Dexter Filkins, NYT war correspondent, moving to New Yorker

The Observer reports that Dexter Filkins, author of the "The Forever War," a gripping account of combat in Iraq, and one of the New York Times's top correspondents in Afghanistan/Pakistan, will leave the paper to work for the New Yorker. He won't be covering the war for the magazine.

Keeping up with...

Flagging revenues and tighter newsroom budgets make the decision to spend money to cover the president as he travels the country and the world increasingly difficult, the New York Observer reports.

Four today

1. Steve Lambert at the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group is merely asking for suggestions; the Miami Herald is asking readers for donations. NBC Miami

2. Dan Kennedy defends journalists' use of anonymous sources (and I agree with him). The Guardian

3. Layoffs at the New Republic. Politico

4. Edmund Andrews, the New York Times economics reporter who wrote about his mortgage problems, has taken a buyout from the paper (but not so he can make his mortgage, he says). NYO

Four in the evening

1. Inflating balloon boy: The Heene family in Colorado seem to be getting the attention they craved as the media continues to cover the boy who wasn't in the balloon. Denver Post

2. Around the bases: Michael Massing takes on Howard Kurtz for taking on the Obama administration for taking on Fox. CJR

3. Poor information diet: Howard Weaver warns us about the troubling trend of "infobesity". Etaoin Shrdlu

4. Words, words, words (dot com): A software engineer leaves the New York Times to build the "dictionary of the future." NYO

Four in the morning

1. Dead horse beat: Local news in Los Angeles is often an extended commercial for the network's entertainment shows. Robert Rector

2. Cluttertweet: There is no mailbox that junk mail will not find (and eventually fill). Twitter ads appear to be the latest iteration. Austin American-Statesman

3. DocumentClouds forming: The Atlantic, New Yorker, Mother Jones, MSNBC, WNYC and Washington Post have joined the nonprofit DocumentCloud. NYO

4. Buzz generator: Cliff Barney is psyched about reporting experiments at UC Berkeley's j-school. Calbuzz

Shifting priorities, shifting beats

As the U.S. military shifts its emphasis from Iraq to Afghanistan, the New York Times and other papers are moving reporters from Baghdad to Kabul.

Alissa Rubin will be leaving her post as Baghdad bureau chief for the Times to cover the fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Stephen Lee Meyers will take Rubin's place in Baghdad.

From the New York Observer:

Back in April, foreign editor Susan Chira told us the Times would be bulking up its Pakistan coverage.

“This is obviously the war that the president is focusing on,” said Ms. Chira then. “And troops are being shifted to there so we intend to gear up ... But we won’t leave Baghdad."

She also told us that many veterans of The Times’ Iraq coverage, including CJ Chivers, Sabrina Tavernise, Richard Oppel and Dexter Filkins, would be turning their attention to Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well.

NYT to cancel City Section

As part of a cost-savings plan that includes salary cuts to staffers, the New York Times has plans to drop the stand-alone City Section, the New York Observer reports. Meanwhile, the paper's citizen-blog project, The Local, lives on.

Out with the old

As struggling newspapers start to hack away at bone, some of the shining stars of yesteryear are getting hit with the knife. Last month, the New York Observer dropped columnist Nicholas von Hoffman. On Tuesday, the Village Voice gave columnist Nat Hentoff the pink slip.

On a personal/professional note: I've booked von Hoffman on "To The Point" a couple times in the last year to offer his curmudgeonly wisdom and perspective to the presidential race. I've never booked Hentoff, but he spoke up for TTP when WNYC dropped it from its schedule earlier this year.

White powder in letter to New York Times

The New York Observer reports that an envelope containing white powder was sent to the New York Times. Police are investigating.*

Here's the email sent to NYT employees:

Folks,

At about 11:30 a.m. today an employee on the 13th floor of our headquarters building in New York opened an envelope addressed to The New York Times. A white granular substance was in the envelope. The New York City police were called and are now on site investigating. The 41st Street side of the lobby is closed but people are able to get in and out of the building. We will keep you updated on any developments.

*UPDATE: NYPD investigators do not think the substance is dangerous, according to the Observer.

Drowning in a fast moving current

The New York Observer looks at whether the best, most in-depth political stories are getting the attention they deserve in this presidential campaign.