Mediagazer: Viacom Profit Misses Estimates on Lower Advertising Sales (Edmund Lee/Bloomberg)

12:25 PM ET, August 3, 2012

Top News:

Nadia Khan / Unity News:

Student journalist ejected from open NAHJ board meeting — The president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Michele Salcedo, refused to allow media coverage of its open board meeting Tuesday, July 31, 2012. Salcedo barred use of social media and video recording in the meeting …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Maynard Institute … and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

Division Threatens Unity as Minority Journalists Meet — LAS VEGAS — Nearly every four years since the mid-1990s, hundreds of journalists like those gathering here this week have come together under the banner of “Unity: Journalists of Color,” a nod toward the conference's efforts to increase …

Discussion: The Maynard Institute …, Unity News and The Newspaper Guild

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

Washington Post Co. second-quarter profit up 13.6 percent — The Washington Post Co. reported a 13.6 percent increase in second quarter profit, but net income from continuing operations fell 28.6 percent. — The company announced net income of $51.8 million, or $8.84 a share, up from $45.6 million, or $5.74 a share, a year earlier.

Discussion: Poynter, Bloomberg, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Wall Street Journal, @mathewi, @mathewi, Business Wire and Reuters

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

HuffPo, The Daily and the flawed iPad content model — A little over a month ago, The Huffington Post launched an ambitious project with much fanfare: a weekly magazine app for the iPad called Huffington, which users could download for 99 cents an issue or $19.99 for a year's worth.

Discussion: Poynter, Publishing Executive … and eMedia Vitals, Thanks:@mathewi

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Huffington makes her tablet magazine free, after five issues

Discussion: Mashable, Garcia Media, Folio, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine and Canadian Magazines

Scott Shane / New York Times:

National Security Leaks Lead to F.B.I. Hunt and News Chill — WASHINGTON — F.B.I. agents on a hunt for leakers have interviewed current and former high-level government officials from multiple agencies in recent weeks, casting a distinct chill over press coverage of national security issues …

Discussion: Erik Wemple, @jayrosen_nyu, ProPublica, Lawfare, Media Decoder, The Caucus and Hillicon Valley

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Is Facebook Stories the next Patch, Flipboard, HuffPo or something else? — Facebook is testing out original content publishing with Facebook Stories, a site that will “share the stories of people using Facebook in extraordinary ways.” It's unclear what Facebook Stories is yet …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Street Fight, CNET, Marketing Pilgrim, The Verge, PC Magazine, Business Insider, Softpedia News and Fast Company, Thanks:@laurahazardowen

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

Rebekah Brooks Formally Charged — Rebekah Brooks was formally charged on Thursday with conspiring to hack into phones, including that of murdered teenager Milly Dowler. The former News of the World editor and News International chief appeared at a London police station Thursday night and was charged with three counts.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Bloomberg

BNO News:
Police statement: Rebekah Brooks charged by Operation Weeting

Discussion: Poynter, The Daily Beast, Guardian, Deadline.com, Hollywood Reporter, ABCNEWS, ITV, The Wrap and Politico

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Viacom Profit Misses Estimates on Lower Advertising Sales — Viacom Inc. (VIAB) (VIAB), owner of the Paramount film studio and cable networks such as Nickelodeon and MTV, reported third-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates after advertising sales dropped the most in more than two years.

Discussion: MediaPost, Media Decoder, The Wrap, Bloomberg, Multichannel, Radio & Television …, Hollywood Reporter and MarketWatch

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The Truth About Pay TV: It's Still Not Shrinking — Reuters says more than 400,000 Americans have dropped pay TV this year. So maybe cord-cutting is real, after all. — But if it is, the numbers don't show it. — It's easy to be confused about this stuff, but it's also easy to clear it up …

Discussion: Forbes, Reuters, CNET, paidContent and Forbes

Dvora Meyers / Deadspin:

Fake, Jingoistic, And Stupid: Gymnastics Coverage Is The Worst Part Of NBC's Olympics — If you have a full-time job, no privacy at work, and/or a boss who cares about productivity, you probably didn't spend two hours in the middle of the day, like I did, watching the women's all-around Olympic gymnastics final.

Discussion: The Awl, CJR and EdCone.com

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Northcliffe Media abandons efforts to unmask spoof Twitter account — Newspaper group withdraws attempt to force Twitter to reveal identity of person behind @UnSteveDorkland after legal fight — Regional newspaper group Northcliffe Media has abandoned its bid to unmask a spoof Twitter account of its chief executive.

Discussion: Press Gazette, Media News, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Digital Spy

Ryan Nakashima / Associated Press:

NBC, Olympics Sucking Up Ad Revenue, Rivals Say — LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC's windfall on the Olympics is turning into a downfall for other TV networks. On Thursday, CBS Corp. Chief Executive Les Moonves became the third major media company executive in three days to acknowledge …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times

Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

15 Minutes of Meaning for Jonah Lehrer — What happens when you make humans into vessels for ideas. — Forgive me for being late to Jonah Lehrer's transgressions and resignation. It's a sad story. I did not know quite what to say. — I don't want to delve too deeply into the media scrum …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

NBC Says Live Online + Tape Delayed Olympics Are a Ginormous Success — OK, people who are furious about NBC's Olympics coverage. The network has thrown you a bone: On a press call today NBC sports head Mark Lazarus said the company is watching the criticism it's getting on Twitter and Facebook.

Discussion: Softpedia News, Poynter, Media Decoder, paidContent, entertainment.time.com, Slate, Guardian, Reuters, NetNewsCheck Latest, AllThingsD, Broadcasting & Cable and Beet.TV

Associated Press:
NBC tape delay: Research finds people who know Olympic results more likely to watch tape-delayed coverage

Discussion: myfoxdc.com and Gawker

The New York Observer:

Changes at the New York Observer — The Observer Media Group announced today that editor-in-chief and editorial director Elizabeth Spiers is leaving her post at the end of August to launch a new company. — “I'm incredibly proud of what we've built to date and will miss the fun of putting …