Mediagazer: ‘Inspiring leader’ or ‘empty suit’? Mixed assessment as Dow Jones president Todd Larsen steps down (Joe Pompeo/Capital New York)

1:50 PM ET, June 19, 2012

Top News:

Elizabeth Jensen / New York Times:

New Hits Needed; Apply to NPR — On an unseasonably warm spring night at the Bell House, a hip club in Brooklyn, a new NPR quiz show was taking shape. Like its hit older sibling “Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!,” the new show, “Ask Me Another,” is taped before a live audience.

Discussion: @romenesko, Free Press and The Huffington Post

BBC:

Leveson asks for comments over ‘quit’ claims — Lord Justice Leveson has asked “core participants” to his inquiry for their comments on a newspaper story which claimed he had threatened to quit. The Mail on Sunday said he had made his threat following comments by Education Secretary Michael Gove.

Tom Harper / London Evening Standard:

Exclusive: Leveson questioned David Cameron's support for his inquiry — Lord Justice Leveson questioned David Cameron's support for his inquiry into the press, police and politics in a phone call to Britain's top civil servant, the Standard can reveal. The judge leading the probe …

New York Times:
Klein Returns Full Time to Education Work at News Corp., Leaving Investigative Role

Discussion: Media & Entertainment and Reuters

Yinka Adegoke / Reuters: News Corp top lawyer to oversee hacking committee

Larry McShane / NY Daily News:

Alec Baldwin punches Daily News photographer after obtaining marriage license in New York — For his second upcoming wedding, perennial hothead Alec Baldwin tried to make a Daily News photographer black and blue. The volatile “30 Rock” star punched lensman Marcus Santos outside …

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, ABCNEWS, TMZ.com and Gothamist

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Inspiring leader’ or ‘empty suit’? Mixed assessment as Dow Jones president Todd Larsen steps down — The president of Dow Jones, Todd Larsen, has resigned after 13 years with the company. The move comes several months after former Bloomberg executive Lex Fenwick was named C.E.O. of Dow Jones …

Discussion: Media Decoder, paidContent, FishbowlNY, AllThingsD and Wall Street Journal

Jim Romenesko:

Jonah Lehrer's NewYorker.com ‘Smart People’ post borrows from earlier WSJ piece — Last Tuesday, The New Yorker posted Jonah Lehrer's “Why Smart People Are Stupid.” It begins this way: Jonah Lehrer Here's a simple arithmetic question: A bat and ball cost a dollar and ten cents.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Dylan Byers / Politico:

BuzzFeed names DC chief: John Stanton — BuzzFeed has hired Roll Call reporter John Stanton to head its new Washington, D.C., bureau. — Stanton joins BuzzFeed after seven years with Roll Call and more than a decade on the congressional beat. — “John Stanton is a reporter's reporter …

Discussion: FishbowlDC, FishbowlNY and The New York Times Company

Stu Woo / Wall Street Journal:

What Makes Jeff Bezos Tick? A $42 Million Clock — Jeff Bezos changed the way we shop, with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +1.94% He transformed how many of us read, with his Kindle e-reader. He has a few other potentially life-changing ideas, too. In a patent application made public in August 2011 …

Discussion: Business Insider

Mark Harris / Vulture:

TV's Best Talker: Aaron Sorkin on The Newsroom, Sorkinism, and Sounding Smart — On June 24, HBO will air the debut of The Newsroom, the first cable series from Aaron Sorkin, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning creator of The West Wing and writer of The Social Network.

Discussion: Mediaite, Digital Spy and mediabistro.com

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

The future of news: Mobile, video, data — and crowdsourced — The Knight Foundation, a non-profit entity that is one of the biggest funders of journalism and media-related projects in the United States, announced the winners of the first round of its Knight News Challenge on Monday in Massachusetts …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, MIT Center for Civic Media and Journalism.co.uk

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Android sensory data, streaming breaking news, and better real-time filters: The winners …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Knight News Challenge Round 2, stdout.be, Stanford, Knight Foundation, Forbes, CJR, Get excited, TechCrunch, 10,000 Words, NetNewsCheck Latest, Knight Foundation and Poynter

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Nick Denton tells a crowd there isn't enough Internet gossip — “Everyone knows that Anderson Cooper is gay.” So pronounced Gawker Media proprietor Nick Denton, perched last night atop a tall stool on a small stage on the third floor of The Standard Hotel, before questioning his own pronouncement.

Chris O'Brien / Mercury News:

Is it time to pull the plug on Web publishing pioneer Salon.com? — Way, way back in 1995, a group of publishing pioneers had the crazy idea that maybe they could start an online magazine that would revolutionize journalism. Salon.com was born, drew enormous buzz, produced some stellar journalism and managed to hold an IPO.

Discussion: Guardian

Erik Wemple:

Neil Munro accounts for his interruption — The Daily Caller's Neil Munro overcame his exacting schedule to turn in an appearance last night on Fox News's “Hannity.” In this nurturing environment, Munro thrived. His interruptions at Friday afternoon's presidential address, Munro suggested …

Discussion: Capital New York, The Wrap and Mediaite

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

B&N earnings: Nook Simple Touch drags revenues down, though digital content sales are up — Barnes & Noble reported Q4 revenues of $1.4 billion for the period ended April 28, on losses of $1.08 per share. The company is now breaking out the Nook operating segment separately …

Discussion: MarketWatch and Mashable!