Mediagazer: Liberty Global ups stake in Dutch cable group Ziggo (Robert-Jan Bartunek/Reuters)

1:10 PM ET, July 29, 2013

Top News:

Bloomberg Media Recruits a New Chief From the Atlantic — Justin B. Smith, whose digital strategy swiftly transformed The Atlantic, one of the statelier media vessels around, is about to get a bigger boat. — On Monday, Bloomberg will announce that Mr. Smith, the president of Atlantic Media …

Discussion: AllThingsD, BuzzMachine, JIMROMENESKO.COM, TVNewser, MediaPost, MinOnline, GigaOM, The New York Observer, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, @atlblog, @justin_b_smith, Trust But Verify, @jeffjohnroberts, eMedia Vitals and New York Magazine

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Cumulus planning to drop Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity — In a major shakeup for the radio industry, Cumulus Media, the second-biggest broadcaster in the country, is planning to drop both Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity from its stations at the end of the year, an industry source told POLITICO on Sunday.

Discussion: Mediaite, NY Daily News, TVNewser, FishbowlNY, msnbc.com, Deadline.com, The Week, The Huffington Post, @passantino, New York Magazine, @charliespiering, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and The Raw Story

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Why the time is right for The Washington Post & others to boost video initiatives — The Washington Post will formally launch PostTV today — a big gamble that it can widen audience and win significant advertising revenue by producing digital video programs and distributing the segments to various partners.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Washington Post, NetNewsCheck Latest and @abeaujon

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post: Washington Post Launches New Political Web Shows

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Sinclair to buy Allbritton TV stations for $985 million — Sinclair will buy Allbritton's TV stations for $985 million, the company announced Monday. The stations purchased include WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., WSET in Lynchburg, Va., and WCIV in Charleston, S.C.

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, Broadcasting & Cable, sbgi.net, Los Angeles Times, Erik Wemple, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and TVSpy

Marc Tracy / New Republic:

How a Terrible Fox News Interview Became a Traffic Bonanza for BuzzFeed — There is much to be said about the interview Reza Aslan did Friday on Fox News' online show “Spirited Debate.” Aslan, a Muslim writer who converted from Christianity (to which he had converted from Islam) …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

News Corp's Les Goodstein, who captained company's New York community newspaper efforts, has resigned — News Corp. executive Les Goodstein, a major figure in local New York City newspaper-publishing, has resigned, Capital has learned. — Goodstein, who'd been with News Corp. for more than seven years …

Dylan Byers / Politico: The bigger Col Allan story

Bloomberg:

Publicis to Merge With Omnicom as Biggest Advertising Company — Publicis Groupe SA (PUB) and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) agreed to merge in an all-stock deal to create the world's largest advertising company, toppling market leader WPP Plc. (WPP) — Shareholders of Paris-based Publicis …

Liana Aghajanian / Public Spectacle:

Boing Boing Editor Xeni Jardin Talks About Her Ongoing Recovery From Breast Cancer — Xeni Jardin live-tweeted her cancer diagnosis — and all the pain that followed. — “I have breast cancer and I'm in good hands.” — Those are the words Xeni Jardin, tech journalist …

Discussion: @trevortimm and @adamslisa

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

A Blow for the Press, and for Democracy — SOMETIMES James Risen feels like Jean Valjean, the beleaguered protagonist of “Les Miserables,” hounded for years by the authorities. — “They just keep coming at me,” Mr. Risen, a Times reporter in Washington, told me by phone last week.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

AP, Meltwater end litigation, will ‘collaborate on innovating new products’ — Associated Press will partner with news-aggregation service Meltwater, which it sued last year, the news co-op announced Monday. — “There is more to be gained by working together to develop new markets …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

Are Magazines Blowing iPad Sales? — Last week, the Association of Magazine Media released some unsettling, albeit not surprising, numbers for news magazines. It found that many mags had significant drops in ad pages in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Associated Press:

New Zealand Denies Report US Helped It Spy On Journalist — WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand on Monday disputed a newspaper report saying its military conspired with U.S. spy agencies to monitor a freelance journalist in Afghanistan, a report that has provoked concerns …

Discussion: Poynter, New Zealand Herald, McClatchy Washington Bureau, New Zealand Herald, New Zealand Listener, Stuff.co.nz and 3 News

Robert-Jan Bartunek / Reuters:

Liberty Global ups stake in Dutch cable group Ziggo — (Reuters) - U.S. cable group Liberty Global has increased its stake in Dutch cable operator Ziggo to 28.5 percent, the Dutch company said on Saturday. — Liberty, which also holds a controlling stake in Belgian cable operator Telenet …

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Hollywood Reporter, WorldScreen.com, Digital TV Europe, C21Media and Advanced Television