Drudge’s Influence Waning. Developing… · The Drudge Report's influence has peaked and is on the wane, according to several pundits who note the decline in Drudge's ability to set the agenda.  Huffington Post and Politico at times get more traffic. (TPM)

Obama Infomercial Drew Record 33M Viewers · The impact on TV ratings of Sen. Barack Obama's 30-minute infomercial is manifest: 33.5 million viewers watched the ad, far more than the 19.8 million who stayed up to watch the last World Series game. The Obamathon pushed up ratings on all the stations that aired it (network and cable). The only loser? ABC, who did not. (NYT)

Pew, Politico Analyze ‘Anti-McCain Media Bias’ [ANALYSIS] · Politico evaluates a Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism report, and accusations of "liberal media bias" in the current presidential election. It concludes: "As it happens, McCain’s campaign is going quite poorly and Obama’s is going well. Imposing artificial balance on this reality would be a bias of its own." (Politico)

Christian Science Monitor To Publish Online Only · The Christian Science Monitor confirmed Tuesday it will abandon its weekday print edition and appear online only, making it the first national newspaper to give up on print.  The shift will allow The Monitor to lower costs and maintain its eight foreign bureaus. (NYT)

$133M Spent On Senate TV Ads In Four States · In four states -- North Carolina, Oregon, Minnesota and Colorado, $133 million has already been spent on TV ads for Senate races, most of it from outsider and party committees, with more to come in the final week of the campaign. (Washington Post)

GOP Pulls Ads From Bachmann · Five days after Rep. Michele Bachmann suggested to Chris Matthews that Barack Obama was unpatriotic and urged the press to investigate anti-American sentiment in Congress, the National Republican Congressional Committee has pulled its media purchases from Bachmann's race. (Huffington Post)

Obama Buys Half-Hour Of Network Primetime · Sen. Barack Obama has purchased a half-hour of primetime television on CBS and NBC, for Oct 29th at 8 p.m., according to a blog that follows the television industry.  (The Live Feed)  The decision was later confimed by the Obama campaign and network TV officials.  (Reuters)

Google’s Schmidt Says Brands Signal Trustworthy Content · Google CEO Eric Schmidt said online brands are the best way to signal that content can be trusted and are publishers' best weapon in counteracting the prevalence of "false information" cluttering the Internet. (Advertising Age)

Inquiry Launched To Probe Iraq War Coverage · The Federal Communications Commission launched an inquiry to probe congressional complaints that military analysts violated sponsorship identification rules by not disclosing their ties to the Pentagon when reviewing the war in Iraq. (WSJ)

FEATURE: Will Sulzberger Heirs Sell ‘Times’? · The chances of a rift among the The New York Times' founding family is greater today than a decade ago: Seventeen more family members are now old enough to join the board that controls the Times. (New York Magazine)

Magazines Lose Ad Pages, Gain Digital Revenue · Ad pages fell 1.3% at the top U.S. magazines in 2007, but revenue growth from ads appearing on their Web sites almost doubled. PC World had the highest digital income: 38% of total revenues. (Portfolio.com)

Tina Brown Launches Web Site With Diller Backing · Tina Brown, the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Talk, launched her first Web site this morning. The Daily Beast, which also counts a former Wall Street Journal editor among its execs, is funded by Barry Diller’s IAC. (FT)

Spielberg Leaves Paramount For India-Backed Venture · Steven Spielberg and Paramount Pictures have finalized their separation. India's Reliance Group, headed by the world's sixth-richest man, is putting $1.5 billion into a new Spielberg venture. (AFP)

SEC Probes Fake Steve Jobs Heart Attack Report · The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating a false report on CNN’s iReport site that Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs had had a heart attack. CNN says it is cooperating with the probe. The posting caused Apple stock to fall 9% before recovering to end Friday down 3%.  (ZDNet)

Bloomberg Media Growth May End On Wall Street Crisis · Bloomberg LP has grown for 20 years with every twist and turn of Wall Street, selling its trading terminals and expanding its news force. But many analysts and observers expect that the current turmoil in world financial markets will finally break that growth streak. (BusinessWeek)