Mixed Bag for Atlanta-based TV

Though overall cable viewership was up 3% this year and ad spending has increased by 9%, four of the seven major Atlanta-based cable networks saw their audience totals erode.

Among the reasons cited: Increased competition, fewer hurricanes and baseball games, plus though it wasn't mentioned in the AJC article, 2008 was an election year.

Lede: Professor Says Grace Contributed to Suicide

A Harvard Medical School professor states in court documents that CNN talk show host Nancy Grace contributed to the suicide of Melinda Duckett, the mother of missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett who killed herself three years ago soon after appearing on the popular host's show.

"Her [Duckett's] apparently unanticipated public humiliation on the nationally televised program in question was a substantial contributing cause of her suicide," Dr. Harold J. Bursztajn wrote in a lengthy but preliminary opinion. It was filed recently in the wrongful-death civil case in U.S. District Court in Ocala.

Orlando Sentinel