Mediagazer: ‘Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening ends ‘Life in Hell,’ comic that started it all (Rob Tornoe/Poynter)

11:45 PM ET, June 20, 2012

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

NBC Prepares to Replace Ann Curry on ‘Today’ — NBC executives are readying a plan to replace Ann Curry on the “Today” show, only a year after she became the co-host of the iconic franchise. The planning — which is taking place in secret and has not been finalized …

Discussion: New York Times, Gawker, The Wrap, The Daily Beast, Chickaboomer, Business Insider, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, @joshsternberg, Gothamist, Mediaite, Inside TV, Tampa Bay Times, New York Magazine, TVbytheNumbers, From Inside the Box, Deadline.com and TVLine

Jacob Silverman / The Daily Beast:

Jonah Lehrer's ‘Self-Plagiarism’ Scandal Rocks The New Yorker — On June 5, bestselling pop-neuroscience writer Jonah Lehrer announced that he was leaving Wired, where he was a contributing editor, and moving his Frontal Cortex blog to The New Yorker, where he would be a staff writer.

Discussion: paidContent, Erik Wemple, Capital New York, Newsweek and Poynter

Jack Shafer:

Jonah Lehrer's recycling business — “Write every piece three times,” the late Richard Strout used to advise journalists who craved advancement in the profession. — Strout, who wrote the New Republic's TRB column for four decades and worked 60 years as a Washington correspondent …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and New York Magazine

Jim Romenesko:
Jonah Lehrer ‘understands he made a serious mistake’

Discussion: Poynter, ArtsBeat, JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY, Reluctant Habits, The Awl and New York Magazine

Craig Silverman / Poynter:
Jonah Lehrer is the latest target of Google Game, crowdsourced investigation

Discussion: GalleyCat, CJR and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Felix Salmon / CJR:
How Jonah Lehrer should blog

Discussion: Poynter, The Wrap and Gawker

Michael Powell / New York Times:

Andrew Sarris, Influential Film Critic, Dies at 83 — Andrew Sarris, one of the nation's most influential film critics and a champion of auteur theory, which holds that a director's voice is central to great filmmaking, died on Wednesday morning in Manhattan. He was 83.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, The Wrap, LA Observed, ARTINFO, The New Yorker Blog, Reviews, Gawker, /Film, The New York Observer, @joepompeo, Guardian and Gothamist

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Philly publisher Bob Hall to staff: ‘We will probably experience another substantial loss this year’ — In a memo to staff of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, returning Philadelphia Media Network publisher Bob Hall says a report of $4 million profit didn't take into account …

Guardian:

Mail on Sunday journalist who claimed Leveson threatened to quit to appear at inquiry — The journalist responsible for a Mail on Sunday story which claimed Lord Justice Leveson had threatened to quit over comments made by a government minister is expected to appear before the inquiry next week.

Discussion: Big News Network.com

Martin Hickman / The Independent:
Boris Johnson under fresh pressure over Murdoch meeting

Discussion: BBC

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

American Prospect Exceeds Fundraising Goal, Raises Enough To Stay Alive — The American Prospect, the liberal politics and policy magazine that was on the verge of shutting down last month, has exceeded its fundraising goal and will remain alive. Editor Kit Rachlis told The Huffington Post …

Discussion: LA Observed

Steve Myers / Poynter:

African-Americans take greater hit in Times-Picayune layoffs — African-Americans were disproportionately hit in last week's layoffs at The Times-Picayune, meaning the newspaper serving the majority-black city will become less diverse unless the difference is made up with new hires.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

James Ball / Guardian:

Julian Assange's drama: in the third act, we still don't know what the story is — With its stand-off at the tiny Ecuadorian embassy in London, the Assange melodrama has entered its third act. But despite the drama, we don't yet know for sure what kind of story it is.

Discussion: fleet street fox

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Rollingstone.com lays off staffers — Wenner Media has laid off at least five staffers for Rollingstone.com, according to sources there. Managing Editor Evie Nagy and Associate Editor Matthew Perpetua are among those let go Tuesday. Last week the company informed employees in a note …

Discussion: Gawker and FishbowlNY

Lev Grossman / entertainment.time.com:

The Department of Justice vs. the Publishers: Nobody Wins — If Apple and publishers are found guilty of collusion, it could mean lower e-book prices — for now — but the future is much scarier — (Lev Grossman writes about books here on Wednesdays. Subscribe to his RSS feed.)

Discussion: Melville House Books and Page-Turner

Jim Edwards / Business Insider:

SOURCE: AOL Faces Brutal Choice On Patch — Close It Or Double Down — AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has a simple but brutal choice to make about Patch, a source close to the ad sales side of the local news business told us over lunch recently: Ditch it or double down and take the thing national …

Gail Shister / TVNewser:

Will a TV Show About the News be More Compelling Than the Real Thing? — I admire Aaron Sorkin, but he gives me a headache. By the time his characters finish a monologue, I'm ready for a nap. Sorkin's latest work, “The Newsroom,” which debuts Sunday on HBO, is no exception.

Discussion: The Corsair and mediabistro.com

Rob Tornoe / Poynter:

‘Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening ends ‘Life in Hell,’ comic that started it all — After exploring a world populated by “anthropomorphic rabbits and a pair of gay lovers” for over 30 years, “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening is putting down his pen and ending his highly acclaimed comic strip, “Life in Hell.”