Link bucket: So now 'media' is a bad word

Links in search of irrational exuberance:

• If you were Tribune Co., what would you do with the Los Angeles Times? Before you answer, whatever you were planning to say was probably already said by one of the following: Jeff Jarvis, Barry Parr, Robert Niles or Michael Kinsley. What would I do? Everything I could to make it a Los Angeles brand serving the Los Angeles area with Los Angeles-area news and information for the lives and to the benefits of Los Angeles-area people. I would eliminate all purposes higher and lower than that.
• Peter Krasilovsky points out a nugget for local search strategists: the co-founder of Judy's Book, Andy Sack, bluntly informing all of us pretenders that self-service advertising doesn't work in the small- to medium-enterprise arena. Feet on the street are crucial, he says.
• Scott Karp finds new evidence to support a point I've been fond of making around here: new media may not crank out as much money as old. Update (7:20 a.m. ET 10/18/06): Now all the Web 2.0 product wannabees shudder as the overall ad pie shrinks.
• Design pal Alan Jacobson recently redesigned his firm's site, and at the same time posted ambitious "New Rules for Newspapers." Doc Searls' much-linked prescription for newspapers follows similar lines. And Steve Yelvington tees off on the perception of newspaper readers' trust and loyalty. Upshot of all: Less expressing, more listening.

It's cool, crisp and beautiful here in the Tennessee Valley this morning, and expected to stay that way for a while -- so this may be the last you hear from me until next week. Can you blame me? :-)