Mediagazer: The case of Joe Williams and Politico: Five points (Erik Wemple)

4:10 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: @edmundlee, Guardian, Nieman Journalism Lab, The Week, Los Angeles Times, Gannett Blog, Poynter, paidContent, Digital Book World, Deal Journal, News Corporation, Reuters, DealBook, Crikey, The Next Web, Guardian, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal

Michael Wolff / Guardian:
News Corp's split makes Rupert Murdoch a paper tiger

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

Dow Jones Newswires: News Corp Lines up Bankers to Advise on Breakup Plan

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

Discussion: Guardian and The Huffington Post

Felix Salmon:
News Corp loses its news

Discussion: Adweek, New York Times, Business Insider and Media Decoder

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

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: Capital New York and Tech in Asia

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

The Times Is Introducing a Chinese-Language News Site — The New York Times is introducing a Chinese-language Web site, part of a continuing effort to expand its reach to international readers. — The site, which is called cn.nytimes.com and will go live Thursday morning …

Discussion: Forbes, TechCrunch, FishbowlNY and paidContent

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Savannah Guthrie Is Said to Be Offered Role as Co-Host of ‘Today’ — Savannah Guthrie, left, in 2011, with Ann Curry and Lester Holt. — 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.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewser, Deadline.com, Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post, TVSpy, Mediaite and TVLine

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: Chickaboomer, The Huffington Post and Digital Spy

Dylan Byers / Politico:

WashPost will not retract ‘outsourcing’ story — The Washington Post will not redact their June 21 report about Bain Capital's investments in firms that specialized in outsourcing American jobs, POLITICO has learned. — “We are very confident in our reporting,” Washington Post spokesperson …

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: Mediaite, ABCNEWS, Guardian and CBS News

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: Noted, CJR and Guardian

Steve Myers / Poynter:
2011 busiest year for newspaper ownership changes since 2007

Discussion: Journalism.org and Winston-Salem Journal

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, News Desk, Betabeat, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com and @peretti

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

Jim Romenesko:

Patch staffers on advertorials, inflated numbers and more — Yesterday'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 …

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

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

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

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

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

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

Erik Wemple:

The case of Joe Williams and Politico: Five points — The story of Joe Williams's suspension from Politico drags on. Today, Williams did an interview on Current TV in which he stated that he was still trying to work things out with his employer and repeated his position that others were out to get him.

Discussion: Mediaite and The Raw Story

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

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