President Barack Obama’s decision to choose the 61-year-old Landesman could shake things up at the NEA, which provides funds to arts groups throughout the nation.

Landesman is expected to lobby hard for more arts money. But as president and owner of Jujamcyn Theaters, he has not been known for his diplomatic or administrative skills; rather, he’s been noted for his energy, intellect and irreverant candor.

He caused a stir in 2000 by accusing nonprofit theaters of acting too similar to their for-profit counterparts. He also created a $480 premium ticket for “The Producers” to discourage scalpers.

“Rocco speaks his mind, which is probably one of the reasons he was chosen,” Robert Brustein, the founding director of the Yale and AMerican Respertory Theaters, told The New York Times. “Rocco does not defer his opinions.”

In 1987, Landesman became president of Jujamcyn, which owns five Broadway houses, and bought the company in 2005. He’s expected to resign from his position but still retain an ownership in the company.

“He is a great entrepreneur and producer, and it indicates to me that the administration wants to have somebody in this position who will be much more than simply a distributor of funds,” Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, told the Times. “The relationship between the government and the arts needs to be energized. It needs someone like Rocco.”

The NEA was once threatened with extinction by conservatives who branded it a shameful supporter of such explicit works as Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs. Now, it’s known for cheering on the arts in general, with such programs as the Big Read, Poetry Out Loud and “Operation Homecoming,” a compilation of stories written by soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The NEA’s budget for 2009 is $145 million. Obama has requested $161 million for 2010, which is short of its peak of $176 million in 1992.

If Congress approves his nomination, Landesman would replace Dana Gioia (JOY’-uh), who stepped down in January after serving less than seven years.

Former Miss California USA Pageant state executive director Shanna Moakler, at a Monday news conference.

LOS ANGELES — Former beauty queen Shanna Moakler has resigned as executive director of the Miss California USA pageant, a day after controversial titleholder Carrie Prejean was allowed to keep her crown.

Moakler, a former Miss USA , said in a statement issued by her publicist Wednesday that she no longer believes in the organization.

She had angrily accused Prejean on Monday of violating the contract she signed with pageant organizers by speaking out repeatedly on behalf of organizations opposed to gay marriage and by failing to disclose she had posed nearly nude for photographs as a teenager.

Pageant owner Donald Trump, who could have ousted Prejean, said Tuesday she will remain Miss Calfornia.

Prejean.

The survey conducted by the Associated Press Managing Editors illuminated the doubts and concerns hovering over newspapers as the industry reels from a slump that has been worsening since last fall.

The 20-question survey got responses from 351 editors and publishers. Although a few newspapers provided answers from more than one editor, the survey still offered an unusually large sampling.

APME surveys typically elicit a smattering of responses to very specific questions about a topic in the news. But this one clearly touched a nerve as it sought to find out how newspaper management is coping with a downturn that has wiped out $11.6 billion, or nearly one-fourth, of the industry’s annual advertising revenue since 2005.

“These are the people out there on the front lines of this battle and they really don’t know how it is going to turn out,” said Bobbie Jo Buel, the APME’s president and executive editor of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson.

Seventy-one percent of the survey participants said cutbacks have “somewhat affected” or “greatly affected” the quality of their newspapers’ coverage. Just 20 percent said their newspapers’ staff reductions had little or no effect.

The comments accompanying the responses were filled with resignation, frustration, anger, despair, confusion and even some gallows humor that reflected the depressed state of the U.S. economy as more people lose their homes because they can’t afford their mortgages.

“Our newspaper’s biggest revenue source today is foreclosure notices,” wrote Clifford Buchan, editor of the Forest Lake Times, a free weekly newspaper in Minnesota. “We have uncertainty once that run ends, as it most surely will.”

To cope with the hard times, 65 percent of the survey respondents said they have laid off workers since January 2008. Nearly 30 percent said they have lowered wages.

Total employment in the newspaper industry averaged 407,000 people during 2008, a 20 percent decline from 508,000 in 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Newspapers have eliminated thousands more jobs so far this year.

Now editors are worried they won’t have the adequate resources and skills to keep newspapers relevant as more readers turn to the Internet for information.

Nearly 68 percent of the respondents cited staffing shortages as the chief impediment to change; more than 57 percent said they didn’t have enough money to innovate. Thirty-one percent said their personnel didn’t have the skills to change with the times.

