Mediagazer: Mediocrity is king — Last week, the Huffington Post reached a new apex. (Frédéric Filloux/Monday Note)

1:30 PM ET, June 7, 2010

Top News:

The Media Equation: How to Save Newsweek — Sometime this summer, someone other than The Washington Post will probably own the renowned brand of Newsweek. When I wrote about the pending sale in this column last week, I waxed philosophical about the meaning of a newsweekly magazine in 2010 …

Discussion: Media Gaggle, The Wire, Media Decoder, CJR, Romenesko and Washington Post

Matthew Flamm / Crain's New York Business:

Wired's iPad liftoff — Tech title sells 73,000 copies in nine days on Apple tablet; wave of future? — Two months after the iPad's much anticipated April 3 debut, one thing is clear about the impact of Apple's tablet computer on the magazine industry: It has been very good for Wired.

Discussion: Mobile Media and Talking Biz News

Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:

Breaking: Helen Thomas Retires, Effective Immediately (Video) — While it may not be totally unexpected, the story appears to have developed extremely quickly. — Hearst Corporation has announced Helen Thomas will be retiring, effective immediately. — Here's the full announcement from Hearst:

Discussion: The Hill, Gawker, Media Matters for America, msnbc.com, On Media's Blog, TPM LiveWire, Media Decoder, Michelle Malkin and USA Today

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Helen Thomas Dropped By Speaking Agency, Under Fire For Remarks On Middle East — Under fire for controversial remarks she made (and apologized for) about the status of Jews in Israel, longtime White House scribe Helen Thomas was dropped on Sunday by her speaking agency.

Discussion: Hit & Run, blogs.tampabay.com, Yahoo! News, Romenesko, Fox News, Right Now, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Media Decoder, Craig Crawford's Trail Mix, Guardian, Haaretz, Salon and The Politico

Jack Marshall / ClickZ:

Facebook Grows Video Presence — As traffic to Facebook continues to grow, the social network is beginning to emerge as an important stakeholder in the online video space. According to online measurement firm comScore, the number of users viewing video on the site has been growing consistently …

Discussion: TechCrunch

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Mediocrity is king — Last week, the Huffington Post reached a new apex. Viewed from France, where ads are localized, its home page carried a remarkably tasteful ad: a farting application for the iPhone (see below). As prudery still rules in American media, you'll notice that the farter's exhaust aperture has been blurred.

Joseph Plambeck / New York Times:

SB Nation Expands for Fans, by Fans Sports Sites — Last Thursday, Kobe Bryant tallied 30 points in Game 1 of the N.B.A. Finals. That night, Silver Screen and Roll, a blog dedicated to the Los Angeles Lakers, racked up more than 3,500 comments. — The popular site is just one of more …

Discussion: paidContent, Lost Remote, New York Observer, SB Nation Detroit, SB Nation Chicago, SB Nation DC, SB Nation Boston, SBNation.com and eMedia Vitals

Threat Level:

U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe — Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.

Discussion: CJR, NY Daily News, The Atlantic Online, Mediaite, Hillicon Valley, The First Post, The Lede and Gawker

AdAge:

Does Who Creates Content Matter to Marketers in a ‘Pro-Am’ Media World? — Examiner Has 7.4 Million Readers, Local Ads and News — but Few Traditional Journalists — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — If you're trolling the web and hit upon an Examiner.com story, you might think you're reading the San Francisco Examiner.

Discussion: Romenesko, The New York Observer and eMedia Vitals

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Adobe Tries Creeping Back Onto the iPad, With Help From Greystripe — Steve Jobs says he's not out to kill Adobe-he just wants nothing to do with its Flash platform. And Adobe appears to be getting the message: The company is working to find ways to get onto Apple devices without resorting to Flash.

Discussion: TechCrunch

David Kaplan / paidContent:

MTVN's Tribes Ad Network Goes Mobile — Nearly two years after MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA) created its Tribes ad network as a way to extend its cable channels' ad sales to like-minded websites, the Viacom property is moving into mobile. Mobile Tribes will begin rolling out ads on MTVN's mobile wap sites …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and MediaPost

lonelysandwich:

iPad TV — I won't lie to you—it took two weeks with my iPad before I knew whether I loved it (or, to be more accurate, why I would inevitably love it). There was this uncomfortableness after the purchase. I'd known for weeks that it was to be a miraculous addition to my life.

Discussion: Fortune and broadstuff