NEW YORK OBSERVER NAMES MEDIA CRITIC. Washington City Paper senior editor Tom Scocca has been picked by the New York Observer to replace media critic Sridhar Pappu, who recently left to become a staff writer at Sports Illustrated. Scocca, who was a feature writer at the Boston Phoenix in the mid 1990s, is the co-creator of "Funny Paper," an arch take on the world of comics.

Scocca e-mails Media Log: "I'd better start writing the column before I start talking about it." He plans to move to New York at some point after he wraps up his duties at the City Paper. He can be reached at tjscocca@mindspring.com.

Oddly enough, Pappu is a former City Paper intern. For that matter, Slate media critic Jack Shafer and New York Times media reporter David Carr are City Paper alumni; City Paper founder Russ Smith writes media criticism for the New York Press (which he founded and has since sold) and, occasionally, the Wall Street Journal. Another former City Paper intern, Josh Levin, writes the magazines column for Slate.