Remember when Sarah Palin called freedom of the press a "privilege"? Well, Palin fleshed out her understanding of the First Amendment a bit more today, in an interview with conservative talker Chris Plante. ABC News's Steven Portnoy reports:

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev.

Earlier this year, when he was still the online editor for the Weekly Standard, Michael Goldfarb and I appeared together on NECN's NewsNight with Jim Braude. Despite our wildly divergent political views, he struck me as a pretty good guy--not a ranter, but a smart conservative you could have a substantive conversation with.

For the past day or so, Fox News and the McCain campaign have been pushing the whole LA Times-Rashid Khalidi videotape story. In case you've missed it, the Times apparently has a videotape of Obama saying nice things about Khalidi, a former U. of Chicago professor who now teaches at Columbia, at a 2003 shindig. The Times has already written about Obama's relationship to Khalidi, a Palestinian-American who's been harshly critical of Israel.

If Barack Obama becomes president, historians will marvel at the restraint he demonstrated throughout his campaign. John McCain and his surrogates, they'll recall, tried attack after attack: they cast Obama as arrogant, disrespectful, a friend to terrorists, a latter-day Eugene Debs. But rather than firing back--and risking coming across as an Angry Black Man--Obama stayed calm and kept hammering home his "Change" message.

So asks Politico's Jeanne Cummings. But she can't really get anyone to take the bait. That includes GOP strategist Mike Murphy, who says: "I don't see any risk at all."

I don't see it either, largely because the whole Obama-as-celebrity thing has already run its course. But you know what does worry me a bit? This new Obama spot targeting A) McCain's lack of economic expertise and B) his decision to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate:

In today's Herald, making the not-unfamiliar argument that the media is in the tank for Barack Obama, Michael Graham cites some numbers from a recent campaign-coverage study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism:

At the risk of violating union rules, allow me to do a bit of reporting: A new study by the Pew Research Center found that, while 71 percent of Obama’s recent media coverage has been “positive” or “neutral,” almost 60 percent of McCain’s coverage over the same period has been “decidedly negative.

Given the McCain campaign's ongoing battle with the New York Times, someone at McCain HQ must have gotten intense enjoyment out of correcting today's NYT Magazine cover story:

The cover article on Page 52 this weekend about Senator John McCain’s campaign misspells the given name of Mr. McCain’s fellow senator from Arizona and the surname of the governor of Florida, both McCain supporters.

According to the Boston Globe, the paper's redesign in general--and the debut of "g" in particular--is all about serving readers better. For example, here's how the paper pitched "g" in today's explanation to readers:

Our new magazine-style section will be called “g” — for Globe — and it reflects what you, our readers, have been telling us about how you prefer to receive your reviews, previews, profiles and arts, culture and features coverage.

My initial thoughts:

--"g" actually looks good, notwithstanding some uninspired cover art. There's plenty of editorial heft inside, and the "Parting Shot" feature on the penultimate page has tons of potential. Also, let's hope the graphic accompanying Alex Beam's column is his and his alone; it's very apt.

--The revamped pics for the metro columnists? Not so hot, at least judging from Adrian Walker's.

Did a big black guy really rob and mutiliate a young white female in Pittsburgh after spotting a McCain-Palin sticker on her car?

Fox News suggests it's legit. TMZ is withholding judgment.

Here's a photo of the alleged victim. My prediction is that this is a stunt. If I'm wrong, feel free to point that out:

The New York Times Co. didn't have such a hot third quarter, period--but the company seems especially down on the New England Media Group, which includes the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. From Bloomberg:

The publisher plans to write down the value of its New England newspapers, including the Boston Globe, by as much as $150 million.

Atlantic national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg's whole interview with McCain confidante/co-author Mark Salter is worth reading. But one part in particular--dealing with McCain's relationship with the media--is remarkable:

Goldberg: Looking back, do you think there was something false about your salad days with the press?