Media Brief

I'm the BBC's media correspondent and this is my brief selection of what's going on.

ITV's director of television Peter Fincham has told The Times [subscription required] that the BBC and ITV should stop trying to "rip each others' throats out" and agree to stop scheduling some hit shows at the same time. The paper quotes BBC sources as saying the Corporation would be happy to discuss the proposal.

Executives from Channel 4 and Channel 5 have dismissed claims by ITV bosses that advertising restrictions have forced it to concentrate on "lowest common denominator" programmes. The Guardian reports that Anne Bulford, C4's chief operating officer, told the Lords communications committee that Contract Rights Renewal was "a scapegoat". Last week ITV chief executive, Adam Crozier, and chairman, Archie Norman, told the committee that CRR was responsible for a "ratings rat race".

The Sun says X Factor presenter Dermot O'Leary "let slip last night that X Factor WAS fixed. The ITV1 show's host revealed a plot was hatched to save oddball singer Katie Waissel minutes before the four judges voted."

The Guardian says the royal family's new Facebook page has become a lightning rod for debate about the monarchy, with the palace web team forced to censor a string of offensive comments.

The BBC's newspaper review says the Times and the Guardian carry a photograph of David Cameron and cabinet colleagues toasting a business deal in Beijing. Both papers say they wore Remembrance Day poppies despite being warned by the Chinese this would stir up unhappy memories of the Opium Wars.

Links in full

• Times | ITV calls for an end to ratings war with BBC
• Guardian | Channels 4 and 5 dismiss ITV's attack on CRR
• Sun | Dermot: it was rigged
• Guardian | Queen's Facebook page becomes forum for monarchy debate
• BBC | Newspaper review

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