Mediagazer: The Big Picture: Variety's future looks bleak (Patrick Goldstein/Los Angeles Times)

4:05 PM ET, July 19, 2012

Top News:

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Glenn Greenwald to move to The Guardian — Glenn Greenwald, the political columnist who joined Salon.com in 2007, is moving to The Guardian. — Greenwald, a former constitutional and civil rights lawyer based in Rio de Janeiro, will move his blog en masse to the Guardian's website on August 20 …

Discussion: FishbowlDC, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine and Media Decoder

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Home news — I'll be writing in a new venue beginning next month — After five-and-a-half highly fulfilling years at Salon, I will be leaving to join The Guardian beginning on August 20. My last day writing on a daily basis for Salon will be August 15. Politico's Dylan Byers has an article about the move here.

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

A New Boss For NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC — NBC News and the cable news channels MSNBC and CNBC are being brought under a new corporate umbrella, the NBCUniversal News Group, and a new boss, Patricia Fili-Krushel. — Ms. Fili-Krushel will become the chairman of the news group …

Discussion: paidContent, TVNewser and Broadcasting & Cable

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

Rupert Murdoch faces shareholder revolt at News Corporation AGM — Pressure weighs on Rupert Murdoch as 18 News Corporation investors signal intention to oust him as chairman at its October annual general meeting. — Rupert Murdoch plans to split News Corporation in two, but to remain chairman of both parts

Discussion: Gawker

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Exclusive: Could Jon Miller's Digital Future at News Corp. Include a New Investment Fund? — One of the issues that seems to have gotten lost in the complex transaction that will ultimately break apart News Corp. into two separate entities — an entertainment company and a publishing one …

Discussion: Guardian

Dan Rather / CNN:

‘Quote approval’ a media sellout — (CNN) — A New York Times front-page article Monday detailed a new phenomenon in news coverage of the presidential campaign: candidates insisting on “quote approval,” telling reporters what they can and cannot use in some stories. And, stunningly, reporters agreeing to it.

Discussion: Capital New York, Poynter and CJR

Adam Gabbatt / Guardian:
Quote approval furore forces US news media to rethink ‘unacceptable’ practice

Discussion: Crikey

Hunter Walker / Politicker:

Congressional Aide Calls For Buzzfeed Editor to Write ‘Suicide Note’ in Angry Comment on Post About Bagels — Alex Laska and Congressman Jim Himes (Photo: Facebook) — Alex Laska, a communications aide and staff assistant to Democratic Connecticut Congressman Jim Himes apparently takes bagels pretty seriously.

Discussion: @katienotopoulos

Patrick Goldstein / Los Angeles Times:

The Big Picture: Variety's future looks bleak — Once a must-read for Hollywood insiders, the 107-year-old trade publication has been bypassed by Deadline, Hollywood Reporter and the Wrap. — Variety, whose days appear to be numbered, is paying the price for its refusal to change with the times.

Discussion: FishbowlLA

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Nate Weiner raises $5M Series B funding for Pocket (formerly Read It Later) — Pocket, formerly known as Read It Later, an app that formats and bookmarks articles and web pages for future consumption, has raised a second round of funding. — One year after raising an initial $2.5 million …

Discussion: VentureBeat, MediaPost, TechCrunch, paidContent, AllThingsD and eMedia Vitals

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

DirecTV says sticking point in Viacom talks is ... Epix? — They've been negotiating a multi-billion-dollar deal for some of the most widely viewed channels in the cable universe. — But according to DirecTV, the sticking point in its ongoing carriage impasse with Viacom is ... wait for it ... the fledgling pay channel Epix.

Discussion: MediaFile, Forbes Real Time, @edmundlee and Blog.Viacom

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Viacom says talks with DirecTV have broken down

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, Adweek, Wall Street Journal, mediabistro.com, Los Angeles Times and VentureBeat

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Journalists beware: Shell Arctic hoax signals move from subtle spin to activist deception — As if journalists weren't already confounded enough by the misdirection of spin machines and talking points, they now risk being duped by publicity campaigns using blatant hoaxes.

Discussion: Forbes Real Time, Boing Boing and This Just In

Guardian:

Operation Tuleta: Sun journalist arrested in hacking investigation — A journalist at the Sun has been arrested in north London by police from Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta, which is investigating breaches of privacy including computer hacking. He is understood to be Rhodri Phillips, a news reporter at the paper.

Discussion: Press Gazette, @joshhalliday, @tomjharper, @timescrime, @timescrime and @timescrime

Jack Shafer:

How Bloomberg can still run Washington — At the age of 70, Michael R. Bloomberg nears an actuarial end that not even his $22 billion net worth can reverse. By giving him a measly 13 years of life expectancy, the law of averages has made the New York mayor acutely aware of time.

Discussion: Poynter and Fortune

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Why the Washington Post will never have a paywall

Thanks:@biztrends

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Penguin buys self-publishing service Author Solutions for $116m — Book publisher Penguin is embracing self-publishing with its acquisition of Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI). This morning, Penguin parent company Pearson announced that it has purchased the company from Bertram Capital for $116 million.

Discussion: Guardian, Digital Book World, Media Decoder and @tcarmody