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LATimes to cut 250 jobs, Including 150 News Jobs (AP)
The Los Angeles Times plans to cut 250 positions, including 150 jobs in the print and online news departments, amid a continuing industrywide slump in ad sales, the paper's editor said Wednesday. The paper will undergo a makeover by the fall that will cut pages by 15 percent per week, eliminate some sections, and trim story length. FishbowlLA: Editor Russ Stanton's memo to staff.

WaPo Editor Announcement Next Week (Politico)
Michael Calderone: There's been a lot of buzz in the Washington Post newsroom the past few days that publisher Katharine Weymouth would announce the paper's next executive editor today. Problem is: Weymouth's on vacation all this week, as her assistant informed me yesterday. But now I've learned that the announcement will be taking place early next week -- most likely Monday or Tuesday -- according to a Post source.

Rush Limbaugh's Big Payday (NYT)
Talk was never cheap for Rush Limbaugh, but now it is getting a lot more expensive. The A.M. radio host will be paid about $400 million to continue serving up his daily dose of conservative patter through 2016. His $50 million a year paycheck represents a raise of about $14.4 million a year over his current contract. NYT Zev Chafets' profile of Limbaugh in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine.

The Future of Magazine Publishing? It's Here -- Sort Of (Folio:)
If you can make a PDF, you can now publish a magazine. At least that's how Derek Powazek, co-founder of JPG, is pitching MagCloud, a print-on-demand service that Powazek spent a year developing with HP Labs. The project, currently in beta, allows users to upload pages in PDF; MagCloud handles the rest: "printing, mailing, subscription management, and more." Folio:: An interview with the founders.

Fox News Airs Revised Photos of NYT Staffers (E&P)
The Fox News channel has gained wide attention Wednesday in the blogosphere for airing photos of two New York Times staffers that appear to have been doctored to portray the Timesmen in an unflattering light. The photos depict reporter Jacques Steinberg and television editor Steven Reddicliffe with yellowed teeth.

WSJ.com Enjoying Significant Bump in Traffic... With Subs Intact (Mediaweek)
The Wall Street Journal's Web site has enjoyed significant traffic growth of late, while still managing to keep its vaunted -- and some predicted, doomed -- subscription model intact. WSJ.com reached 16.2 million unique users in June, a whopping 94 percent increase versus the same month last year based on the company's internal traffic numbers. The site's total page views also surged 45 percent to 150 million in June when compared to last year.

Financial Times Lauches Magazine in China (WWD)
The Financial Times launched a magazine in China aimed at the country's growing business elite. The monthly magazine, Rui (the Chinese word that means intelligence), will be the first Chinese-language magazine to be published by the FT, said a spokeswoman. According to reports, the title will have original content as well as stories translated from FT publications, including "How to Spend It" and "FT Wealth."

SAG-AMPTP: Nothing Expected Before Monday AFTRA Vote (B&C)
With American Federation of Television and Radio Artists members set to vote on the proposed deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Monday, the Screen Actors Guild and the AMPTP met Wednesday for four hours but do not have any further meetings planned. According to an AMPTP statement, the sides met Wednesday for SAG to ask questions about the AMPTP offer, before SAG then "asked for more time" to study the AMPTP proposal. Variety: Actors' Equity strikes tentative deal.

John Macfarlane to Edit The Walrus (MyHogtown.com)
John Macfarlane, who recently left his editor position at Toronto Life after 15 years to pursue other interests, has signed on as part-time editor and co-publisher of The Walrus while the magazine looks for a replacement for the recently departed Ken Alexander. "It would have been difficult for me to turn my back on The Walrus in a time of need," Macfarlane said in a press release.

Cablevision Adds 15 Channels to HD Lineup (TV Week)
Cablevision Systems Corp. will add 15 new high-definition channels that will be available to iO TV digital cable customers for no additional cost. The new channels, which bring iO's HD lineup to 60 channels, will launch over a five-day period beginning July 28. They will be available across Cablevision's entire service area by Aug. 1.

Obama Faces Online Backlash for Centrist Views (USA Today)
Barack Obama is facing a rebellion from the liberal blogosphere that helped him lock up the Democratic presidential nomination. His increasingly centrist positions may help woo swing voters, but they infuriated some of Obama's core supporters. Nearly 12,000 of them have formed an online group on Obama's presidential campaign Web site, urging him to vote against the domestic wiretapping bill.

Former Weinstein Employee Penning Tell-all Book (Page Six)
An ex-employee of Harvey and Bob Weinstein is writing an "explosive" book about their management of Miramax, based on files and tapes compiled over a period of 15 years, a source claims. The so-far-anonymous author -- who signed off an email to Page Six as "The Final Nail" -- claims, "The book, which is told from a deep insider's [point of view], will detail the day-to-day... manipulation of the Disney company by the Weinstein Bros."

Video-Game Makers Are the Newest Rock Gods (AdAge)
Meet the new gatekeepers of the music industry. Following the runaway success of Activision's Guitar Hero franchise and MTV's newer Rockband game, bands, music labels and publishers are all trying to get into the next version of the game or into special downloadable song packs. That has made the game makers at Guitar Hero and Rockband very popular lately.

Despite Debt Default, Strib Labor Talks Might Preserve Newsroom (MinnPost)
David Brauer: Strib publisher Chris Harte mandated a 10 percent, $2.5 million newsroom cut several weeks ago as the July 31 contract expiration loomed. The deal isn't done, but I'm told contract negotiators have all but met that figure -- without layoffs, and only a few buyouts. In fact, the Newspaper Guild could get layoff protection, something their peers in St. Paul earned last year, when industry finances were better.

Save the Press (NYT)
Timothy Egan: And here's the great paradox of the newspaper industy's struggles: all of this bad news is coming at a time when the audience and reach of many newspapers has never been greater. The Internet may kill the daily newspaper as we know it, but it's allowed some papers to increase their readership by tenfold.