Sunday was a good day for devoted readers of the “Weddings/Celebrations” pages of the New York Times.

There were stories, some brief, some longer, of 41 unions, the coming together of a whole lot of lawyers, some doctors, and at least one freelance hiking and music columnist.

Analysis of the reports indicates that a trend identified in the mid-90s by David Brooks (before he became a Times columnist) is alive and well.

Bad times for newspapers can be good times for newspaper lobbyists.

Major publishers, which often cover K Street as a hotbed of corruption, spend thousands each year to advance and protect their own interests.

Yet one issue that has fueled the Washington media lobby for years may soon disappear. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin has drafted a plan that would abolish rules forbidding companies from owning both a newspaper and broadcast outlets in the same city.

Will Par Ridder ever be publisher again?

In June, we pondered whether Dean Singleton was going soft. His suit against Par Ridder sought to remove Ridder as publisher of the rival Star Tribune for only a year.

We argued that someone who stole confidential information, as Ridder admitted, should never be allowed in a publisher’s chair again. Ridder was publisher of the Pioneer Press in St. Paul before jumping to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Judith Miller, a central figure in both the Lewis Libby trial and the debate over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has joined the Manhattan Institute.

The former New York Times reporter is now an adjunct fellow at the conservative think tank. The bio posted on the institute’s web site describes her focus as “Middle East and counterterrorism, and the need to strike a delicate balance between protecting both national security and American civil liberties in a post-9/11 world.”

As the Times notes today, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire gives him an array of tools to advance his interests.

Starting with one newspaper in Australia, he has built and acquired a vast network of newspapers, broadcast companies and web sites.
Murdoch has shown increasing sophistication in getting his way regardless of the political climate. News Corp. employs a battery of lobbyists, including the very connected Anthony Podesta.

To the surprise of some, Murdoch’s sizeable political donations in the U.S. favor Republicans only slightly. The Times reports that Republicans received 56 percent of the $4.76 million contributed since 1997 by the Murdoch family and related PACs.

The Ochs-Sulzberger dynasty

Relationship map of the Ridder dynasty.