Mediagazer: BBC World Service should not be threatened by having to make money (James Robinson/Guardian)

4:35 AM ET, June 27, 2012

Top News:

CNN Hits 21-Year Ratings Low in Second Quarter — Battered by a series of rough weeks and big losses for Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan, the cable news network sinks with total viewers and in the coveted adults 25-to-54 demo. — After several months of bad ratings news for CNN …

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

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Without News, CNN Is Without Viewers — The news for CNN has been bad for a long time, but it got especially bad in the second quarter of this year. Ratings for the network's prime-time shows plunged by 40 percent from a year ago, and the network's performance was its worst ever for a second quarter.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Gawker, TVNewser and The Wrap

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: Inside Cable News

Wall Street Journal:

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: paidContent, Deal Journal, Reuters, Guardian and Crikey

Felix Salmon:

News Corp loses its news — “In a way,” says Jeffrey Goldfarb today, “the scandal may have been the best thing to happen to News Corp,” on the grounds that Hackgate is likely to end up forcing Rupert Murdoch to spin off his newspapers, along with HarperCollins, into a new, separate company.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Two Questions for Rupert Murdoch

Discussion: Guardian, business.time.com and WebProNews

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:
Anxious News Corp. Editors Arrive in New York to Discuss Corporate Split

Discussion: Radio & Television …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
News Corp split could open way to new BSkyB bid

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian and @lisaocarroll

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

Discussion: The New York Observer

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:
News Corp statement confirms spin-off plan under consideration

Discussion: AdAge, Media & Entertainment, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, MinOnline, Radio & Television …, The Huffington Post, VentureBeat, Speakeasy, New York Magazine and DealBook

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 …, Guardian, Betabeat, Erik Wemple and newsplexer

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Pulse vs. Flipboard: Which will win, subscriptions or ads?

Discussion: TechCrunch and Guardian, Thanks:@mathewi

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: @peretti

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

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

Craig Silverman / Poynter:
Hearst serial fabricator Paresh Jha may have made up more stories than Stephen Glass

Discussion: TERI BUHL and FishbowlNY

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 and Mediaite

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Gannett says paywalls are generating strong revenue, despite circulation declines — Gannett says its digital subscription plan, paired with metered paywalls, is now active in 38 of the company's 80 community newspaper markets. Gannett executives provided updates in a presentation last week …

Discussion: CJR and Gannett Blog

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Wall Street Journal intern fired for fabricating sources — Liane Membis' internship with The Wall Street Journal is at an end, an editor's note on an article she wrote says: … Membis' article is still available on Talking Biz News. Some of the people Membis claimed to interview in the piece …

Discussion: Erik Wemple, Talking Biz News, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine, Media Decoder, Politico and Gothamist

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Redesigned Chicago Tribune website to wall off some content — Users will need to become digital members to see stories from newspaper — The Chicago Tribune is launching a redesigned website that will give it the ability to sell digital subscriptions. — Beginning this week …

Discussion: paidContent and The Next Web

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Yahoo Sings Along With Spotify — And May Profit, Too — Earlier this year, Spotify rolled out a plan to get its “play” button on a host of Web sites, which let the streaming music service broaden its reach beyond Facebook. — Now it's making the same move, but with one very, very big Web site …

Discussion: Business Wire, CNET, TechCrunch, The Verge, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, The Next Web, The Wrap and Fast Company

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Times’ will end partnerships with N.Y.U., CUNY on hyperlocal blogs — The New York Times' three-year-old experiment in hyperlocal community journalism is coming to an end—for now, at least. The Times has decided to terminate its collaborations with the journalism schools of New York University …

Discussion: NYConvergence.com

James Robinson / Guardian:

BBC World Service should not be threatened by having to make money — Asking journalists for money-making schemes was a bad idea. But the service could operate commercially with integrity — Peter Horrocks, the BBC executive who runs the World Service, greeted Aung San Suu Kyi last week …