Mediagazer: Alec Baldwin punches Daily News photographer after obtaining marriage license in New York (Larry McShane/NY Daily News)

5:55 PM ET, June 19, 2012

Top News:

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: Politico, Poynter and Gawker

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:

New Yorker Writer Jonah Lehrer Plagiarizes Himself Repeatedly [Update] — Did you ever pull that old college trick where you wrote the same paper for two classes? It's frowned upon, but hard to get caught. Not so on the Internet: New Yorker staffer Jonah Lehrer, who just moved over from Wired …

Discussion: Poynter

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Jonah Lehrer, self-borrowing and the problem with “big ideas” — Newly appointed New Yorker staff writer Jonah Lehrer — author of the bestselling books “Imagine,” “How We Decide” and “Proust Was a Neuroscientist” and a former editor at Wired — has been recycling a bunch of his own content in pieces for various publishers.

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: FishbowlNY, FishbowlDC, mediabistro.com, The Wrap, PAPERMAG, NPPA Advocacy Committee, New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, ABCNEWS, The Huffington Post, TMZ.com, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Gothamist

Glenn Peoples / Billboard.Biz:

What's Going on With Vevo's Numbers? — Music video network Vevo has helped revolutionize online video, has been the subject of IPO rumors and is reported to be wooing investments from Google and Facebook. — But exactly what investors would get is a bit fuzzy to outsiders.

Discussion: Digital Music News, fierceonlinevideo.com, SocialTimes, NetNewsCheck Latest, Mashable! and paidContent

Greg Sandoval / CNET:

Publishers gain ground on music-video payday — Music videos are making a comeback with help from Vevo and YouTube. Indie music publishers want their fair share. — Follow @sandoCNET — Songwriters and music publishers don't want to get left out of the online music-video boom.

Discussion: paidContent

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, Los Angeles Times, Free Press and The Huffington Post

Reuters:

Ecuador says WikiLeaks' Assange seeks asylum — (Reuters) - WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has asked for political asylum in Ecuador and officials in the South American nation are considering his request, its foreign minister said on Tuesday. — “Ecuador is studying and analyzing the request …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Betabeat, @noelapdc, Mediaite, Guardian, AJE, Gawker, Telegraph, This Just In, @ggreenwald, @davidclinchnews and @producermatthew

Embassy of Ecuador in London: Statement on Julian Assange

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 & Entertainment, FishbowlNY, Media Decoder, paidContent and Wall Street Journal

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.

Discussion: CJR

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

Discussion: New York Times

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Spotify Finally Launches Web Radio, for Real. And That's a Problem for Pandora. — A lot of people confuse Spotify's streaming music service with Pandora's streaming music service. — Now they're going to be a lot more confused. In a way that's good for Spotify and a problem for Pandora.

Discussion: Guardian, 9to5Mac, Forbes, Evolver.fm, Betabeat, CNET, Pocket-lint, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and paidContent

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