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Alec Baldwin Set to Host New MSNBC Primetime Show (Mediaite)
Mediaite has learned from a senior source in the cable news industry with knowledge of MSNBC’s programming that actor Alec Baldwin is getting his own weekly show in MSNBC’s primetime lineup. According to our source, the so far untitled show will air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET and will feature a large dose of Baldwin’s outspoken liberal politics. The Atlantic Wire Currently, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell runs at 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday on the network, meaning Baldwin wouldn’t cut into any other personality on the channel’s time. Instead, the actor’s rumored show would replace a series of documentaries on prisons. THR / The Live Feed Reporting has also emerged as a recent passion of Baldwin’s. He hosts a weekly WNYC podcast of interviews called Here’s the Thing. And HBO will premiere his documentary, Seduced and Abandoned, later this year. He and James Toback filmed the project, which features interviews with actors and directors about the risks and rewards of big budget filmmaking, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012.

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Cleveland Plain Dealer Cuts Third of Newsroom Staff (AP / The Big Story)
The Plain Dealer in Cleveland cut about a third of its newsroom staff Wednesday, months after announcing it was reducing home delivery of the newspaper. About 50 reporters, photographers, page designers and other Newspaper Guild-covered employees received layoff notices, according to the guild. Crain’s Cleveland Business Employees were notified Tuesday night to wait by the phone until 10 a.m. Wednesday. If they didn’t get a call from the office telling them they were being laid off, they were to report to work at 11 a.m. Among those who got the unfortunate call was business editor Randy Roguski. Others laid off are eligible to apply for jobs at the Northeast Ohio Media Group, a new company that will produce digital content for Cleveland.com. CJR / The United States Project There is still some uncertainty, however, even for those who got the “good call.” One Plain Dealer reporter told me that now that the layoffs have occurred, Advance plans to hire some of the keepers away to the website, Cleveland.com, which is now operated by a separate digital company. The guild “had thought offers for [the] site would come first… coming after layoffs will cut the number of guild members even lower,” said the reporter, who is staying on at the paper. Philadelphia Daily News / Attytood While 50 experienced journalists are getting their telephonic pink slips, the paper is advertising for nine new journalists who will certainly be lower paid and most likely younger, with less experience and knowledge of the tangled history of an iconic, if faded, American city.

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Manning Is Acquitted of Aiding the Enemy (NYT)
A military judge on Tuesday found Pfc. Bradley Manning not guilty of “aiding the enemy” for his release of hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks for publication on the Internet, rejecting the government’s unprecedented effort to bring such a charge in a leak case. HuffPost The verdict in the Manning trial did not receive the kind of rolling network coverage afforded to other recent court cases. Whereas trials like George Zimmerman’s or even Jodi Arias’ were treated to hours of analysis, dissection and attention, the news that the man responsible for the biggest leak of classified material in American history had been hit with charges that could keep him in prison for more than 100 years was deemed worthy of one, or at most two, segments during the hour following the verdict. Mediaite Jeremy Scahill, reporter for The Nation and author of the book Dirty Wars, joined Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman on Tuesday where he reacted to the verdict of a military court which found Manning guilty of a number of charges relating to the release of classified national security documents. Scahill lambasted the news media for largely ignoring what he called one of the most important cases in national history. National Journal Depending on your point of view, Manning is either a tragic hero or a traitor, or maybe something in between. The now 25-year-old’s personal problems were numerous, coming from an unstable, abusive home, dealing with being a gay member of the military under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, also questioning his gender identity. The military assessed him as having an anxiety disorder. Three years ago, he was arrested after sending what is regarded as the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history to WikiLeaks, including a video showing U.S. military personnel shooting down two Reuters employees and 250,000 diplomatic cables. The Guardian / Comment Is Free Had the judge found Manning guilty of aiding the enemy, she would have set a terrible precedent. For the first time, an American court — albeit a military court — would have said it was a potentially capital crime simply to give information to a news organization, because in the Internet era an enemy would ultimately have been able to read what was leaked. However, if journalism dodged one figurative bullet, it faces many more in this era. TVNewser The three general cable news channels previewed the impending verdict at the top of the hour, with Fox News reporting the verdict at 1:05, followed by MSNBC at 1:08 and CNN at 1:09. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom, and journalists were unable to report the verdict until they were released from the room.

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Brian Stelter to Guest Host Reliable Sources (The Washington Post / Erik Wemple)
Brian Stelter, a New York Times reporter covering television and digital media, will guest-host an edition of CNN’s Sunday program Reliable Sources, the media-watchdog show that longtime host Howard Kurtz recently left for a job with Fox News. In doing so, Stelter will join the likes of NPR’s David Folkenflik, CNN contributor John Avlon and others in CNN’s Reliable Sources bake-off. TVNewser Stelter will host Aug. 11. In the meantime, he will avoid covering CNN, as well as Fox News and MSNBC. Mediaite Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren is not taking the news well that Stelter will be guest-hosting Reliable Sources in August. In a blog post Tuesday, Van Susteren called Stelter’s move a “conflict of interest” and labeled him a “hypocrite” for his paper’s criticism of her husband’s ties to GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain. Gretawire Van Susteren: “Stelter writes about CNN (and MSNBC and Fox News) and is now either hustling CNN or the other way around… there is no clearer conflict of interest. Stelter now knows where his bread is buttered (and where is the New York Times public editor?)”

