Mediagazer: Patch staffers on advertorials, inflated numbers and more (Jim Romenesko)

1:55 PM ET, June 27, 2012

Top News:

News Corp. Decision on Splitting Up Expected by Thursday — News Corp.'s board is set to decide Wednesday whether to proceed with a split of the media conglomerate into two companies, carving the bigger and more profitable entertainment businesses from the newspapers.

Discussion: Guardian, The Week, Nieman Journalism Lab, Los Angeles Times, Gannett Blog, paidContent, Deal Journal, News Corporation, Reuters, DealBook, Crikey, The Next Web, Wall Street Journal and Guardian

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

News Corp's split makes Rupert Murdoch a paper tiger — News Corp's division into entertainment giant and struggling newsprint empire is a humbling moment for Rupert Murdoch — This may be the most humble day of Rupert Murdoch's life. His company seems to be spurning his newspapers …

Discussion: Jack Shafer, Media Decoder, CJR, Talking Biz News, Deal Journal, The Huffington Post and DealBook

Edmund Lee / @edmundlee: now JP Morgan is also advising News Corp. on breakup plans, along with Centerview and Goldman.

Felix Salmon:
News Corp loses its news

Discussion: New York Times, Business Insider and Media Decoder

Amy Chozick / DealBook:
Top Executives Weigh Breakup of News Corp.

Discussion: Guardian and The Huffington Post

Bloomberg:
News Corp. Is Said To Work With Goldman Sachs On Breakup Plans

Discussion: AdAge and The New York Observer

Charles McGrath / New York Times:

Nora Ephron, Wry Woman of Letters, Is Dead at 71 — Nora Ephron, an essayist and humorist in the Dorothy Parker mold (only smarter and funnier, some said) who became one of her era's most successful screenwriters and filmmakers, making romantic comedy hits like “Sleepless in Seattle” and …

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
Nora Ephron Dead: Remembering Her Journalism Career

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Times, The New Yorker Blog, Washington Post, mediabistro.com, Deadline.com, Los Angeles Times and Mediaite

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Savannah Guthrie Is Said to Be Offered Role as Co-Host of ‘Today’ — NBC News officials are in negotiations to have Savannah Guthrie, a relatively new face at the “Today” show, replace Ann Curry as the show's co-host. — The co-host position has been offered to Ms. Guthrie …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post, TVNewser, TVLine and Mediaite

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

‘Today’ to lose Natalie too? — Could “Today” veteran and news reader Natalie Morales be the next to leave the NBC morning show? Sources tell us “Today” will announce the long-rumored departure of its co-host Ann Curry by the end of the week, and that the show's third-hour co-host Savannah Guthrie is the front-runner to replace her.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Chickaboomer

Farhad Manjoo / Slate:

Want to know the secret to BuzzFeed's monster online success? Click here! — Want to know the secret to BuzzFeed's monster online success? Click here! — Last Wednesday, BuzzFeed's Jack Shepherd published an irresistible piece called, “21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.”

Discussion: Poynter, Betabeat, News Desk and @peretti

Philip Bump: Let's talk about this “how BuzzFeed works” post by Farhad Manjoo.

Dylan Byers / Politico:

What's wrong at CNN — In April, as Republicans were throwing their weight behind Mitt Romney and the lengthy, combative presidential primary process was drawing to a close, CNN's Senior Vice President and Washington bureau chief Sam Feist presented his staff with a “CNN Half-time Election Report.”

Discussion: TVNewser and Inside Cable News

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:
CNN Hits 21-Year Ratings Low in Second Quarter

Discussion: Deadline.com, TVNewser, TVbytheNumbers, Mediaite, Chickaboomer, The Wrap, New York Magazine and The Daily Caller

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:
Without News, CNN Is Without Viewers

Discussion: The Wrap, TVNewser, Broadcasting & Cable, The Huffington Post and Gawker

Jim Romenesko:

Patch staffers on advertorials, inflated numbers and more — esterday's post about Patch brought in many comments, Facebook wall posts and emails to me. Here's what some Patch employees told me in those emails: PATCH STAFFER #1 “I saw your piece today 'Patch puts pressure on local editors …

David Benoit / Deal Journal:

Investors See Some Value in Newspaper Companies — Newspaper companies, of the type News Corp. might spin off, are trading at premiums to book value, suggesting investors still see value in the business. — New York Times Co., McClatchy Co. and Gannett Co., three of the biggest newspaper companies …

Discussion: Poynter, Noted, CJR and Guardian

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Romney to seek Washington Post retraction — Mitt Romney campaign representatives will meet with the Washington Post today to seek a formal retraction of its June 21 report that Bain Capital invested in firms that specialized in outsourcing American jobs, POLITICO has learned.

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

NYTimes: All The News That's Fit To Post (And Tweet) In China? Chinese Site, Weibo Account Spotted — Looks like The New York Times' groundbreaking, paywalled deal with Flipboard was yesterday's news: today comes another development for the Grey Lady and how she is working hard to leverage social media for the next stage of growth.

Discussion: Tech in Asia

Bill Dedman / MSNBC:

Also not a Pulitzer Prize nominee: Charles Gasparino of Fox Business — NEW YORK — If you're keeping a list of journalists who have claimed for years to be Pulitzer Prize nominees without the inconvenience of actually being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, add one more name: Charles Gasparino …

Discussion: Talking Biz News and msnbc.com

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Does Flipboard need to rethink its revenue-share formula with publishers? — It's like getting dumped on the day of your big promotion. That's how Flipboard must have felt after two prominent magazines said they were leaving just hours after the popular news aggregator announced a groundbreaking partnership with the New York Times.

Discussion: Publishing Executive … and Guardian

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Ed O'Keefe to leave ABC News Digital for ‘Planet Daily’ — UPDATE: O'Keefe is headed to the forthcoming Lerer Ventures breaking news and video site currently being referred to as Planet Daily, which has been operating so far in stealth mode, a spokesman for the venture confirms.

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Reuters, WSJ, Milwaukee and Detroit papers among Loeb winners — Felix Salmon of Reuters and The Wall Street Journal are winners of Gerald Loeb Awards, considered the Pulitzer Prizes of business journalism. Salmon won in the blogging category. Reuters also won in the news service category for …

Discussion: LA Observed

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Hearst editor acknowledges New Canaan News still searching for fabricated stories — Ashley Varese does not want to talk about Paresh Jha. — Varese is the editor of the New Canaan News, a small weekly paper owned by Hearst that last week admitted fired staff reporter Jha …

Discussion: @jackshafer