Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• Katie Couric is still in third place, but her ratings are up considerably. [AP]
• CBS is the only network that has seen viewership rise this season. [Reuters]
• Portfolio's attempt to juice sales with a new cover strategy was a dud. [NYO]
• Ad revenue at the NYT fell 20% last month compared to a year ago. [AP]
• The Times has teamed with Riverhead to publish Obama: The Historic Journey, a book of with photos and essays, in February 2009. [Politico]

♦  Peter Chernin, Rupert Murdoch's right-hand at News Corp., may be planning to depart the company in the near future. [LAT]
♦  60 Minutes has snagged the first interview with Barack Obama. [THR]
♦  WWD has a roundup of how magazines will fare overall in 2008. Most of the news is depressing, yes, but there are a couple of bright spots: Elle and Men's Journal reported 3 percent increases in ad pages. [WWD]
♦  You knew this one was coming: Political statistics star Nate Silver is reportedly shopping a pair of books to publishers. [NYO]More

♦  More pain at 4 Times Square: Condé Nast is shuttering Elegant Bride. [Jossip]
♦  Despite the fact Portfolio fired 32 staffers last week, a spokesperson confirms the mag is going ahead with a soirée at the 21 Club later this month. [Page Six]
♦  Not surprisingly, Fox News has landed the first post-election interview with Sarah Palin. Greta van Susteren will sit down with her in Alaska over the weekend; the interview will be broadcast on Monday. [THR] More

♦  John McCain's appearance on Saturday Night Live didn't generate Sarah Palin-like ratings, but it was still an impressive showing nonetheless. [THR]
♦  No word yet on who will take over NBC's Meet the Press. Chuck Todd, David Gregory, Gwen Ifill, and even Katie Couric all remain possibilities. [NYT]
♦  CBS is on a primetime ratings roll, although Sumner Redstone is still screwed, apparently. [NYT, NYT]
♦  Another profile of Rachel Maddow, just in case the 237 other pieces on MSNBC's rising star in recent weeks have yet to whet your appetite. [NYM]
♦  In case you missed it, the clip of Sarah Palin getting punked by a couple of Montreal radio personalities, who explain how they managed to get through to her. [ABC]More

Blood on the Floor at Portfolio | As predicted, a "bloodbath" at Condé Nast Portfolio is unfolding at 4 Times Square this afternoon. Silicon Alley Insider has the ugly news that editor Joanne Lipman shared with the mag's staff here. [SAI]

Radar Dies, Inexplicably Portfolio Lives On | Huffington Post reporter Jason Linkins and Ana Marie Cox on the closing of Radar last week: "It should have been Portfolio." Video after the jump.More

Portfolio may be struggling to keep current during these dark economic times, but editor Joanne Lipman pulled a clever maneuver when she dispatched a cute, young reporter to meet up with Salman Rushdie at the luxe resort in Mexico. The famed author took the trip to Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos, Mexico to promote his new book, The Enchantress of Florence, and was given free plane tickets and accommodations in exchange for showing up at two dinners and a cocktail reception. It doesn't seem like the deal was much of a success for the hotel company: A total of eight paying guests turned up for the two dinners. But that gave Rushdie plenty of time to open up about really important stuff, like Dancing with the Stars, Kim Kardashian, and his busy social life.More

Portfolio Shoots, Misses | This whole Wall Street thing is pretty big news, right? So how did Condé Nast's struggling business mag respond to the biggest economic story of a generation? They put Dov Charney, the founder of American Apparel, on the cover of the November issue. [Gawker, previously]

More Bad News For Portfolio | As we pointed out earlier this week, things have taken a turn for the worse at Condé Nast's glossy (and very expensive) business magazine, Portfolio. Another sign today that the ship may be sinking: deputy editor Blaise Zerega, who has been with the magazine since its launch in 2006 and was widely viewed as one of the brightest talents at the mag (in contrast to mediocre editor-in-chief Joanne Lipman), has announced he's leaving the company for Fora.tv, an new online-video site. [Valleywag, previously]

Condé Nast has devoted an enormous sum to launch its new business title, Portfolio: While initial estimates pegged the cost at $100 million, it was recently reported that the media conglomerate may be planning to spend $150 million to get the magazine off the ground. Since its debut in 2007, Portfolio has struggled to gain subscribers and advertisers, fired editors and hired new ones, changed its cover strategy, and emerged as the perpetual train wreck that media obsessives can't get enough of. But now we hear things are worse than ever. "With everything that's happened over the past few weeks, everyone is much more concerned," an insider tells us. For good reason. More

Everything You Needed to Know About Jeff Zucker | "Zucker has an appealing, ruddy tint that lends him a cherubic appearance, despite his gray pinstripe gabardine suit and linen shirt. He has wire-frame glasses and a fringe of graying brown hair. His stubble looks like the kind that grows in fast, but his five-o'clock shadow does little to lend him gravitas." [Portfolio via Jossip]