When a prominent white man is surprised when there’s backlash after he calls his dead journalist friend a nigger at a Society for Professional Journalists gathering, we all really need to step back an analyze what is going on in this country. Michael Lacey, the co-owner of the alternative newspaper chain behind the Village Voice and all the various incarnations of New Times papers, called Tom Fitzpatrick, the late Pulitzer Prize winner, a nigger and gave a speech peppered with vulgar phrases while accepting an award at an SJP ceremony in Phoenix.

Here’s his apology:

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Last night’s arrest of Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin was not the first time the New Times has had trouble with the police.

The New Times Empire was founded as an anti-police publication. The first paper began in response to the Arizona State University’s police refusal to put the flags at half-mast following the Kent State shootings.

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Today, we got a tip from Miami rag New Times, pointing to a recent "blogger bust" article they ran. And who doesn't love a good one of those. This one points to Lesley Abravanel's blog for rival paper Miami Herald called Scene in the Tropics, and New Times is accusing the Abravanel of lying, and saying that she was somewhere she wasn't.

In any case it's difficult to account for Abravanel's postings July 23 on her blog (blogs.herald.com/scene_in_the_tropics). They describe hobnobbing with Mrs. Ciccone-Ritchie and witnessing a cold-shoulder catfight next to the La Perla catwalk.

She wasn't there. The Bitch, who knows Abravanel and was at those same places at the same times, doesn't remember seeing her.

Funny, because when we looked at Abravanel's blog (providing it hasn't been updated since the time of the post) we get the distinct feeling that this blogger was posting sightings, and not claiming to be at The Setai (where she saw Madonna). Abravanel admitted to being on vacation when these incidents took place, causing the accusation that she "claimed to be in two places at the same time.

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• Paula Abdul is excited about the "male talent" on American Idol's fifth season. Fox execs ready "quoted out of context" statement. [Reality Blurred]

• With the Dept. of Justice's seal of approval, the New Times has bought the Village Voice. Or the Village Voice bought the New Times. Whatever happened, they're becoming an "integrated" indie publisher from here on out. [Gawker]

• That hate male you just shot off to NBC anchor Brian Williams? Yeah, he's replying to it right now. Check your inbox. [USA Today]

• Peter Braunstein's alleged Halloween rape victim is still too frightened to return to her flat, choosing instead to couch hop among friends — probably until the ex-W scribe who refuses to leave the city is caught. [NYDN]

• Bed bugs are back in town and, like HIV, they don't discriminate based on class, race, religion or celebrity. [NYT]

• Thanks to Fox's new satellite reality channel, the unaired 2003 dating series Playing It Straight – where women were wooed by both gay and straight suitors – has found a new home. But you can bet that if the gays can't even find Logo on the dial, they're not going to find this channel. [Newsday]

• Young men aren't up all night just masturbating. They're watching TV, too, and marketers are starting to pay attention. And bring Kleenex. [NYT]

• From the listserv that we dare not speak its name comes word that Domino's editor in chief Deborah Needleman is looking for an intern to play executive assistant. Keep in mind: Deborah already has an executive assistant.

• Judith Miller is in talks with top brass at the New York Times over her future with the publisher — and options may include a severance package now that both Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Bill Keller have reneged their support for their once-prized reporter. [WSJ]

• New York Daily News editorial director Martin Dunn expressed his fondness for his fading star gossipist: "Lloyd Grove is a fucking idiot. His page is stupid." We swear we weren't thinking the same thing. [Page Six]

• The merger between Village Voice and New Times will be most interesting because, of course, one is a union paper and the other is not. Oh, we forgot this: !! [NYP]

• Incoming Nightline exec producer James Goldston is bringing longtime correspondents John Donvan and Chris Bury on board (with hopes of Lisa Ling and CBS correspondent Byron Pitts as well) as part of a permanent four-person team, which has a collective goal of angering Ted Koppel enough that he rages in dualtone (at the very least). [NYO]

• Apparently, throwing together a host-less standardized radio format and then broadcasting the same thing in every city might end up sounding very "white." And the title "Jack" probably doesn't help. [Newsday]

• Doesn't anyone care that incoming CBS News head Sean McManus has exactly zero news experience? Anyone? [TVNewser]

• Jann Wenner already has his Us Weekly, but now he wants to out-People People with a celebrity weekly crossed with a "real stories" glossy. And what do you know, Bauer wants to out-Wenner Wenner with the same idea.

• The Village Voice-New Times merger is real! Like, more real than anything on Tara Reid! A May 27 merger agreement has surfaced with terms of the deal, which include handing over majority control to the New Times in shares and board members and VV CEO David Schneiderman receiving a $500k bonus for his "work on the merger."

• After seeing its credibility crumble from the wrath of blogs, CBS News is getting a blog of its own. It's enlisted former Hotline editor Vaughn Ververs to pen a "nonbudsman" column on CBSNews.com, debuting next month. He'll be reporting to CBS digital media chief Larry Kramer, not news prez Andrew Heyward.

• As Diane Dimond tries cashing in (again) on Michael Jackson with a new book, Court TV decides it's had enough of her outbursts. Diane signs off .. to her fan club (yes, that's deserving of at least two "WTF's").

• Real life "Mr. Big" Ron Galotti is splitting his farm, but only so he can hunker down at his "other" farmhouse in Vermont to conduct rennovations.

• After eight years of letting New Yorkers forget it exists, Adam Moss' New York magazine would like to remind you: "This is New York." (That doesn't mean you, Philly.)

• It wasn't quite Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but watching CNN meteorologist Chad Myers flip out at Daybreak's Carol Costello was just as entertaining — without the death threats.

• It shouldn't take a whole article on Slate to inform you that freelancers are paid less than the guy messengering over our enema equipment, but if that's what it takes to alert the unions, so be it.

• The Village Voice is said to be in talks to merge with the New Times, which you might know as that free marketplace weekly. The move would require all stories to be cleared by the publisher's Denver hub, then wrapped in four-line classified ads.

• The hottest ticket in town isn't Rosie O'Donnell's Sept. 20 Fiddler on the Roof debut but a chance to visit Judith Miller in prison. So far the TKTS line includes Tom Brokaw, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Bill Keller, Abe Rosenthal and, of course, Matt Cooper.

• When we first learned Simon Dumenco would be penning a weekly column for Advertising Age, we thought he'd match the rest of the magazine's stiff copy with straight-forward inches of his own. Instead, as he proves again this week, he reminds us the ad game is more comedy than drama.

• After losing more than half their net worth, the Bancroft family is making a carefully orchestrated exit from its Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones ownership to ensure future offspring will be able to revel in their wealth.

• If you haven't been keeping up with Rupert Murdoch's bedding of Hillary Clinton, David Carr's item on the New York Post's growing fondness with the senator should bring you up to speed.

• Craigslist users will have to beg and plead with Craig Newmark for advertising to ever show up on the site.

• Tim Gray is taking the reigns at Variety and Daily Variety, unless you count the fact that Peter Bart will remain editor-in-chief.

• Google and Yahoo are bitching about the size of the Web, which makes about as much sense as Anna Nicole Smith and Courtney Love arguing over smarts.