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Ex-New York Post Writer's Defamation Suit Tossed (AP)
A judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by a former New York Post gossip writer against the Daily News, supermarket mogul Ron Burkle, and Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton. State Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub trashed Jared Paul Stern's lawsuit in his decision issued Monday, saying it read more like a "Mickey Spillane novel" than a carefully argued statement of law. NYT: Mr. Stern called the decision "just a speed bump... Until we get this resolved, everybody just knows what they read in a newspaper, which was not accurate," he said.

Thousands Join President in Mourning Russert (AP)
Thousands of friends, colleagues, and strangers joined President Bush and his wife, Laura, in paying respects on Tuesday to Tim Russert. Several hundred people were in line more than an hour before the early afternoon start of the wake at St. Albans School, an elite private boys school on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral in Northwest Washington. Many had never met him. WaPo: Russert's funeral today will be private. An invitation-only memorial service will be held at the Kennedy Center and televised at 4 p.m. on NBC and MSNBC. NYO: For all the endless tributes to Russert this week, the actual mechanics of Russert's ambition remain shrouded in platitudes. So what did Russert do? Marketwatch: Tom Brokaw shouldn't replace Russert, writes Jon Friedman.

At Social Site, Only the Businesslike Need Apply (NYT)
For a Web site, it could hardly look less exciting. Its pages are heavy with text, much of it a flat blue, and there are few photos and absolutely no videos. But LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, is dull by design. Unlike Facebook and MySpace, the site is aimed at career-minded, white-collar workers, people who join more for the networking than the social. LAT: LinkedIn Corp. has made a big connection with investors, who are valuing the professional networking company at more than $1 billion.

ABC Halts Fox's 22-Week Winning Streak (Hollywood Reporter)
ABC's presentation of the NBA Finals put the network over the top — winning Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday night with Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics games. The games also provided a strong platform for ABC promote some reality shows of its own — the upcoming premieres of Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show.

Fed Reporter Ip to Leave WSJ, Join Economist (Reuters)
The Wall Street Journal's influential Federal Reserve reporter will quit the newspaper next month, the latest high-level departure since News Corp. bought the Journal last year. Greg Ip will join The Economist as U.S. economics editor, he told Reuters on Tuesday, after covering the Fed since 2001 for the Journal. He likely will join the weekly in late July, he said.

ABC Keeps Jimmy Kimmel Talking (Variety)
ABC is extending its option with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel by another year, keeping him at the network through at least 2010. The decision to exercise an early extension comes as Kimmel has received positive attention for his Jimmy Kimmel Live Game Night series of post-NBA Finals specials.

New Design Director at Vogue (WWD)
The magazine on Tuesday tapped Danko Steiner, its current art director, to move up the masthead and replace longtime design director Charles Churchward, who resigned from his post after 13 years to pursue personal projects. Steiner has been with Vogue since 2005, joining the magazine from Harper's Bazaar, where he was design director for four years.

Robin Schwartz Named Executive at Oprah Cable TV Venture (LAT)
Oprah Winfrey's new venture, a cable channel scheduled to launch next year, has announced its first major hire: veteran TV executive Robin Schwartz. Schwartz has been named president of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, and will oversee programming, development, marketing, and research. She will be tasked with carrying out Winfrey's vision for the channel and report to a yet-to-be-named chief executive.

From Kicklines to Frontlines: Campbell Robertson Off to Iraq (NYO)
Campbell Robertson, the dogged Times journalist who has worked his way up from office clerk to gossip reporter to Broadway-beat man, is headed to Iraq. "We were out last night and he was picking my brain on Iraq," said Times Baghdad bureau chief Jim Glanz. "He said that people have been asking him when he's going to Iraq. And he said he'll go once the Tonys are over!"

Web Video Audience Flat, Usage Soars (Mediaweek)
While the number of total streamers appears to have leveled off after a rapid growth period several years ago, those streamers are watching more clips each year. ComScore found that viewers averaged 82 clips per month and 228 minutes of video viewing in April, versus the 63 clips and 158 minute averages recorded nearly a year earlier. A whopping 11 billion videos were consumed in the U.S. in April of this year. AdAge: Consumption of video content is expected to rise 25 percent to five hours per day by 2013, compared with the four hours now watched in 2008, according to Forrester Research.

Behind the McClatchy Layoffs — A Mountain Of Debt (E&P)
The 1,400 McClatchy Co. employees targeted for layoffs can blame their job loss on the faltering newspaper economy in general, their company's specific concentration of papers in California and Florida where the housing collapse has been most acute — and a forward-looking strategy once hailed as a way to avoid precisely this kind of pain.

20-Somethings Turn to the Web for Revealing Shows (Salon)
Judy Berman: Not surprisingly, some of the best representations of post-college, pre-marriage existence can be found on the Internet — the same realm where we forge our careers, look for dates, and communicate with friends. One of the best examples is Joe Swanberg's online series Young American Bodies, now in its third season.

Allison Out at Star (NYP)
Talking head Julia Allison has lost her editor-at-large gig at Star. Allison, 27, is a prolific blogger, a relationship columnist for Time Out New York, and a frequent guest on everything from Access Hollywood to Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld. She was snagging an estimated $125,000 a year at Star.

Revolving Door Newsletter: McClatchy Cuts 1,400 (mediabistro.com)
Tribune isn't the only severely listing ship in the newspaper business at the moment; McClatchy is clearly taking on water as well, forcing the chain to cut its workforce by another 10 percent, equal to 1,400 jobs. Of those, 310 to 320 will be newsroom jobs, equal to about nine percent of the company's total.

After 74 Years, FCC Starting To Flex Its Muscles (NY Sun)
Harold Furchtgott-Roth: During its first 60 years, the FCC was one of the more obscure federal agencies. In recent years, however, editorial pages — some with praise, some with a tut-tut, and some with uncontrolled hysterics — have commented frequently on FCC decisions, or lack thereof. Politicians are also taking notice, with Congress regularly holding hearings on the FCC.