21st Century Fox gets back into the newspaper business

Good morning. Here are 10-ish media stories.

1. Another tough year for newspapers? Gannett’s earnings report showed weak national advertising and “just how unequal the local broadcast and local newspaper businesses have become.” Circulation “is a relative bright spot, though overall it was down slightly.” (Poynter) | A “a well-programmed computer could have done better” than I did in yesterday’s morning roundup, Alan D. Mutter writes. The post highlighted the report’s statement that circulation revenue increased at local papers. “[I]n his haste to crank out a story, the author evidently relied on the bafflegab in Gannett’s press release, instead of looking at the several pages of detailed financial tables appended to it.” (Reflections of a Newsosaur)
2. Alan Murray leaves Pew to edit Fortune: Pew “will promptly begin a search for the new president” of Pew Research Center. (Poynter) | “Mr. Murray said he was not discouraged by reports of imminent cost-cutting at the new company. He was told, he said, that ‘the best ideas are going to get funded.'” (NYT) | Murray tells Capital “the No. 1 challenge is to get the digital strategy on track. Fortune never really had the opportunity to develop a digital identity because it was subsumed by cnn.com.” (Capital)
3. Providence Journal deal goes through: GateHouse parent New Media Investment Group Inc. paid $46 million. The newspaper’s building was not part of the sale. (Providence Journal) | “The deal completes A.H. Belo’s efforts to whittle down its newspapers in markets with prolonged advertising revenue declines to focus on media in North Texas.” (Dallas Morning News) | “The announcement of A.H. Belo’s deal with New Media will kill speculation – and, in some quarters, hopes – that the newspaper could be purchased by a civic-minded group of local investors.” (WPRI)
4. Russia’s MH17 media meltdown: Russian media reports about MH17 “are part of a much broader campaign of distortion and propaganda designed to bolster support for the insurgency in eastern Ukraine and rally Russians behind President Vladimir Putin,” Maria Danilova writes. (CJR) | The Kremlin-backed RT faces an investigation in Britain “for breaking broadcasting regulations on accuracy and impartiality during its coverage of the MH17 air crash.” (BuzzFeed) | Russian officials may have edited Wikipedia to back up a ludicrous MH17 theory. (Gawker) | Related: The stories of MH17 victims’ last hours, reported by AP journalists all over the world. (AP)
5. 21st Century Fox gets back into the newspaper business: To promote the new Batman-themed origin series “Gotham,” Fox will distribute 5,000 copies of a newspaper called the Gotham Chronicle to attendees of San Diego Comic-Con. (THR) | The newspaper has a nice-looking website. (Gotham Chronicle)
6. WSJ hacked: The Wall Street Journal took some systems offline after discovering its news graphics systems got hacked. The incident “follows a hacker’s claims on Twitter to have penetrated the wsj.com website,” Gregory J. Millman and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg report. The hacker, who goes by Worm, “has executed attacks against other media organizations including Vice Media.” (WSJ) | This weekend, someone hacked the Journal’s Facebook page. (Mashable)
7. Chris Cuomo disses Jon Stewart: “If it seems like I’m being disrespectful of Jon Stewart, it’s only because I am,” the CNN anchor tells Erik Wemple. “He’s funny but he doesn’t do the job we do and he shouldn’t pretend he does.” (The Washington Post) | Related: A new website from Jon Stewart: Pledge $25,000 and you can “TAKE MOLLY WITH FAREED ZAKARIA” (Let’s Buy CNN) | Stewart: “You’re probably wondering: Suppose you actually raise enough money? What are you going to do with CNN? For starters we’re going to get back to its roots. Start showing music videos again, like in the ’80s.” (The Daily Show)
8. Here’s today’s world news, edited by Kristen Hare: The toddler son of singer Adele won in a case against the paparazzi, The Guardian reports. The case awarded the boy, who was photographed on his first trip to a playground, five figures. | On Tuesday, Reporters Without Borders published a list of the attacks on the media in Ukraine. The list includes arrests, detentions, bomb threats and other violations of the press. | The Netherlands is observing a national day of mourning today. Here’s how AD in Rotterdam, Netherlands, observed the day.

   

9. Lawns are the Wild West thanks to extreme couponers: “We even now have to deal with our own delivery people either stealing other people’s papers to sell to couponers, or not deliver their own ‘free’ advertising papers so they can sell the coupons.” (CapitalGazette.com)
10. Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin: Megan Murphy will be Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times, starting Jan. 1. Murphy currently leads fastFT, a breaking news service for Financial Times. (Financial Times) | Elise LaBott will be a global affairs correspondent at CNN. Formerly, she was a foreign affairs reporter for CNN. (FishbowlDC) | Drew Harwell, a business writer for the Tampa Bay Times, will be a national business reporter for The Washington Post. (@drewharwell) | Job of the day: Dow Jones is hiring a reporter for its Washington bureau. Get your résumés in! (Dow Jones) | Looking for an internship? Angela Washeck has compiled a list of upcoming opportunities. Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.

Suggestions? Corrections? Would like me to send you this roundup each morning? Please email me: abeaujon@poynter.org.