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Oedipus Lach (NYT)
Sources say the chief issue in the sudden exit of Rupert Murdoch's son, Lachlan, from his job at News Corp. was Lachlan's feeling that his father interfered in his business dealings and undermined him. NYT: Interest now turning toward Lachlan's younger brother, James Murdoch. The Australian: A problem for reporters on leading Murdoch-owned broadsheets is that whatever they write about News Corp. tends to be regarded by the market as highly credible inside information. FT: Peter Chernin to take over Lachlan's duties. Guardian: Former lieutenant says that Murdoch dynasty at News Corp. will likely end. Marketwatch: The ink wasn't dry on the press release when wags and pundits all over the world began declaring betting odds on who might be Rupert Murdoch's new favorite son, writes Jon Friedman. Sydney Morning Herald: Lachlan's mother warned four years ago of heartbreak and hardship with succession plans.

Gore's TV Venture Debuts (AP via Yahoo!)
At first glance, Al Gore's Current TV seems like a hipper, more irreverent version of traditional television newsmagazines. WaPo: Gore TV network "thinking outside the box." Time: Current TV is only one of the ventures that Gore has undertaken in the afterlife he created for himself as a businessman who is out to change the world. SFC: Current may be the first channel to take advantage of the plummeting costs of consumer electronics and editing software.

Going Back to the Source (Time)
There is an increased chance that White House official Karl Rove and others learned about Valerie Plame's position in the CIA from within the Administration rather than from media contacts. E&P: Novak speaks out on Plame case, hits CIA spokesman. NYT: Prompted by court rulings in the Plame affair and a perceived new aggressiveness by prosecutors, newspapers are revising their policies for dealing with anonymous sources.

Herald Slammed for Firing DeFede (USAT)
Robert Bianco: Last week's firing of the popular columnist raises the question of whether news orgs may be acting too hastily to reassure the public that their newsrooms are squeaky clean.

Bad News (NYT)
Richard Posner: Probably the biggest reason for declining trust in the media is polarization. As media companies are pushed closer to one end of the political spectrum or the other, trust in them erodes. HuffPo: Cenk Uygur says he has officially given up on the mainstream media.

Between the Lines With Cosmo's Kate White (Time)
Kate White's day job is to die for—she's the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, the largest-selling women's magazine in the world. Yet she finds time to write best-selling novels as well. NYT: White's unstuffy and sometimes silly take on fashion, sex, romance and pop culture has helped drive Cosmo to new heights of success. Even so, part of her cannot take any of it too seriously.

Getting Their Intellectual Props (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: Journalists are expending plenty of time and energy accusing others of ripping them off. In a business that measures scoops by seconds, many feel very proprietary about exclusives.

Dawn Patrol (New Yorker)
Ken Auletta talks with Daniel Cappello about the battle between Today's Katie Couric and GMA's Diane Sawyer for control of the morning-television audience.

Does That Tattoo Mean You're a Crip or a Blood? (E&P)
A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists, including NBC's Tom Brokaw, has met with jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller in the Alexandria Detention Center.

A Look Back at Shaw's Abortion Coverage Series (National Journal)
William Powers: Fifteen years ago this month, the Los Angeles Times published an astonishing series about the media's coverage of the abortion debate by media reporter David Shaw.

We Want Our Web TV (NYT)
As Americans grow more comfortable watching programs online, Internet programming is beginning to combine the interactivity and immediacy of the Web with the engagement of television.

Late-Night Tuck In (AP via Newsday)
MSNBC will shift Tucker Carlson's low-rated talk show out of prime-time in much of the country to 11 p.m., with ex-Fox News Channel anchor Rita Cosby filling his time slot.

End Run Around TiVo? (Business Week)
Jon Fine: Can Visible World derail the DVR express? For big advertisers, it promises flexibility and cost containment. But now that ad-skipping is a learned behavior, the technology comes a little too late.

A War By Any Other Name... (LAT)
In a semantic shift, Bush administration officials are now moving away from the phrase "global war on terrorism" and toward the wordier "global struggle against violent extremism."

Growth or Value? Media Stocks Seem To Be Neither (NYT)
Media companies are facing a long-term future of slower revenue growth, but some analysts say they have not reached the stage where they are more appealing to value and income investors.

'Payola Pundit' Williams Making a Comeback (The Hill)
After his contracts with the federal government came close to destroying his career, conservative pundit Armstrong Williams says the experience has prompted him to make adjustments in his life.

CNN Bosses Slammed By Brit Tribunal (Guardian)
The company's 'highly insensitive management' had little regard for the health of its employees, an industrial tribunal said as it upheld claims from a former producer that she had been unfairly fired.

Goldberg Method (Newsweek)
His previous books accused the media of liberal bias. Now Bernard Goldberg takes aim at Michael Moore and Al Franken—plus 98 other Americans.

GQ Puts Up Dukes (NYT)
How much does the magazine like the new movie The Dukes of Hazzard? Enough to feature two stars from Dukes on its cover in successive months before the film's release.

TV Tokes Up (USAT)
Marijuana use is cropping up on some critically acclaimed shows, and anti-drug forces fear the glamorization of pot could boost its use among youths.

—David S. Hirschman

IN FRIDAY'S MB BLOGS:

Nancy Grace Beats Larry King [TVNewser]
Nancy Grace beat Larry King for the first time ever on Thursday night. Yes, they're in different time slots, but the symbolic nature of a Headline News legal show beating the "King of Talk" is too significant to ignore.

Lachlan Murdoch Resigns from News Corp [FishbowlNY]
Family drama alert! Lachlan Murdoch, son of and heir-apparent to media scion Rupert Murdoch , has resigned his position as deputy COO of the Fox-and-Post-owning News Corp, effective at the end of August. This means that younger brother (and more under-the-radar) James Murdoch, the head of UK satellite outfit BSkyB, is now poised to step into the top spot when the 74-year-old Rupert steps down.

Two Minds on Nightline's Goldston [FishbowlDC]
James Goldston's appointment as the new executive producer of "Nightline" has people going in two directions—while most seem to feel that the decision bodes well for hard news on the show, some are seeing his more racy reporting episodes perhaps as a move towards a much-feared future "Nightline" that is more entertainment-focused.

Kinsley Uncut: Too Hot for Romenesko! [FishbowlLA]
The LA Weekly has posted an uncut version of Michael Kinsley's response to Nikki Finke, which starts, "I knew that Nikki Finke is an idiot, of course, but I had no idea that she was such a fuddy-duddy."

T: The Magazine That Doesn't Want to Be [UnBeige]
It's been nearly a year since the Times magazine combined its style supplements and bound them together under the "T" logo. The mothership spoke with T editor Stefano Tonchi last year around the time of the launch, and Tonchi mentioned that part of the reasoning behind T was that readers weren't making that necessary connection from "Fashions of the Times" to "Home Design," and so on, and that T would create a stronger brand identity—as well as drawing many of the Times' star culture critics onto one masthead.

Pop Quiz: Alex Ross [mbToolbox]
Today I check in with Alex Ross, the music critic of The New Yorker since 1996. His work has also appeared in The New Republic, Slate, The London Review of Books, Transition, Spin, Lingua Franca, and
Feed.