Filling Big Hiking Boots at an Early Age

Discovery Kids pins some hopes on a chip off the crocodile hunter.

New York Times, January 7, 2008 — A year and a half ago, Bindi Irwin was an 8-year-old growing up in the Australian outback, home-schooled so she could travel with her father, Steve Irwin, to film popular nature shows like “The Crocodile Hunter.” She sometimes appeared on camera, happily petting the occasional wallaby.

Then on Sept. 4, 2006, Mr. Irwin was killed by a stingray’s barb while shooting his show. Rather than retreating into the background, though, Bindi has moved to center stage, in a spotlight just as bright, and sometimes harsher, than the one trained on her father.

Cycling’s Drug Problem Leads T-Mobile to End Sponsorship

New York Times, November 28, 2007 — T-Mobile, the professional cycling team that began this year with the sport’s largest budget and an ambitious plan to reform the sport’s drug problem, lost its sponsor yesterday because of continuing doping controversies...In announcing the decision to end its sponsorship contract two years early, Deutsche Telekom made it clear that cycling teams had become a marketing nightmare.

Sharks Roam Manhattan†

IDEA SPOTTING: Moving Fin Projected on Skyscrapers for Discovery's 'Shark Week'

Advertising Age, July 18, 2007 — Just when you thought it was safe to spend a summer evening in Manhattan, sharks are swimming along the buildings. No, global warming hasn't kicked into high gear and submerged Manhattan — yet. But Discovery Network's 20th annual Shark Week starts July 29, which means the media push beforehand has brought the chondrichthyes (that's "cartilaginous fishes" to all you non-marine biologists) to New York en masse.