In your sunny Thursday media column: News Corp stock bounces back, buyouts at the Baltimore Sun, the WaPo forswears a paywall, CNN wants to hire internet tipsters, and Jake Tapper has advice.

  • News Corp shares are up 18% today, an indication that investors were pleased with the "forget everything, full speed ahead" attitude displayed on yesterday's conference call. This positive News Corp news was duly reported by the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal. It is an inevitable truth that all scandals are sooner or later forgotten, but money is always on the mind.
  • The Baltimore Sun is looking to buy out 25 employees, including ten in the newsroom. This will leave them with negative eleven reporters.
  • Washington Post editor Marcus Brauchli says that his paper has no plans for an online paywall. Well, duh. Whereas the NYT went the "Keep spending tons of money on editorial, go into debt, take a desperate loan, institute a paywall" route, the WaPo long ago chose the "cut everything" route.
  • CNN's "give us your stories for free" citizen journalism program iReport is five years old, and listen to this inspiring success propaganda: "When an iReporter becomes a frequent submitter, they reach a sort of semi-celebrity status here at the CNN Center. Their screen name is known by editors and producers throughout the building. Some are even greeted with applause when they come visit the newsroom. And a few get offered a job." Ha, that sounds like a lie and also sounds very embarrassing for everyone involved. Also that's exactly how we hire here at Gawker.
  • If you're the type of reporter who sees Jake Tapper as a role model, here, knock yourself out.

[Photo via AP]