Director Paul Thomas Anderson has always insisted that his highly anticipated new film “The Master”, which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a low-rent sci-fi author and war veteran who decides to go whole hog and invent his own bizarre religion, has nothing to do with the Church of Scientology. Yet most people seem to think that’s exactly what it’s about for some reason!

We all know that the church doesn’t take too kindly to criticism, and we guess the film counts as a critique, because the church’s representatives have now apparently intensified their anti-“Master” PR campaign in anticipation of the movie’s Friday opening.

Despite all this noise, Anderson has never publicly criticized the church, and he has even indicated that the experience of making and promoting his latest opus actually led him to become more sympathetic toward Scientology in general. On a recent stop in Venice he said: “I don’t know a hell of a lot about Scientology today but I know about the beginnings of that movement and it inspired me to use it as a backdrop for these characters. I can’t be any more unambiguous than that.”

OK, so Anderson admits that the character of charismatic cult leader Lancaster Dodd is indeed “partly based on” church founder/ “Dianetics” author/ heavenly body L. Ron Hubbard. Most importantly, the public will always know “The Master” as “that Scientology movie,” so of course the church feels the need to respond.

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Prince Harry has a bit of a PR problem—and it doesn’t look like it will get any better any time soon. In addition to the now-famous nude photos, “British PR guru” Max Clifford reported last week that a couple of women had approached him with “more material” on the man who happens to be third in line for the crown.

Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun already chose to ignore the royal family’s request to avoid publishing any photos that depict the prince in a…compromising position–and this move seems to pave the way for other tabloids to go ahead and spread the dirt around.

Today, Murdoch’s favorite American publication, the always-classy New York Post, gives us some more damning details: Read more

A fascinating story in The New York Times today considers a strangely uneven relationship: Despite the fact that rapper, producer and super-mogul Sean “Jay-Z” Carter owns only a fraction of a percent of the NBA’s Brooklyn-bound Nets franchise, his heavy hand is visible in nearly every corner of their re-branding project.

Not only is Jay-Z headlining opening week at Brooklyn’s monster Barclays Center venue, aka the Nets’ new home field; he also helped design the team’s logos and advised their PR squad on everything from music selections (more indie, “less Jersey”) to security practices (“be sensitive” when checking attendees for weapons).

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We’re calling it: Corn Flakes spots are only the start for Gabby Douglas, Aly Reisman and the rest of the “Fierce Five.”

Now that the torch has been extinguished, the medals have been awarded and fans have received serenades from John Lennon, Freddie Mercury and—for some reason—George Michael, one big question remains: Which athletes really cleaned up at the 2012 Games? Beyond the obvious winners (Gabby Douglas, Ryan Lochte and all-time champ Michael Phelps), who will come out on top of the Olympics endorsements game?

First place is a lock: This week’s all-out media blitz by the gymnastics team will include appearances on The Tonight Show, The TODAY Show, Good Morning America, The Colbert Report…you get the idea. The always-prescient New York Post predicts “hundreds” of endorsement offers for Douglas alone.

But how fares the rest of the US squad? Read more

You just can’t keep a good New Yorker down. Trojan’s brilliant plan to hand out 10,000 free “sexual enhancement devices” (read: vibrators) from hot dog carts located around NYC hit a bit of a snag yesterday when the city’s “No Toys for You!” buzz Nazis shut the Flatiron party down, demanding permits and citing crowd size concerns. But fear not, sexual explorers: The orgasmic two-day tour continues tonight, climaxing with a 5-7 PM giveaway in the heart of the Meatpacking District.

Straight-laced officials may have forced Trojan to cancel their nighttime giveaway on Wednesday and handed the New York Post another reason to scold Nanny Bloomberg with awful puns, but company reps now report that all is well and that the second wave of pleasure will happen as planned this evening. The latest news, via the company’s Facebook page, advises Gotham pleasure seekers to stop by the corner of 14^th Street and 9^th Avenue between 5 and 7 to pick up complimentary “intimate massagers” of the Tri-Phoria and Pulse varieties.

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Greg Kelly is back on the air at Good Day New York after authorities decided not to prosecute the anchor following an investigation of rape allegations. The district attorney’s office declared, “the facts established during our investigation do not fit the definition of sexual assault crimes.” Meanwhile, the New York Post is taking heat for publishing photos of the accuser.

GigaOm published a post about its decision to purchase paidContent. Click here to read paidContent’s take on it. The acquisition is getting the thumbs up.

Tina Brown sent around a memo this week announcing big changes on the Newsweek/The Daily Beast masthead.

The Huffington Post media reporter Michael Calderone looks at the impact of Twitter on coverage of the GOP race.

An investor group has purchased Heart & Soul magazine.

CNBC has a new SVP, Jim Ackerman, who has a background in VH1 reality shows.

More of this week’s media moves after the jump.

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