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Rolling Stone‘s ‘The Bomber’ Issue Banned by CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid And Kmart (HuffPost)
Multiple retailers and drug stores say they won’t be selling this week’s Rolling Stone, which features Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover. “As a company with deep roots in New England and a strong presence in Boston, we believe this is the right decision out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones,” CVS wrote in a statement. Boston Herald Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino wrote to the publisher of Rolling Stone, telling him the decision to put accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover “rewards a terrorist with celebrity treatment” — treatment the magazine should have given to the survivors. “The survivors of the Boston attacks deserve Rolling Stone cover stories,” Menino wrote in a letter to Jann Wenner, “though I no longer feel that Rolling Stone deserves them.” Rolling Stone Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens. PRNewser A calm, eloquent response that respectfully explains the publication’s intentions, and defends the cover and article without actually sounding defensive. While this will likely do little to assuage those who are offended — it is not, by any means, an apology — it may at least open the floor for candid and civilized conversation. New Yorker / NewsDesk Just because something sparks outrage doesn’t mean that it is outrageous. The vitriol and closed-mindedness of the Web response to the Rolling Stone cover, before anyone had the chance to read the article itself, is an example of two of the ugly public outcomes of terrorism: hostility toward free expression, and to the collection and examination of factual evidence; and a kind of culture-wide self-censorship encouraged by tragedy, in which certain responses are deemed correct and anything else is dismissed as tasteless or out of bounds. Slate / BrowBeat By depicting a terrorist as sweet and handsome rather than ugly and terrifying, Rolling Stone has subverted our expectations and hinted at a larger truth. The cover presents a stark contrast with our usual image of terrorists. It asks, “What did we expect to see in Tsarnaev? What did we hope to see?” The answer, most likely, is a monster, a brutish dolt with outward manifestations of evil. What we get instead, however, is the most alarming sight of all: A boy who looks like someone we might know. Ad Age / Media News Rolling Stone may take a hit at the newsstands over its cover story, but provocative covers often encourage single-copy sales at the same time as they spark anger.

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Howard Kurtz Joining Fox News to Anchor New Version of Fox News Watch (Mediaite)
Mediaite has learned that Howard Kurtz is joining Fox News to anchor a new version of Fox News Watch. Beginning July 1, the network said in a press statement, Kurtz will anchor a version of what is now called Fox News Watch, which airs Saturdays on the network. He will also serve as an on-air analyst for the network throughout the week, in addition to writing a regular column for FoxNews.com. Jon Scott, the current anchor of Fox News Watch, will move to the specials unit, serving as an anchor for that programming. TVNewser Kurtz had been host of CNN’s media affairs show since 1998. His CNN contract had been up for several weeks, insiders tell us. In May, he parted ways with The Daily Beast and Newsweek where he was a media reporter and columnist. FishbowlDC The shortest goodbye note known to mankind just in from CNN to Kurtz: “Howie Kurtz has served as host of Reliable Sources for 15 years, developing it into a leading source for commentary and critique on the media. We thank him for all his contributions to CNN, and wish him all the best in this new opportunity. Reliable Sources will continue on CNN, and will be hosted by a variety of people in the coming months.” JimRomenesko.com “I want to thank CNN for giving me such a prime opportunity over the years and was tempted to continue, but the chance to create a revamped program and establish a strong online presence was too good to pass up,” Kurtz said. THR “Howie is the most accomplished media reporter in the country,” said FNC’s executive vice president of news, Michael Clemente. “He’s also a master of social media trends, information good and bad, and a veteran political reporter. Altogether, he will add even greater depth to a very accomplished team of reporters and anchors.” Deadline Hollywood Kurtz came under scrutiny in early May when what he characterized as “sloppy” reporting on NBA player Jason Collins got him canned from his gig as D.C. bureau chief for The Daily Beast and Newsweek. The incident also triggered an internal review at CNN, with Kurtz ultimately keeping his job and apologizing for his flub on the show. NYT The seeds of Kurtz’s departure were sown before that blog post, though; he was highly paid by The Daily Beast but was spending time writing and promoting a small, unaffiliated website called Daily Download, to the chagrin of some of his colleagues. Since the scrutiny that flared up in early May, Kurtz has not made any Web videos for Daily Download or promoted it on Twitter. Read more

