LOS ANGELES: The Writers Guild of America has hired Bill Carrick and Kam Kuwata, both prominent California political consultants, to advise them during the ongoing writers strike.

As late night talk shows finally returned to the air, a nation numbed by reruns focuses more on the hosts' "strike beards" than on the monologues. Leno returns and delivers his own jokes in violation of WGA rules, raising questions about whether his hack writers will return happy. Meanwhile, forecast for the Weather Channel: slight chance of sale, with $5 billion in showers.

NEW YORK: Lifetime Television's publicity department launched a multi-week media campaign to generate buzz for its new show How to Look Good Naked. The cable network said the run up to the January 4 premiere is its largest for any reality show in Lifetime's history.

BENTONVILLE, AR: Working Families for Wal-Mart (WFWM), the Edelman-run group designed to serve as a positive public face composed of supporters of the retailer, is being changed into a completely in-house endeavor.

The biggest media story of 2007 - in fact, the only real media story of 2007 - was the changes being inflicted on the media by the Internet. Every other story was an offshoot of this fundamental dynamic.

CUPERTINO, CA: A popular blog receiving leaked information about Apple products has agreed to shut down in the wake of a company lawsuit, raising questions about whether bloggers should have the same rights as journalists.

NEW YORK: As shareholders approved News Corp's acquisition of Dow Jones (DJ) on December 13, the ax fell in DJ's corporate communications department.

If you're a beloved star athlete who has just been outed as a growth hormone-slamming cheat, you have essentially two choices: Either fess up, apologize, and ask for forgiveness; or keep your trap shut, ignore the growing public outrage, lie and deny, and punch walls while shooting yourself up with more steroids and kicking adorable puppies.

BOSTON: Seminal word of mouth marketing firm BzzAgent said that its campaigns reached almost 11 million more consumers this year than last year, aided by an improved web presence and stronger ties with PR and ad agencies.

On a frigid December afternoon, a group of around 100 writers trudged in a self-contained circle outside of HBO's headquarters on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.