"Charlotte Beers, the former advertising executive who has been in charge of the Bush administration's global campaign to enhance the image of the United States among Muslims, resigned today for what she said were health reasons," reports Steven Weisman. Under Beers' supervision, the U.S. State Department produced videos, pamphlets, booklets and other materials, but her efforts were largely seen as ineffective.

"Last April, several hundred black-tie and couture-clad worthies crowded into the ornate ballroom of the Washington Ritz-Carlton for one more dinner on the spring charity circuit," writes Alicia Mundy - namely, the annual gala of the once-respected Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR), a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization whose stated mission is "to improve the health of women through research." In recent years, however, SWHR has become increasingly dependent on corporation contributions from pharmaceutical companies.

More than two dozen journalism school deans and professors, independent editors, journalists and authors have sent an open letter to major media editors, criticizing media coverage of Iraq and warning that "this is no time for relying solely on official sources and their supporters." Signers of the letter include: retired New York Times columnist Tom Wicker; former New York Times reporter William Serrin; Ben Bagdikian, former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California at Berkeley; author Studs Terkel; independent journalist and filmmaker Barbara Koe