Media Notes

The N.Y. OBSERVER's John Koblin reported N.Y. Times sports columnist Harvey Araton has "moved from the sports desks to a features desk." As a result of the move, the Times, which had five sports columnists two years ago, now has two. One of those columnists, George Vecsey, is 70 years old, and he said he is "about ready to retire." But Koblin noted there "will be no replacements." N.Y. Times Sports Editor Tom Jolly said that the Times' sports page will "use fewer general-interest writers to generate columns, and will instead rely more on beat writers to provide expertise." Jolly wants these writers to "blog, he wants them to use Twitter and he wants them to write analysis pieces" (OBSERVER.com, 8/18).

Writer Wonders Why GQ Ran Photos Of ESPN's Erin Andrews In Latest Issue

POOR TIMING? In Philadelphia, John Gonzalez writes pictures of ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews that appear in the September issue of GQ magazine "made me recoil." With video of Andrews secretly taped nude in a hotel room hitting the Internet earlier this summer, GQ "should have stuck those photos in a drawer somewhere and forgotten about them until Andrews had more time to recover." Gonzalez: "It's too soon  to be treating her as a sex symbol again" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 8/19). GQ Style Editor Adam Rapoport said Andrews was "up for doing anything" during the shoot. Rapoport: "It was the ESPN guys who kept saying, 'Are you sure you want to shoot her in that?" ("Entertainment Tonight," 8/18). The photo shoot took place in April, before the hotel video was released (THE DAILY).

RECOVERY NOT IMMINENT: Univision CEO Joe Uva yesterday said that the TV ad market "appears to be stabilizing based on current scatter-market spending, but it is anyone's guess when a full recovery might occur." Uva: "We certainly don't expect the markets to be fully restored in the foreseeable future" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 8/19).