Morning Media Newsfeed: <em>NYT</em>, AP Snub Holder, Musto's New Gigs, MSNBC Ratings Crash

[emailonly]{{{ sbox300x250 }}}[/emailonly] Click here to receive Mediabistro's Morning Media Newsfeed via email. New York Times, AP Won't Attend Off-The-Record Eric Holder Meeting (HuffPost / The Backstory) The New York Times and Associated Press said Wednesday that they will not attend a meeting this week between attorney general Eric Holder and the Washington bureau chiefs of several media outlets to discuss guidelines for journalists in leak investigations. Times executive editor Jill Abramson cited the Justice Department's request that the discussion be kept off the record as a reason for not attending. NYT Even as Holder has sought to regain his footing, Republicans have resumed their criticism, accusing him of misleading Congress in testimony over whether the Justice Department has considered prosecuting journalists under the Espionage Act for publishing government secrets. HuffPost / The Backstory Associated Press president and chief executive Gary Pruitt told staff at a Wednesday town hall meeting that the phone records obtained by the government included “thousands and thousands” of calls in and out of the news organization, according to a staffer who attended. BuzzFeed Leading civil liberties groups criticized comments made by the Democratic Party’s communications director that media groups refusing to attend the off-the-record meeting are giving up their “right [to] gripe” about the Department of Justice’s pursuit of journalists’ records under Holder’s leadership. The Show Musto Go On (NY Post / Page Six) Venerable Village Voice columnist Michael Musto -- whose departure from the weekly this month caused outrage from devotees -- tells us he’s starting a slew of new gigs. "I'll be doing a weekly interview feature for Gawker, covering all manner of celebs and viral sensations,” he said. “I’m also doing a weekly column on out.com called 'Musto the Musical!' It will span gossip, Broadway, movies, nightlife, everything. Also, I'll do a column in Advocate magazine." HuffPost The Voice prompted outrage from readers when it fired Musto -- the most high-profile staffer left at the paper. Musto said the outpouring of support from fans since then has been "amazing," and teased his future plans in an interview with HuffPost Live, saying, "the second this was announced, people started knocking my door down. I'm very optimistic." FishbowlNY We figured Musto wouldn’t have a tough time finding work. Now let’s see how this all goes. TV Ratings: MSNBC Falls Below HLN in May, Rachel Maddow Hits Lows (THR / The Live Feed) HLN's wall-to-wall coverage of the Jodi Arias trial has had substantial ratings legs. Surging around the time of the May 8 verdict, the network notched an extremely rare monthly victory: It topped MSNBC in total day and primetime. And with CNN posting its second consecutive month as a distant primetime runner-up to Fox News Channel, MSNBC is in a very precarious fourth place. NYT One other trend was noticeable in May: Covering a sex-drenched trial wall to wall is exactly why HLN is in business. The news ratings for May, which was packed with events that played extremely well on television -- the freeing of three kidnapped women in Cleveland, the deadly tornado in Moore, Okla., and, for HLN especially, the Jodi Arias murder trial and conviction -- were clearly helped by the public interest in those events. TVNewser CNN claimed the second-place spot among the cable news networks in primetime in May -- behind only Fox News Channel. The network also topped MSNBC in both total day and primetime for the second month in a row. The network -- which hit a 20-year low last May -- was up 61 percent in total day viewership and up 70 percent in primetime viewership. [emailonly]{{{ jodslot01 }}}[/emailonly] CNN Adds Stephanie Cutter, Kevin Madden as Political Commentators (TVNewser) It may not be an election year, but that isn’t stopping CNN from adding to its political commentary team. The cable channel has named former Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter and former Romney campaign adviser Kevin Madden as political commentators. The Social Media Editor Is Dead (BuzzFeed) In speaking with higher-ups at outlets old and new, I heard from all of them that social was no longer peripheral, but core to their strategy. Concentrating authority in a single personage no longer made sense; Jennifer Preston and Liz Heron needed to get Twitter, but so too did reporters like Brian Stelter and David Carr. And they did. Newsweek Confirms It Is Eyeing Sale (Politico / Dylan Byers on Media) Newsweek CEO Baba Shetty and editor-in-chief Tina Brown have sent a memo to staff confirming earlier reports that parent-company IAC is exploring a sale of the now online-only magazine. In the memo, Shetty and Brown attributed the exploration of a sale to a desire to focus their full attention on The Daily Beast, Newsweek's sister website. [emailonly]{{{ sbox01 }}}[/emailonly] The Guardian Has Opened A Coffee Shop (No, It's Not A Joke) (TheCommentator) Deep in the murky, hipster-ridden depths of London's Shoreditch emerges a new beast dedicated to bringing you bitter, overheated arguments, alongside its bitter, overheated journalism. Yes, The Guardian, not content with serving up unpalatable drivel on the pages of its newspaper or website, has decided to serve up some drivel in the form of coffee, by opening its first coffee shop in London. Facebook And The Very Fine Line Between Free Speech And Hate Speech (GigaOM) It’s clear to many people, and obviously to Facebook itself, that the company mishandled the process for removing gender-based hate speech on the social network. The company wrote in a blog post that it would be re-evaluating its policies as a result, and has resolved to “do better” in the future. As Protesters Gather in Midtown, Koch Brothers Call Tribune Bid 'Media Speculation,' Tout Union Record (Capital New York) Protesters gathered in Midtown Wednesday to try to fend off the sale of