ABC News will launch a nine-week hour-long program called Good Afternoon America, an extension of GMA, starting July 9. Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer will host with special appearance by other GMA newscasters. The show will air at 2 p.m. ET.

And NBC News anchor and TODAY show weekend anchor Amy Robach has moved toABC News.

The magazine cover takes on renewed significance. [via AdWeek]

Katie Couric at the University of Virginia commencement: ““Some said I lacked ‘gravitas,’ which I’ve since decided is Latin for ‘testicles.’” [via TVNewser]

Read more

After last week’s much-discussed TIME magazine breastfeeding cover, Newsweek tries to drum up some chatter with this week’s cover, declaring President Obama the first gay President.

After being pulled from the schedule for the rest of May, newsmagazine Rock Center with Brian Williams is on the fall schedule. [via]

Us Weekly is coming to the iPad.

Rebekah Brooks, former CEO of the British division of News Corp, will find out tomorrow if she will face charges related to the phone hacking scandal.

TV broadcasters are taking on the new Barry Diller-backed Aereo service, which would bring televisions stations to paying customers. New York magazine has a big feature about Diller and Aereo this week.

Read more

While Rupert Murdoch has been criticized for his reaction to the years-long phone-hacking scandal, Wendi Deng Murdoch has continued to get a lot of positive media scrutiny after thwarting a pie-slinging protester. In China, they’re calling her a “national role model,” with some writing on Chinese social networks that she has improved the image of the Chinese wife. The British papers praised her. CNN has profiled her.

Rebekah Brooks, known for her mane of red hair, among other things, could only hope for such positive coverage.

But whether positive or negative, the coverage has prompted The Globe and Mail to ask whether the women involved in this mess are being treated unfairly by the media.

Read more

Because this scandal needed more drama, someone assaulted Rupert Murdoch with a “pie” made out of shaving cream as he (and his son) spoke today before a Parliamentary committee today. Word from CNN is the assailant called Rupert a “greedy billionaire” before the hurling started. The hearing has since resumed with Rebekah Brooks speaking now and Rupert unharmed.

If you didn’t know it before, now it’s now abundantly clear that there’s palpable anger out there against News Corp. Before the hearing even began, The Wall Street Journal wrote, “At stake is both the reputation of a global empire—which has 51,000 employees and annual revenue of $32 billion—and the level of support that the Murdoch family, particularly Rupert and his son James, will have among investors.”

Read more

News Corp.‘s PR response continues with the addition of Steven Rubenstein to the public relations effort. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rubenstein was brought on board in the middle of last week. He’s known for his work with celebrities like Robert De Niro and David Letterman, who he worked with after the talk show host had been blackmailed over adulterous relationships with co-workers. And Rubenstein already works with a News Corp. property, The New York Post.

It was announced last week that News Corp. had hired Edelman for help with the scandal. On The Daily Beast, Howard Kurtz also suspects that Matthew Freud, who’s married to Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, may also be providing PR advice, although, Freud has said he no longer works with the company.

The scandal continues to produce an unrelenting stream of shocking news impacting not just News Corp. itself, but also those who have any degree of association with the company.

Read more

Rebekah Brooks has resigned.

News Corp.‘s troubles related to the ongoing investigation into phone-hacking allegations continue to mount. The company’s response to the crisis can now be added to the list of problems.

Rupert Murdoch finally decided to make public comments about the situation, to his own newspaper The Wall Street Journal, of course. Among his thoughts: News Corp. has handled the scandal “extremely well in every way possible”; the negative media is making him “annoyed”; and he defended the speed of his son James’ reaction to the scandal, which has been percolating for years.

The article makes it sound like Murdoch is wearing a set of blinders big enough to block sunlight entirely.

Read more