Last year, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer wrote a long story on what a bunch of shits (paraphrasing) the conservative cartoonish evil billionaire Koch Brothers are. This led to much protesting from the Kochs' paid minions, and a months-long campaign to try to smear Mayer in the press.

Since the recession hit and print started dying in earnest, magazines have been...let's say, loosening their standards on the editorial-advertising divide. Now, in a bid to maintain relevance, the American Society of Magazine Editors has updated its ethical guidelines. HMMMM.

We didn't get that much out of Vogue editor Anna Wintour during our brief conversation last night, but she did admit that running the magazine isn't actually all that hard. Then we asked creative director Grace Coddington to chime in.

Last night was football night and magazine night in America! New York hosted both the National Magazine Awards and the first round of the NFL Draft. Which one was better? Which was more embarrassing? Which had Anna Wintour?

ASME is done handing out awards to the top magazines again. By all accounts, the ceremony was an odd mix of depression and uplifting speechifying. Just listen to what Twitter is saying:

In your awardy Thursday media column: the recessiontastic magazine awards are here, newspaper meta-layoffs, Lenny Dykstra's canned, more justice for Chauncey Bailey, and advertising brainstorming:

Us Weekly became the third magazine in a week reprimanded by the American Society of Magazine Editors for impure ads. It's as if Us, Entertainment Weekly and ESPN the Magazine don't care about purity!

In your finally Friday media column: the New York Times "eats crow" (funny joke LOL), the Newseum wins, ASME loses, and police charge Fox with being annoying:

In your swashbuckling Wednesday media column: XXL-Giant feud update, NPR infighting, nobody's scared of ASME, the Boston Globe is mad, son, and dead goats save newspapers:

In your rubble-strewn Friday media column: rumors of carnage at Budget Travel, threats at a medical journal, advertising havoc at ESPN mag, and editors destroy everything:

At left is the top of an interview with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez filed by Charlotte Hall, Editor of the Orlando Sentinel and President of the American Society Of Newspaper Editors. Other editors who recently accompanied Hall to Venezuela, like Marty Baron of the Boston Globe and Margaret Sullivan of the …

Dave Zinczenko of Men's Health has ceded the American Society of Magazine Editors honors to his Rodale colleague, David Willey, the industry association's incoming president. But that's not all the editor and best-selling author has given up. Willey, editor of Runner's World, appears to have been acclaimed the new hot…

Tina Brown, former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and (the failed) Talk Magazine got inducted into the American Magazine Editors Hall of Fame this afternoon. She summed up her career in the industry as "Three weddings and a funeral." The funeral being Talk. Her most recent claim to fame, a biography…

• "His ability to remain totally upright when sprinting, as if carrying an invisible egg and spoon—what are these, if not the techniques of an alien life force who has just graduated summa cum laude in advanced human behavior?" Tom Cruise, watch out — the New Yorker is onto you, and Sy Hersh might be looking for a…

If you're anything like us, you were drinking and dancing till the wee hours last night, celebrating the announcement of this year's National Magazine Award finalists. Such excitement! Such drama! Such drug-addled nightmares of being stampeded by a herd of bronze elephants! In the sober light of morning, finally,…

• Beloved perv Dan Savage discovers another note left by Village Voice Media tribal warlord Mike Lacey: "I recently discovered that many of the young ladies who advertise in the back pages of the Voice actually have PENISES. They appear to be ladies until it s too late." [Slog]
• The Huffington Post agrees: Tomatoes …

Put on your monkey suits and call your bookie — The ASME has just announced the finalists for the 40th annual National Magazine Awards. While we'll have to wait until May 9 to see the winners accept their elephantine prizes, there's still more than enough time to organize your office betting pool.