a newspaper chain to conservative activists. They met in front of the Park Avenue offices of Angelo Gordon & Co., whose co-founder and CEO is John M. Angelo, father of New York Post publisher Jesse Angelo. Angelo Gordon & Co. owns 9.4 percent of the Tribune Company, which is reportedly considering selling its chain of nearly 10 regional newspapers to David and Charles Koch, the billionaire oil magnates and leaders of Koch Industries who have given millions of dollars to conservative causes. FishbowlLA Will 500,000 signatures put a dent in the Koch brothers' plans? Probably not. But there’s no harm in letting prospective newspaper owners know how a vocal segment of the news-consuming public feels about a potential shift in media ownership. [emailonly]{{{ sbox02 }}}[/emailonly] TV Reporter Allegedly Fired Because He Was ‘Painful to Watch’ (Mediaite) According to an internal email sent to staff by its news director, CBS Harrisburg reporter Kirk Wilson had simply “resigned” from the local network. But, according to Wilson himself, this was no amicable “resignation.” Wilson claims that he was fired from the Pennsylvania station because news director David Baer told him he was “painful to watch.” TVSpy Wilson spent 26 years as mayor of Carlisle before he joined WHP in 2011. WHP was acquired by Sinclair Broadcasting last year. Netflix Stock Falls 6 Percent as Arrested Development Garners Mixed Reviews (The Guardian) Netflix's stock fell by more than 6 percent as investors reacted to critics' mixed reviews over the weekend of the first new Arrested Development episodes since Fox canceled the TV series seven years ago. The company didn't make any of the new episodes available for advance viewing. BuzzFeed The revival of Arrested Development should have been a beautiful manifestation of the Netflix strategy. An admired show that couldn’t find a big enough audience to last more than three seasons on Fox returns through the will of its creator, Mitchell Hurwitz, its cast, and this new business model. Instead? So much hate! I Was A Liberal Mole at Fox News: From Bill O’Reilly to Roger Ailes, Here’s All The Inside Dope (Salon / Joe Muto) People would often ask me about how Fox pushes a message. And I would always tell them the message isn’t so much pushed as it is pulled, gravitationally, with Roger Ailes as the sun at the center of the solar system; his vice presidents were the forces of gravity that kept the planet-size anchors and executive producers in a tight orbit; then all the lesser producers and PAs were moons and satellites and debris of varying sizes. [emailonly]{{{ sbox03 }}}[/emailonly] Honolulu Civil Beat And Huffington Post Join Forces for New Hawaii Site (Poynter / MediaWire) Cross Pierre Omidyar's serious-minded Honolulu Civil Beat with Arianna Huffington's traffic-driving wizardry, and what do you get? We'll soon see this fall with the launch of HuffPost Hawaii, a joint venture the two groups announced Wednesday. Liz Heron Is Named Wall Street Journal Emerging Media Editor (JimRomenesko.com) Liz Heron, who left The New York Times last year to lead the Wall Street Journal's social media team, has been promoted to emerging media editor for the Journal and Dow Jones. "In this newly created role, Liz will unite the social media and mobile journalism staff into one team, with an expanded focus on multimedia innovation, realtime news and mobile engagement," says the memo announcing her appointment and the promotions of David Ho and Neal Mann. Dishing With Scandal‘s Tony Goldwyn; Catching Up With Michael Strahan (FishbowlNY) It was a regular boys club at Michael’s Wednesday with not one, but two football legends (Michael Strahan, Frank Gifford), several captains of industry (William Lauder, Jonathan Tisch), publishing hot shots (Jack Kliger, Jared Kushner) and the hottest actor on broadcast television, Tony Goldwyn, who plays the adulterous, murderous President Fitzgerald Grant III on everyone’s guilty pleasure, Scandal. For the record, the power gal contingent was nicely represented by Norah O’Donnell and media mavens Katherine Oliver and Cindy Lewis. Mediabistro Blogs FishbowlNY Esquire Network to Debut September 23 FishbowlDC What’s In Your Media Diet? FishbowlLA Will 500,000 Signatures Put a Dent in Koch Brothers Plans? SocialTimes Facebook IPO Results in Record-Setting Fine for NASDAQ AllFacebook Facebook Announces Verified Pages AllTwitter The 14 Statistically Significant Factors That Impact Twitter Follower Growth TVNewser Tom Brokaw: ‘The Press Always Has to be Careful About Having a Glass Jaw’ TVSpy WMTW Crew Finds Missing Man While Reporting On Search 10,000 Words Issuu Releases New Update, Becomes Community Magazine Library AppNewser Google Play’s App Revenue Share Up 8 Percent From November GalleyCat Joss Whedon: ‘What you cut out becomes part of the story you tell’ PRNewser For Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, the Plot Thickens AgencySpy ADC Encourages 50/50 Gender Split in Creative Industry MediaJobsDaily 4 Tips for Checking Facebook at Work UnBeige At One with Crowdfunding, Smithsonian Seeks Backers for Yoga Exhibition Advertise on Our Blog Network Mediabistro Chats What do you think of News Corp's new logo? pic.twitter.com/MoP3oCO3ea GregInACab looks pretty lame. Like Rupert Murdoch signed the back of his debit card. Jennie Baumback Cursive? Is this some sort of ancient artifact? Doesn't seem very "progressive" Nicole Guerrieri My immediate gut reaction was "Friends". Like the TV show. If their goal was to make their company seem more friendly, I guess it worked. Sarahlynn Lester I like the font. I don't think it works as a logo, though. Unless, of course, one is trying to dilute brand identity. Robert Valente They paid a creative company for that? I am in the wrong line of work. Follow Mediabistro on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

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Morning Media Newsfeed: NYT, AP Snub Holder, Musto's New Gigs, MSNBC Ratings Crash

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