Mediagazer: The Lawrence Journal-World gets out of the CMS business, losing out to freebies like WordPress (Andrew Phelps/Nieman Journalism Lab)

8:40 AM ET, June 18, 2012

Top News:

Police study Murdoch's ‘secret’ iPhone account — Scotland Yard detectives investigating phone hacking at the News of the World are examining the call records of four newly discovered Apple iPhones issued to senior executives at News International. The smartphones, issued by O2 …

Nicholas Watt / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch pressured Tony Blair over Iraq, says Alastair Campbell — Rupert Murdoch joined in an “over-crude” attempt by US Republicans to force Tony Blair to accelerate British involvement in the Iraq war a week before a crucial House of Commons vote in 2003, according to the final volumes …

Amy Chozick / New York Times:
Wendi Murdoch Is Creating a Career of Her Own

Discussion: Gothamist and Gannett Blog

David Carr / New York Times:

Digital Media's Ever-Swifter Incursion — Last Wednesday night on the rooftop of the Gramercy Park Hotel, all the signs of the classic magazine launch party were on display: an open bar ringed by thirsty media reporters, groaning trays of shrimp, a D.J. playing music just soft enough that it didn't drown out the chatter.

Greg Cox / Expletive Inserted:

Lessons from the Failure of Readability's Author Payment Plan — Yesterday Readability announced that they were shutting down their experiment to take payments on behalf of authors and then distribute them (minus a 30% cut) to those authors. The announcement talks about learning from the experiment …

Discussion: TeleRead

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Newspaper Work, With Warren Buffett as Boss — BUFFALO — Over the years, newspaper owners have built monuments to themselves in the form of giant buildings, statues and plaques commemorating their roles in their communities and the country at large. At the headquarters of The Buffalo News here …

Discussion: Media Decoder

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Newsweek hires ex-TNR ed Richard Just — Richard Just, the former editor of The New Republic, has been hired by Newsweek & The Daily Beast, POLITICO has learned. — Just served as editor at TNR from 2010 until late last month, when Franklin Foer returned to the helm under the magazine's new owner Chris Hughes.

Mona Zhang / 10,000 Words:

Panel of Techno-Optimists: The Shift to Social and Who's Doing it Right — (L to R) David Carr of The New York Times, BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith, WaPoLabs Chief Strategist and Editor-at-Large Rob Malda, and Flipboard Editorial Director Josh Quittner.

Ricky Mathews / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com are here to stay — Each of us has defining moments in our life. For me, surviving the pounding waves of Katrina with my family at our Back Bay home in Biloxi was, thank God, one of them. The day I decided to work at a newspaper was another.

Discussion: Poynter, Gambit New Orleans News …, @deanstarkman, @jeffjarvis and Gambit New Orleans News …

Chris Zappone / Sydney Morning Herald:

Fairfax to shed 1900 staff, erect paywalls — Fairfax Media will cut 1900 staff and erect paywalls on the websites of its two main metropolitan newspapers as it adjusts to shrinking advertising revenue. — Fairfax, publisher of this website, will also shift to compact-sized versions …

Discussion: ABC News and Crikey

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Lawrence Journal-World gets out of the CMS business, losing out to freebies like WordPress — The future is uncertain for Ellington, the content management system designed by a news organization for news organizations. Ten people working on the project were laid off this week.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Logan Jenkins / U-T San Diego:

Poor, Reclusive Publisher With No Viewpoint Would Be A First — “If you ever work for this damned newspaper, I'll disown you!” Hurling the A-section across the table, my father spat out that threat to me on the morning of Nov. 3, 1960. I'd just turned 13.

Associated Press:

Ahmed Bahaddou, Associated Press Journalist, Wounded In Syria — A video journalist covering the Syrian uprising for The Associated Press was wounded while filming clashes between rebels and the Syrian army. Ahmed Bahaddou, a Belgian citizen, was struck in the shoulder by a bullet during …

Discussion: Big News Network.com