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A New Kind of Leaker for an Internet Age (NYT)
What does a leaker look like? Sometimes, people who reveal secrets remain in the shadows, and the public is left to guess at their motivations, agendas and states of mind. Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old man behind the recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s pursuit of phone and computer data, upended that history. He is a new kind of leaker of the wired age: an immediately visible one with a voice and the means to go direct with the public. In a era of friction-free Web communication, he disdained the shadows and stepped into view with a lengthy video interview he gave to The Guardian, which broke the story based on information he provided. He stated his motivation plainly, saying, “The public needs to decide whether these programs and policies are right or wrong.” HuffPost / The Backstory The Guardian has labeled Snowden a whistleblower after the NSA contractor revealed himself Sunday as the source for several recent surveillance scoops. But some news organizations have been less quick to describe Snowden as a “whistleblower,” opting instead for terms like “source” or “leaker.” The Washington Post / Erik Wemple News organizations’ hesitancy to use “whistleblower” may well derive from the term’s meaning. According to this definition, a whistleblower is an “informant who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it.” Clearly Snowden was looking to stop something here, but whether it was wrongdoing depends on whether you’re director of national intelligence James Clapper or, say, a civil liberties advocate. The Guardian Snowden is a “hero” who has exposed “one of the most serious events of the decade — the creeping formulation of a mass surveillance state,” Julian Assange said on Monday. The WikiLeaks founder said the question of surveillance abuses by states and tech companies was “something that I and many other journalists and civil libertarians have been campaigning about for a long time. It is very pleasing to see such clear and concrete proof presented to the public.” The New Yorker / Daily Comment He is a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison. The American government, and its democracy, are flawed institutions. But our system offers legal options to disgruntled government employees and contractors. They can take advantage of federal whistleblower laws; they can bring their complaints to Congress; they can try to protest within the institutions where they work. But Snowden did none of this. Instead, in an act that speaks more to his ego than his conscience, he threw the secrets he knew up in the air — and trusted, somehow, that good would come of it. We all now have to hope that he’s right. Read more

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Layoff Day at The New York Post (Capital New York)
Brooklyn court reporter Mitch Maddux and staff writer Pedro Oliveira Jr. are among those that sources tell Capital lost their jobs at the New York Post Friday in a round of layoffs that was foreshadowed last month when editor Col Allan announced he was seeking a reduction of 10 percent of the paper’s staff. JimRomenesko.com Allan’s memo about Friday’s layoffs: “The decision to lay off employees is not one that we make lightly, but it is a necessary step as we continue to reduce costs, refocus our priorities, and re-imagine overall how we run as a company. The future of the Post is as vibrant as its brand, both in print and digitally, and we will continue to focus on the core areas we see key to a strong future.” NY Observer The news comes in advance of the expected June 28 News Corp split, when the book and newspaper assets will separate from the more lucrative TV and film properties. The shakeout is expected to be rough. Read more

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Zynga to Lay Off 520 Employees — 18 Percent of Staff — And Shutter New York And LA Offices (AllThingsD)
Zynga is laying off 18 percent of its workforce — which represents 520 employees — in a bid to reduce costs and more drastically restructure its troubled business toward mobile, according to sources close to the situation. Reuters One of the first firms to seize upon Facebook as a game-publishing platform years ago, Zynga has struggled to keep hold of players as people increasingly turn to their mobile devices — and games from Zynga’s rivals — for entertainment. Zynga’s chief executive, Mark Pincus, has shut studios, retired more than a dozen games and laid off hundreds of employees as part of a turnaround effort that focuses resources on developing mobile games. USA Today Two troubling trends have hit Zynga; for starters, fewer people are playing Zynga games, with the number of overall players dropping by more than 10 percent from last year. And those who are playing aren’t spending as much, with the company posting a first-quarter drop of about 30 percent from 2012. SocialTimes “None of us ever expected to face a day like today, especially when so much of our culture has been about growth… The scale that served us so well in building and delivering the leading social gaming service on the Web is now making it hard to successfully lead across mobile and multiplatform, which is where social games are going to be played,” said Pincus in an internal memo to employees. AppNewser Despite the layoffs, the company is still hiring in some positions across its locations. According to the company’s website, there are jobs available in its San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle and Beijing offices, among other places. Read more

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Sources: ESPN Laying Off Hundreds (Deadspin)
ESPN laid off a portion of its staff Tuesday, a network spokesman confirmed to us. How many? ESPN won’t say. A tipster told us earlier that it would be more than 400 staffers. A source at ESPN said that number is a little high, but it appears to be in the hundreds. FishbowlNY An ESPN spokesperson emailed to tell us that they hadn’t cut 400 staffers. When we asked how many were let go, “We’re not getting into particulars but it is fewer than 400″ was all we got back. USA Today / Big Lead Sports According to an ESPN source, the layoffs will come mostly, but “not exclusively,” from tech and sales departments (think regional offices: Denver, Las Vegas, Seattle). ESPN is reviewing its entire studio production department over the next three-to-four weeks, which is about 2,800 employees. It is possible some shows will be cut. These layoffs are part of a Disney-wide process. THR News of layoffs comes less than two weeks after Disney’s media networks segment rose 6 percent to $4.96 billion, with operating income up 8 percent to $1.86 billion. One of the company’s most consistently lucrative properties, ESPN has enjoyed increased affiliate revenue in 2013. Read more