ABC’s “The Bachelorette” at 9 p.m. slightly edged the series finale of Fox’s “The Simple Life” for top honors, averaging a 5.6 to the latter’s 5.5 at 8:30.
   NBC was third for the night with a 4.2/11. CBS placed fourth with a 3.5/9, the WB was fifth at 2.0/5 and UPN was sixth at 1.5/4.
   “The Bachelorette” built its audience by nearly 20 percent from the first half-hour to the second. It may have picked up “King of Queens” viewers, 22 percent of whom fled from CBS at 9:30 when “Becker” came on. At 10 p.m., “Bachelorette” gave “Celebrity Mole” a 25 percent bump over last week’s rating to a 4.5, though NBC’s “Law & Order” still ruled with a 5.3 rating. 
   Among households NBC finished first with an 8.6/14. CBS was second at 7.7/12, ABC third at 6.6/10, Fox fourth at 6.0/9, the WB fifth at 3.1/5 and UPN sixth at 2.5/4.

'Life' reunion boosts Fox to No. 1 Tuesday
  The “Simple Life” reunion special, which inexplicably aired the night before the show’s actual series finale, lifted Fox to an easy victory Tuesday night. The network averaged a 4.7 adults 18-49 rating and 12 share for the night to NBC’s 4.1/11. ABC was third at 3.2/8, CBS fourth at 2.9/8, UPN fifth at 1.8/5 and the WB sixth at 1.4/4.
   “The Simple Life’s” one-hour special averaged a dominating 5.5 rating at 8 p.m., with ABC’s comedies placing second at 3.4. Even CBS finished ahead of NBC in the hour with a 3.1 average for “Navy NCIS” to NBC’s 2.9 for “The Tracy Morgan Show” and “Whoopi.”
   The return of “America’s Next Top Model” at 9 p.m. performed quite well, jumping 43 percent among lead-in “All of Us” to a 2.0 rating for its first half-hour. That grew to a 2.4 in the second half-hour, by far the best performance for a UPN Tuesday show in that slot this season. ABC led the hour with “According to Jim” and “Less Than Perfect’s” 3.9 average rating.
   At 10 p.m. NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” nearly outdrew ABC’s “Line of Fire” and CBS’s “Judging Amy” combined, averaging a 5.5 to “Line’s” 2.2 and “Amy’s” 2.8.
   CBS won the night among households with an 8.3/13. NBC was second at 7.3/11, Fox third at 6.3/10, ABC fourth at 5.4/9, UPN fifth at 2.8/4 and the WB sixth at 2.7/4.

Jann & Adobe help dig out Salon with $800K 
Proving that the internet isn’t going to obliterate print media anytime soon, a struggling web site is getting a helping hand from the print industry. Jann Wenner, chairman of Wenner Media and founder and editor of Rolling Stone, is planning to invest $200,000 in internet company Salon Media Group. He will also join its board. Wenner’s and thus Rolling Stone's partnership with Salon is expected to result in a series of articles about the upcoming presidential election, just one of the things the site has planned to beef up its coverage of the election. The magazine also has hired former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal to cover the election. John E. Warnock, co-chairman of Adobe Systems and a long-time financial supporter of the company, also pledged $600,000 in additional investments. Salon currently has accrued cash and non-cash accounting losses of $80 million and has failed to post a profit since its inception in 1995.

Papers bag USA Weekend with accidental n-word
Apparently someone forgot to tell the copy editors at USA Weekend that readers tend to choke on their Sunday morning coffee when they see the word "nigger" plopped inexplicably in an otherwise innocent illustration. Editors somehow failed to notice the word in the background of an article illustration for this weekend’s magazine. After learning of the offending word, several newspapers, including the New York Daily News and South Florida Sun-Sentinel, decided to nix this weekend’s edition rather than risk offending readers. USA Weekend claims the mistake occurred when it reprinted an illustration from an earlier New York Times Magazine story that dealt with the problems of using the epithet. USA Weekend copy editors fell down on the job, not noticing the word and allowing many of the magazines to be printed and shipped before anyone realized the problem. About 43 percent of the 23.7 million circulation tabloid was shipped with the offending language.

Osama the Grouch? Al-Jazeera targets kids 
Although best known for its 24-hour news network prone to airing tapes of most-wanted leaders Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, Arab news network Al-Jazeera evidently thinks it can market to children, too. Al-Jazeera announced plans this week to launch an edutainment network for kids. The international network was developed to provide Arab-speaking children and their families an alternative to Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. About half of the programming will be acquired and will include documentaries, a 45-minute debate show, cartoons and a 10-minute newscast. The network will start with 18 hours of programming and will later increase to 24 hours. The Middle East and Europe are expected to receive the satellite channel in fourth quarter of this year, with the U.S. and Asia to follow some time later.

WSJ's Ingrassia jumps to Times biz editor
The New York Times is finally filling the long-open position of business editor, vacant since Glenn Kramon ascended to associate managing editor in October. Wall Street Journal assistant managing editor Larry Ingrassia moves into the Times slot after nearly 26 years at the Journal.  Under Ingrassia’s direction, the Journal won a 2003 Pulitzer Prize for corporate scandals coverage and a 2002 prize for breaking news on Sept. 11.  Ingrassia began his Journal career as a Chicago bureau reporter in 1978. After a stint at the Minneapolis bureau, he moved to Boston to head its bureau from 1986 to ’93. He became editor of the Money & Investing section in 1999 and rose to assistant managing editor in charge of global coverage of financial markets late last year.