We were reading a promo in People — “Kirstie Alley sets a new fitness goal: getting into a bikini on national television” — when it occurred to us that the once impressive term has pretty much lost its meaning.

Used to be, “national television” meant one of the three broadcast networks — which guaranteed that whatever was on “national television” got a huge audience.

Now, some “national television” shows on cable get a smaller audience than the nightly news in Des Moines (that one’s for you, Mike.)

What’s more, anything of national import — such as Kirstie Alley in a bikini — could simply be loaded on YouTube and it would spread to “national television” whether Kirstie originally “got into the bikini on national television” or not.

Capiche?

On a side note: We’d love for Britney to read the passage above aloud, just to watch her do all the air quotes that the task would require.

(Photo illustration by Joe Darrow for New York Magazine)

Technorati tags: Media

From WWD:

Wondering why Andy Pemberton got sacked as the editor of Spin after only two issues? Just take a side-by-side look at that magazine and Blender, where he was the founding editor. A comparison using two recent issues:

Blender’s newsy front of book section: Burner: Everything you need to know and plenty you don’t. Spin’s newsy front of book section: Barometer. Everything that’s hot. Or not.

Blender’s front story in Burner: The assassination of Proof and Pig Hawk, two rappers and friends of Eminem. Spin’s front story in Barometer: The assassination of Proof and Pig Hawk, two rappers and friends of Eminem.

Blender’s signature colors: Red and yellow. Spin’s signature colors: Red and yellow.

Number of Q&As in Blender: 7. Number of Q&As in Spin: 8…

Lists included in Spin: America’s 101 Wildest Parties; The 25 Hottest Stars Under 25. Lists included in Blender: Rock’s Nastiest Divorces; The five most influential musicians of the last five years; 33 things you should know about the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Back page of Blender: 15 Questions for KT Tunstall. Back page of Spin: 25 Big Questions for Jimmy Wales.

“Lads mag” editors like Pemberton have been landing plum jobs across the magazine industry for the past few years — at pubs like Playboy, GQ and others — but have had difficulty duplicating their success (despite shamelessly duplicating everything else).

Technorati tags: Spin, Blender, Marketing

Now let’s keep it going.

Thomas Huang of the Dallas Morning News offers a spirited argument for better media coverage of Asian men — using one of Media Orchard’s favorite flicks, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, as his commentary’s centerpiece.

(Check out the clip above — unsafe language — if you haven’t already seen the movie.)

Technorati tags: H&K, Media, Asians

Media training tip for Star Jones Reynolds: Smiling through gritted teeth does not communicate sincerity. More from Gawker.

Technorati tags: PR, Public Relations, Star