Mediagazer: On Hyperlocals, Hyper-hiring, and Hype (Lauren Kirchner/CJR)

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Appeals Court Strikes Down Indecency Rule — A United States appeals court tossed out the indecency policy of the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, calling it a violation of the First Amendment. — An appeals panel said the F.C.C. policy was “unconstitutionally vague …

Discussion: BuzzMachine, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Techdirt, Company Town, Media Access Project, New York Magazine, Washington Monthly and Slashdot

Curtis Brainard / CJR:

A Second Chance — How mobile devices can absolve journalism of its original sin: giving away online content — 1 Talk to people who are into mobile reading devices like the Kindle and the iPad, and a scene from the movie Minority Report tends to come up. Tom Cruise, who is on the run from the law, is on a train.

Discussion: Romenesko and Kirk LaPointe's …

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Mother Jones reports 125% increase in unique visitors in 2Q — Mother Jones traffic and digital revenue soar to record levels in 2Q 2010 — Mother Joneswhich just won its second National Magazine Award for General Excellence in three yearsreported today that its investigative reporting …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

John Timmer / Ars Technica:

Citizen journalism not making up for loss of local newspapers — In the US, traditional newspapers have undergone a period of contraction, with many papers shutting down entirely. This has been especially hard on local news, because even those newspapers that survive are likely to be consolidated …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Cory Doctorow / Guardian:

Reports of blogging's death have been greatly exaggerated — Blooging is not on the way out - it's just that other social media have taken over many of its functions — A report last month in the Economist tells us that “blogging is dying” as more and more bloggers abandon the form for its cousins …

Jeff Bercovici / DailyFinance:

Sports Illustrated Seeks Synergy with Turner Sports Deal — Synergy is no longer a dirty word at Time Warner (TWX). Sports Illustrated and Turner Sports, two divisions of the media conglomerate that tread similar ground but until now have operated independently, are consolidating their efforts in a new digital media venture.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals blogs, MinOnline, Digital Daily and Wall Street Journal

New York Post:

Another CNN King doomed? — The next head to roll at CNN will be John King's, insiders say. “Since King replaced Lou Dobbs, he's lost more than half his audience,” one source told us. “If it were a fight, it would be stopped on a TKO because of the bleeding.”

Discussion: Gawker, Mediaite, Inside Cable News, TVNewser, The Wrap, Vanity Fair, TVWeek.com and New York Magazine

David Cohen / WebNewser:

Zinio to Debut All-Digital Online Newsstand for College Market — Digital publisher Zinio is hitting the books, teaming up with National Association of College Stores subsidiary NACS Media Solutions (NMS) to develop an all-digital online newsstand for the college market, set to debut in August …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Kaja Whitehouse / New York Post:

Playboy put in play — Hugh Hefner, the 84-year old founder of legendary girlie mag Playboy, sparked a battle over his graying empire yesterday when he offered to take his adult entertainment company private in a deal that values the franchise at just $185 million.

Discussion: Company Town, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

InMobi Gets $8 Million From Kleiner Perkins And Sherpalo Ventures — InMobi, the largest mobile ad network that hasn't been acquired, has raised another $8 million in funding. The round was led by existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures and brings their total raised capital to $15.6 million.

Discussion: MediaPost, paidContent:UK and MediaMemo, more at Techmeme »

Nathan Heller / Slate:

The genius of the Wise and Cranky Kaplan Twitter feeds. Plus: Their authors, revealed. … - Will Sarkozy Survive the Bribery Scandal That's Rocking France? - Great News: People Are Buying More but Borrowing Less- Can Police Use Toe Prints To Identify the Barefoot Bandit? - Help!

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

How the Plain Dealer came up with its LeBron cover — “I came up with it about 4 p.m. the day of [LeBron James' announcement],” says Emmet Smith, deputy design drector for news. “So, all of about eight hours ahead of time.” Graphics director Michael Tribble had pushed Smith to do something different …

Joanne Kaufman / Wall Street Journal:

Authors: Where Do I Sign? — When “Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough” was published earlier this year, its Los Angeles-based author, Lori Gottlieb, nabbed the brass ring: an appearance on “The Today Show.” Far more problematic was securing a slot for a book signing …

Discussion: New York Observer

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:

Weigel and Nasr “Sins” Put the Church of High Integrity on Trial — I've always been a faithful disciple, worshipping at the altar of Church and State. (And of the Reverend Al Green, but that's another story.) I've resisted commercial pressures and been party to painful terminations …

Discussion: Fitz & Jen and The Huffington Post

John / Tunerfish:

“Dateline” announces partnership with social discovery engine Tunerfish — NEW YORK - July 12, 2010 - In a unique partnership, NBC News highly-rated primetime newsmagazine, “Dateline,” and the social discovery engine, Tunerfish, will be working together to help reward viewers this summer.

Lauren Kirchner / CJR:

On Hyperlocals, Hyper-hiring, and Hype — MainStreetConnect has big plans for the future — Carll Tucker, founder of hyperlocal news organization MainStreetConnect, was profiled on Wednesday on Journalism.co.uk, and his claims about the company's goals raised some eyebrows at CJR.

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Spotery's relaunch: some lessons in crowd curation — This morning, the social news aggregator formerly known as Ispotastory relaunched with a new name and a modified approach to social news. The site — now rechristened and re-URLed Spotery.com — builds on Ispotastory's basic infrastructure …

Discussion: FishbowlNY