Mediagazer: Sumner's Witch Hunt (Peter Lauria/The Daily Beast)

Sumner's Witch Hunt — Viacom's billionaire owner wants to know who's badmouthing his girl-band pet project to The Daily Beast. And he offered to make Peter Lauria “well-rewarded” if he fessed up. HEAR THE TAPE. — Viacom employees be warned: Sumner Redstone is on a witch hunt.

Discussion: Speakeasy, MediaMemo, Romenesko, New York Observer, The Wrap, Mediaite, Jezebel, Movieline, Gawker, Company Town, TVNewser, mediabistro.com and Media Decoder

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Sumner Redstone Tries To Bribe Reporter To Reveal Sources Who Embarrassed Him — Remember the sex war that was brewing at MTV last month? The one where MTV CEO Judy McGrath was on the verge of leaving the company because 87-year-old Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone was forcing the network …

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Editor Martin Dunn Out at New York Daily News (Updated) — Multiple sources tell us that New York Daily News editor Martin Dunn is stepping down. The newsroom was just notified. He's citing “family reasons” for his departure. Dunn's departure memo, after the jump. [Updated below].

Discussion: Media Decoder, The Wrap, New York Post, Jon Slattery, New York Observer, Crain's New York Business, Gothamist, Romenesko and Runnin' Scared

Boston Herald's Convey named NYDN editor — MARTIN DUNN TO LEAVE DAILY NEWS; VETERAN JOURNALIST KEVIN CONVEY APPOINTED NEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF — NEW YORK (July 20, 2010) Daily News Chairman and Publisher, Mort Zuckerman, and Editor-in-Chief Martin Dunn, announced that Dunn is leaving the Daily News to deal with a family medical issue.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Times loses nearly 90% of online readers — Less than three weeks after the Times paywall went up, data shows a massive decline in web traffic — The Times has lost almost 90% of its online readership compared to February since making registration mandatory in June, calculations by the Guardian show.

Discussion: Gawker, Yahoo! News, State of the Fourth Estate, New York Magazine, The Staggers, MediaPost and Editors Weblog

Discussion: Online Journalism Blog, Jon Slattery and TeleRead

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:

Gawker Currently Under Successful Attack by 4chan — After yesterday's 4chan attack on Gawker didn't prove to do too much damage (following a memo sent out to the company regarding it), It looks like the scorecard for Round 2 of the — A speed test clocks Gawker's current loading …

Discussion: The Awl, msnbc.com and New York Observer

Ryan Tate / Gawker:
4chan Hackers Attack Gawker Again

Discussion: New York Observer, New York Magazine and The Awl

Ryan Broderick / The Awl:
Helpful Explanations: Understanding the Gawker v. 4chan Thing

Discussion: MomLogic, Gawker and Jake Fogelnest

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Longtime Top Forbes Editor William Baldwin Is Changing Roles To Become A Writer — William Baldwin, one of the highest-ranking editorial staffers on the Forbes masthead, who's basically been editing the magazine since 1999 (Steve Forbes has the title of editor-in-chief), announced today that he's, well, transitioning to a new role.

Discussion: Romenesko, New York Observer, BusinessJournalism.org …, paidContent and Talking Biz News

Read Steve Forbes' statement about Baldwin's move — This morning Bill Baldwin told his editorial colleagues that he was stepping down as Editor of Forbes magazine, a post that he has held since 1999. In his new role, effective September 1, Bill will be a contributor, columnist and blogger …

Reyhan Harmanci / Bay Citizen:

From Ashes of 48 Hour Magazine Rises Longshot Media — This morning, J-Lab announced the recipients of the Knight-Batten Innovation Award, and SF-based experimental 48 Hour Magazine got recognized with a $1,000 prize. It's perhaps more accurate to refer to it as the magazine formerly known as 48 Hour.

Discussion: TVNewser

Henry Blodget / The Wire:

On Our Third Birthday, Some Thoughts On Digital Media And The Future Of The Newspaper Business — Yesterday, we poked fun at the New York Times's latest discussion of how hard people in successful online media companies work. — We poked fun because the New York Times never seems to portray the energy …

Discussion: Romenesko and Gannett Blog

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

Dana Priest's controversial co-author — With two Pulitzer Prizes to her name, Dana Priest is one of the Washington Post's most celebrated reporters. Until Monday, when the Post published the first installment of a bombshell series on post-9/11 intelligence industrial complex …

Discussion: Mediaite, Romenesko and Big Journalism

DAN FIERMAN / GQ:

Bill Murray Is Ready To See You Now — He is one of the greatest comic actors alive. A man who's navigated his career with a peerless instinct for quality and self-respect. The man behind movies—from Caddyshack to Stripes, from Rushmore to Lost in Translation—that seem to have defined …

Discussion: New York Observer, The Awl, Gawker, The Big Lead, /Film and Reliable Source

Marion Maneker / The Big Money:

Is the Wall Street Journal the Future of News Video? — Why TV news in 2015 could look a lot like the outlet's video today. — It's not hard to mock the Wall Street Journal's online video operation. The outlet's daily broadcasts can feel a bit like the A.V. club at a tony school aping the nightly news.

Discussion: Romenesko

David Folkenflik / NPR:

NBC's Guthrie: A Case Study In New News Norms — The story of NBC's Savannah Guthrie illustrates the new complexities that surround the modern network TV-news journalist. After a relatively short stint as a correspondent, Guthrie has emerged as a rising star.

Discussion: TVNewser and Inside Cable News

Shira Ovide / Wall Street Journal:

Magazines on Mend — A recovery in advertising spending and excitement around Apple Inc.'s iPad have helped perk up the magazine industry this year. — In the latest sign of a rebound, 12 out of 15 major fashion and beauty magazines sold more pages of ads in their closely watched September issues than they did a year ago.

Discussion: 5 Blogs Before Lunch and AdAge

Glen Dickson / Broadcasting & Cable:

Starz, Penguin Collaborate on “Amplified” E-Book for iPad — ‘Pillars of the Earth’ title will feature video, music from TV miniseries — Premium cable network Starz is bringing video to Apple's iPad in an unexpected way, by teaming with book publisher Penguin Group to create …

Discussion: TVWeek.com, theBookseller.com and Multichannel

MediaShift:

AOL Patch and MainStreetConnect Expand Hyper-Local News — It's difficult for media people to search any job site these days without running into an ad for AOL's Patch. It seems equally difficult to read media news sites without finding a feature story about Connecticut's MainStreetConnect.

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

MOG Launches All-You-Can-Eat Music Service For iPhone And Android — After months of waiting, it's finally here. Streaming music service MOG has launched its mobile applications for Android and iPhone, giving subscribers unlimited access to its library of 8 million songs, which can be streamed or downloaded over both 3G and WiFi.

Discussion: MediaPost and GigaOM, more at Techmeme »

Sam Whiting / San Francisco Chronicle:

KQED expands local news, integrates media — KQED expands local news, integrates media — KQED Public Media will increase its local news content and integrate radio and online formats starting today when 10 newscasts are added to 88.5 FM and made instantly available in audio on kqednews.org.