Mediagazer: California libraries close to ebooks deal with self-pub site Smashwords (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

9:10 AM 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: Nieman Journalism Lab, Guardian, Gannett Blog, Deal Journal, paidContent, News Corporation, Reuters, Crikey and Wall Street Journal

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: CJR, Jack Shafer, The Huffington Post, DealBook and Deal Journal

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.

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

Discussion: The New York Observer

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

Discussion: New York Times, AdAge, Guardian, @lisaocarroll, Media & Entertainment, Radio & Television … and paidContent

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: The New Yorker Blog, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Mediaite

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

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

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: Betabeat and @peretti

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

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, New York Post, Chickaboomer and Mediaite

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: NetNewsCheck Latest, Publishing Executive …, Guardian, Betabeat, newsplexer and Erik Wemple

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

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and TechCrunch, Thanks:@mathewi

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

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

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

California libraries close to ebooks deal with self-pub site Smashwords — Califa, California's largest library network, is about to strike an ebook deal with self-publishing site Smashwords, Library Journal reports. The partnership would bring about 10,000 self-published ebooks into Califa's 220 libraries.

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: Gannett Blog

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: CJR