“It’s not worth complaining about having too few people because the staffing status quo of two years ago isn’t coming back,” wrote Jeff Gauger, executive editor of The Repository, a daily newspaper in Canton, Ohio, with a circulation of about 65,000.

Newspapers have been shrinking, largely because their audiences and advertisers have been defecting to the Web. The U.S. recession that began in December 2007 has accelerated the slide in ad revenue and may also be contributing to a circulation drop as more households try to save money.

Many editors seem to be having second thoughts about the industry’s practice of giving away stories and photos on their Web sites. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents said they plan to charge for online content. About 20 percent said they will offer some coverage exclusively in their print editions to reward their paying customers.

With so much information readily available online for free, more newspapers are concentrating coverage on community issues unlikely to attract the attention of other media outlets. Nearly 40 percent of the respondents said they are devoting more space to “hyper-local” news while decreasing the pages devoted to national and international stories.

Despite the challenges facing newspapers, 72 percent of the survey’s participants said they are staying in the industry because they believe in “the mission of journalism.” Just 6 percent said they were sticking it out because the pay was too good to give up.

Fifty-nine percent of the respondents predicted their publications will find ways to be profitable. But nearly 17 percent said they’re worried their newspapers will die.

While most newspapers seem to be trying different ways to engage readers and drum up revenue, 25 percent of the respondents said their publications are mostly “hunkering down” until the economy recovers.

“We’re all in this together,” wrote Steve Bagwell, managing editor of the News-Register, a newspaper in McMinnville, Ore. “All oars are pulling in the same direction.”

To bolster staff morale, many survey respondents said they are going out of their way to praise outstanding work and occasionally serving free lunches or snacks.

Other editors are reminding their reporters and photographers that they are fortunate to still have their jobs after so many of their colleagues have been ushered out the door.

“Aren’t we lucky to continue doing what we love while others are forced to leave the industry?” wrote Eric Petermann, managing editor of The Journal-Standard, a newspaper in Freeport, Ill., with a circulation of about 11,500. “This is gut-check time. Our `new reality’ is a time of separation. Love what you are doing, and be the best, or find a job as a PR flack.”

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ON THE WEB

Associated Press Managing Editors: www.apme.com

The cause of death was not immediately clear but there was no evidence of foul play, said Sgt. David Infante of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office.

Mark Landon, among Michael Landon’s nine children, appeared in three movies, including “Us” — a CBS television movie written and directed by his father in 1991 just before he died of cancer at age 54. The film was a pilot intended to be another series for Michael Landon. It aired a few months after his death.

Michael Landon also starred in such shows as “Bonanza” and “Highway to Heaven.” He adopted Mark Landon after marrying his mother, Dodie Levy-Fraser, in 1956.

This is a June 25, 1990 file photo of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal. Ryan O'Neal says Farrah Fawcett's strength in the shadow of cancer has made him love her more than ever.

LOS ANGELES – Ryan O’Neal said Farrah Fawcett’s strength in the shadow of cancer has made him love her more than ever.

“She’s so much more of a woman and powerful, courageous, fearless and all those adjectives. And I look at her with awe,” he said in an interview with Meredith Vieira for NBC’s “Today.”

Vieira also talked to Fawcett’s friend, Alana Stewart, for reports airing on the “Today” show Wednesday and Thursday.

O’Neal and Stewart participated in the documentary titled “Farrah’s Story,” a video diary of the actress’ fight against anal cancer that has spread to her liver. The film airs Friday on NBC.

O’Neal and the “Charlie’s Angels” star had a long romantic relationship that ended in the late 1990s and are parents of a son, Redmond O’Neal.

Ryan O’Neal said Fawcett has managed to joke about her illness and his own battle against chronic myelogenous leukemia, which was diagnosed in 2001.

“She asked me once, `Am I gonna make it?’ She asked me that a couple of weeks ago,” O’Neal recounted. “I said, `Yeah, sure, you’ll make it. And if you don’t, I’ll go with you.’ And she said, `Then stop the Gleevec.’ And the Gleevec’s the medicine that I take for my leukemia.

“She’s the rock. She taught us all how to cope,” O’Neal said. “She’s extraordinary. I don’t know what I’ll do without her, to tell you the truth.”

