Mediagazer: Rupert Murdoch Attacks Scientology Because It Once Courted His Son Lachlan (Paula Froelich/The Daily Beast)

4:35 PM ET, July 3, 2012

Top News:

Executive at Advance's NJ.com Denies Staffing Up to Supplant Newspapers — “I'M HIRING! NJ.COM — New Jersey's biggest digital news operation — is expanding,” wrote the executive, Lamar Graham, in a Facebook post that was reprinted by JimRomensko.com and has since been taken down from Facebook.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: Newhouses say they aren't ‘sneaking up’ on New Jersey

Eric Celeste / Creative Loafing Atlanta:

Nashville-based media company SouthComm acquires Creative Loafing Atlanta and Washington City Paper — Creative Loafing Atlanta has been purchased by SouthComm Inc., a Nashville-based media company. The sale also includes CL's sister publication Washington City Paper in D.C. Once the transition …

Discussion: Poynter

Jim Romenesko:

Chicago Tribune reviews unauthorized paid speech by Clarence Page — ProPublica revealed Monday afternoon that Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist and editorial board member Clarence Page was paid $20,000 and travel expenses to appear at a June 23 rally in Paris in support of the Mujahadin-e Khalq …

Achy Obejas / WBEZ:
Why is the Tribune scapegoating Clarence Page?

Discussion: ProPublica

Josef Adalian / Vulture:

The Newsroom Takes a Ratings Hit — HBO has already renewed The Newsroom for a second season, but that's no reason to stop obsessively tracking the show's ratings, just like they do in the real world of cable news. And while we'll try to not get too dramatic over week-to-week fluctuations …

Discussion: TVLine

Steve Myers / Poynter:

New York Times interviewing finalists for public editor job — The New York Times has narrowed its pool of candidates for the public editor position and hopes to make an announcement by the end of July, said Glenn Kramon, assistant managing editor for enterprise.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Guardian

Paula Froelich / The Daily Beast:

Rupert Murdoch Attacks Scientology Because It Once Courted His Son Lachlan — On Sunday Rupert Murdoch, arguably the most powerful man in media, stunned media watchers when he inserted himself into the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes divorce fray by attacking Cruise's beloved religion.

Discussion: Forbes Real Time, The New York Observer, The Wrap, Capital New York and The Inquisitr

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Fastest growing segment of piracy? Live TV — A chart from the report “The six business models for copyright infringement.” Click to expand. — A new Google study entitled “The six business models for copyright infringement,” just released with the UK's PRS (Performing Right Society) …

Discussion: Multichannel and NetNewsCheck Latest

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Daily News’ loses another veteran reporter — The Daily News is losing one of its heavy-hitters: Alison Gendar, who over 13 years at the paper has covered everything from public schools to One Police Plaza to national courts and politics, is leaving the News to take a position …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

One Week In, New York Times' Chinese Social Media Accounts Shut Down, Site Still Up — So much for that experiment in freedom of speech. Last week, the New York Times launched an online Chinese edition of its newsspaper — and with it a social media presence in the country.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, MediaShift and Mashable!

Joshua Haddow / Vice:

Confessions of a Tabloid Terrorist — You might remember Graham Johnson (pictured above). In the past, we've called him up to discuss the child gangs turning the streets of Liverpool into a variety of hell populated with burning cars, IEDs, and cheap guns.

Anna Tarkov / Poynter:

GateHouse to end outsourcing relationship with Journatic — The Tribune Company has gotten most of the media's attention lately for working with Journatic. They've even launched an internal investigation into the content provider. But as Brian Timpone told us, Journatic works with many more news companies.

Discussion: Hair Balls, Chicago Tribune and Zombie Journalism

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Herman Cain launching his own Web channel — Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is launching his own Web channel, called CainTV. “They think we are stupid,” Cain declares in a trailer for the channel posted online Monday. “We are not stupid.”

Discussion: Indecision Forever