Mediagazer: What's the Secret to Viral Success? It's So Obvious (Derek Thompson/The Atlantic Online)

5:45 AM ET, June 28, 2012

Top News:

News Corp. Board Approves Split in Principle — News Corp.'s board approved a plan to split the media conglomerate in two pieces, separating its lucrative entertainment operations from its publishing business, said a person familiar with the situation. — The board made the decision …

Discussion: Guardian, The Wrap, business.time.com, paidContent, GigaOM, Deal Journal Australia, Bookseller news, New York Times, Deadline.com and DealBook

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

What a News Corp. Split Could Mean for Editorial Coverage — Will a News Corp. split have a downside for its entertainment properties? As the media giant mulls splitting off its print business, among the many implications are that its entertainment empire will be further detached from the papers …

Discussion: Press Gazette, bookforum.com, paidContent, Talking Biz News, Los Angeles Times, The Week and Business Insider

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Curry Set to Announce Departure From ‘Today’ — Ann Curry and Matt Lauer on Tuesday, with their guest, the comedian Jimmie Walker. — 1:13 a.m. | Updated Ann Curry will step down on Thursday morning from her co-host chair on NBC's “Today” show, capping weeks of private negotiations …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Business Insider, Yahoo! News, Mediaite, The Wrap and Multichannel

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
Ann Curry Confirms She Is Leaving ‘Today’

Discussion: USA Today

Cindy Adams / New York Post:
‘Today’ to lose Natalie too?

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post, Digital Spy, Chickaboomer and Media Decoder

Jim Romenesko:

Patch Local Editor is having fun — From NAME WITHHELD AT HIS REQUEST: I'm a Local Editor at Patch and I've found the job to be, at times, cushier than my previous newsroom job at a paper. The compensation is better, benefits better and the job is flat-out more fun, so sometimes I don't mind if my day runs a bit longer.

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

Michael Massing / CJR:

The two David Carrs — Since joining The New York Times in 2002, David Carr has become America's most visible and influential writer on the media. His weekly “Media Equation” column is closely followed by people in the industry. Last year, he was featured in Interview magazine …

Anna Heim / The Next Web: The Huffington Post partners with Ustream to beef up its live news coverage

Steve Smith / MinOnline:

Google Opens Android Mag Newsstand, Brands Rush In — Magazines have embraced the iPad but generally dissed the Google Android OS. Google wants to change that will the opening of Magazines on Google Play. With scores of titles across many of the major publishing houses on tap for this launch …

Discussion: Forbes

Tim Carmody / The Verge:
Google Nexus 7: ebooks' sleeping giant finally has its own reader

Discussion: AppNewser, Kempton and Bits

Robert Niles / Online Journalism Review:

Want to save local newspapers? Then break the chains that hold them back — The economies of scale that once helped place the journalism business among the economy's most profitable now threaten to help sink the industry. America's newspaper chains missed their moment of opportunity …

Discussion: stdout.be

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

Discussion: Winston-Salem Journal and Journalism.org

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 …

Discussion: Mediaite

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Romney to seek Washington Post retraction

Discussion: Mediaite, ABCNEWS, Guardian and CBS News

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: Tech in Asia, Business Insider, The Verge, Forbes, TechCrunch, FishbowlNY and paidContent

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
NYTimes: All The News That's Fit To Post (And Tweet) In China? Chinese Site, Weibo Account Spotted

Discussion: Media News, Tech in Asia and Capital New York

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

What's the Secret to Viral Success? It's So Obvious — When you're in the hit-making business, the only thing you know for sure is what has already worked — How does BuzzFeed do it? — The Web's crown prince of social media has an uncanny knack for churning out posts that eat up the Internet.

Discussion: Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, Poynter and Slate

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Cat Marnell at Vice: Only ‘Logical’ — Ousted xoJane beauty editor Cat Marnell—whose relentless documentation of her PCP and pill habits alternately captivated and enraged the women's blogosphere—has landed a column at (where else?) Vice. It's called Amphetamine Logic and its first installment …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

TechCrunch's Alexia Tsotsis: ‘I like the emotional part of the news’ — To understand why Alexia Tsotsis, co-editor of TechCrunch, wrote a wild, profane post Sunday about The New York Times putting content on Flipboard, you have to know a couple things about Alexia Tsotsis, co-editor of TechCrunch.

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Associated Press:

London Olympics 2012: NBC Says Games Hard-Pressed To Match 2008 — NEW YORK (AP) — NBC is predicting strong interest in the London Olympics among television viewers, but said Wednesday the event probably won't scale the heights of the Beijing Games four years ago.

Discussion: TVNewser, Bloomberg, Adweek and B&C

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Deadliest Klatsch: Nick Denton Gives Gawker's Drive-By Peanut Gallery a Promotion — Journalists, commenters ... what's the diff? — “When someone comes into your house and throws s**t around, you get pissed,” Anna Holmes told The Observer. She was speaking in metaphor …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, The Corsair, kottke.org, Poynter and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Five things The New York Times learned from its three-year hyperlocal experiment — With yesterday's news that The New York Times is ending its affiliation with The Local — a pair of hyperlocal blogs that the newspaper launched three years ago — an experiment came to a close.

Discussion: Poynter and New York Times