Sheherezad Jaafari—the 22-year-old former press coordinator for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad who now tops the media power list in our heart—has been admitted to Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. If not because Barbara Walters had Columbia professor Richard Wald put in a good word for her then because she brings unique first-hand experience to the classroom. [NY Times]

BuzzFeed gets a tiny pony, The Daily gets this magnificent predator. [Instagram]

New York Times managing editor Dean Baquet pushed back on criticisms that David Sanger's Stuxnet story was a White House-flattering leak, saying his reporters came by the stories “strenuously.” “I can’t believe anybody who says these are leaks,” he said. “Read those stories. They are so clearly the product of tons and tons of reporting.” [Politico]

New Ethicist Chuck Klosterman will continue to work as a consultant for Grantland, "unless Bill [Simmons, its editor-in-chief] decides to have me poisoned. That’s always his option. It’s actually in my contract." [Poynter]

Eek. CNN's ratings dipped below OWN's. [NY Post]

Speaking of: Mashable, a tech startup owned by noted attractive person Pete Cashmore, is currently auditing its finances for CNN's inspection. [Business Insider]

The day after Forbes launched its ebook, the Financial Times published its first ebook. Financial ebooks arms race: the most boring arms race? [Talking Biz News]

News Beast CDO Daniel Blackman is out, libertarian journalist Megan McArdle is in. [Adweek]