Hosts Billy Bush, center, and Nadine Velazquez, right, listen as Miss California Carrie Prejean, left answers a question from judge Perez Hilton, unseen, about legalizing same-sex marriage during the Miss USA Pageant, April 19 in Las Vegas. "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage," Prejean said. "And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

NEW YORK — Miss California USA can retain her crown even though she failed to reveal she had posed in her underwear as a teenager, pageant owner Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Carrie Prejean appeared by Trump’s side as he made the announcement at New York’s Trump Tower.

Trump also defended the answer that Prejean gave at last month’s Miss USA pageant when she was asked her view of marriage by judge Perez Hilton, a celebrity blogger. She said she believes marriage is between a man and a woman.

“It’s the same answer the president of the United States gave; it’s the same answer many people gave,” Trump said. “She gave an honorable answer; she gave an answer from her heart.”

Trump said he and other pageant officials had reviewed racy photos of Prejean and decided they were acceptable.

“We are in the 21st century. We have determined the pictures taken are fine,” he said, adding that “in some cases the pictures were lovely.”

After Trump spoke, the 21-year-old Prejean, who was accompanied by her parents, took her turn at the lectern, defending herself against what she described as vicious attacks.

She talked about getting thousands of letters and e-mails from people supporting her and said, about the marriage question, that Hilton had asked her a “politically charged question with a hidden personal agenda.”

“I stated my honest belief,” she said.

Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, is best known as a celebrity blogger but has also branched off into gay rights advocacy.

Co-executive directors Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler told a Beverly Hills press conference Monday that only Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump can make that decision.

The 21-year-old San Diego native created controversy during the Miss USA pageant when she said she believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

The state pageant has been investigating whether she violated her contract by making public appearances with groups opposed to same-sex marriage. Prejean also failed to reveal that she once posed in her underwear.

Carroll, whose real name is Michael Finocchiaro, grew up in St. Louis and made it to Hollywood to perform in the “Wizard of Oz” role that defined his life. He spent a lot of time on charitable work, and would talk to anyone, at any time, about his part as a Munchkin in the movie.

Of the 125 Munchkins who starred in the “Wizard of Oz,” only seven are still alive. Most recently, actor Clarence Swensen, who played one of the Munchkin soldiers, passed away in late February at the age of 91.

There’s an odd twist to Carroll’s story. About the same time he died, a lawyer was filing suit on his behalf, asking for an accounting of his finances, and raising concerns that his caretaker Linda Dodge had improperly taken control of his finances and his personal affairs.

Dodge said Carroll moved in with Dodge and her husband in December as his health deteriorated. Carroll’s nephew, Frank Parenti, also moved in.

Dodge has become caretaker not only of Carroll’s health, but his memory too, pushing for him to be included in various Walks of Fame, and having him promoted at various events celebrating the “Wizard of Oz” movie. She said he played three roles in the film: as a soldier, a fiddler and town crier.

But attorney Patrick McCarthy said Carroll’s family believes he was also being manipulated and had signed paperwork giving Dodge control of his life.

McCarthy said the state department in charge of adult affairs is investigating the case and a probate judge has called for a hearing next week to hear the allegations.

Among them are that Carroll signed a power of attorney when he was in fact mentally incapable of doing so.

In addition, McCarthy said there needs to be an accounting of Carroll’s finances and he wonders why Dodge kept Carroll from talking to his family members. Dodge denies wrongdoing and said the suit is just a family spat over money, as much as $1 million.

A Catholic Mass for Carroll on Wednesday at the St. Louis Cathedral will be preceded by a court hearing on the matter.

The star of Fox television’s “24″ could be charged with misdemeanor assault in the incident early Tuesday. He’s expected to turn himself in on Thursday to talk with police.

Jack McCollough of the Proenza Schouler fashion house claims Sutherland attacked him after an argument, leaving him with a cut on his face. Actress Brooke Shields may also be questioned as a witness.

Sutherland was released from a Glendale, Calif., jail last year after serving 48 days on a drunken driving charge.

Several calls to representatives for Sutherland, McCollough and Shields haven’t been returned.

The “American Idol” judge tells Ladies Home Journal in its June issue that she checked into a resort and spa in Carlsbad, Calif., where she weaned herself off her medications last Thanksgiving.

Abdul says she didn’t like existing the way she had been.

The magazine says the 46-year-old singer-dancer had suffered for years from chronic pain caused by an unusual series of accidents.

Abdul’s spokesman, Jeff Ballard, says Abdul “has moved forward in her life.”