Last fall, Harper’s publisher and CEO John R. MacArthur promoted Christopher Cox, then serving as deputy editor of the 165-year-old literary and political magazine, to editor-in-chief. But this past Friday, less than three months into Cox’s tenure, MacArthur abruptly changed his mind. “I can confirm that I have been terminated from Harper’s Magazine because of editorial differences with the publisher,” Cox wrote in an email to Gawker on Tuesday. “I’m not prepared to say more than that at this time.”

Journalism’s poster boy for making-things-up is on a whirlwind spree to throw money over the affair, and he’s starting with $10,000.

Mike Daisey has been roundly and justly castigated for selling his bullshit stories about visiting the Foxconn complex in Shenzhen, China, to This American Life. But even some of his harshest critics are buying into the idea that, in some contexts—just not "journalistic ones"—it's OK to tell little lies in service of a "larger truth."

Harper's Magazine publisher John R. "Rick" MacArthur is a man who was born wealthy and has used some of his wealth to publish a great magazine. That's good. Where he pays his staff notoriously meager salaries and fights against their efforts to form a union. That's bad. Rick MacArthur, though, has one overriding redeeming aspect: he is fucking hilariously dumb when he talks about the internet.

In your tragic Wednesday media column: TBD is eviscerated, a new WaPo ombudsman, media tweet beef, a bunch of HuffPo millionaires, Harper's Magazine is a case study of woe, and Fox News is your most valuable cable network without balls.

In your feuding Tuesday media column: Bill Keller regards Rupert Murdoch's legacy, David Shuster is launching his own news site, the Harper's union battle grows ever more ridiculous, and ignoring Al Jazeera grows ever more difficult.

In your frostbitten Monday media column: Ed Schultz proclaims his independence, the Harper's union fight intensifies, major layoffs at the BBC, Mark Bittman's column changes places, and Col Allan communicates with subtlety.

In your fleeting Wednesday media column: Robert Thomson is staying put, new offices for the HuffPo, ironic union troubles at Harper's, David Pecker is beloved without ever ordering anyone to love him, and A.J. Daulerio, profiled.

In your sober Monday media column: Thomas Frank moves to Harper's Magazine, Newsweek has a new owner, why CNN passed over Katie Couric, the NY Daily News is caught ripping off a story, and Dan Le Batard speaks the truth.

In your staggering Tuesday media column: Marcus Brauchli is far richer than a newspaper editor should be (especially considering the new classified ad numbers), the future of Harper's debated, and Julia Allison overcomes media haters (like Richard Lawson).

In your musk-scented Monday media column: A use found for print media, the Harper's editor firing saga continues, small stakes mean big arguments in journalism academia, and Howell Raines returns.

In your wicked Wednesday media column: the post-Roger Hodge day at Harper's, real journalists sure don't work in a "coffee shop," layoffs at ABC, and Nancy Grace is bad.

Sexy cowboy Roger Hodge, editor of Harper's for the past four years, is leaving the magazine (for unexplained reasons). His replacement is Ellen Rosenbush, who's been managing editor there for more than 20 years. The full press release, below.

Last July's Harper's cover story was an essay by Kevin Baker about how Barack Obama is basically Herbert Hoover 2. Today The New Republic has a story on how Barack Obama is totally Herbert Hoover, redux.

The Times Magazine had a good story by Matt Bai (who's always annoyed us and we don't even really know why) about how Obama's philosophy of government is all about, in Rahm Emanuel's phrase, "the art of the possible."

In your desperate Wednesday media column: Baseball writer fired at baseball game, a Harpers ripoff, News Corp has big plans like everybody else, and even more!:

The new Harper's has a really scary piece on the evangelical Christian radicalization of the US Military, and to celebrate, here is an ex-Navy chaplain issuing a fatwa against one of its subjects.

In the March Harper's there's an article about last fall's Frankfurt Book Fair, where the publishing industry gathered to bemoan its recession-era fate. Will a world with poorer authors really make publishing more pure?

What happens when Harper's applies the dry wit and statistically devastating precision of its famous index to the reign of George W. Bush?

As magazines like Radar and Men's Vogue perish amid a more conservative economic climate, we pray nightly that some of our favorite publications don't go under. We would hate to lose print gems like Harper's "Readings" section, a compendium of found text and photography that always manages to congeal into a torturous, depressing whole. This month's edition brings you the story of Operation High Roller, a California investigation into hawk murderers. Wallow in the sad glory of print after the jump.Some magazines struggle to keep up with the shifting expectations for print journal's but Harper's has done a decent job keeping their magazine interesting. Whereas other publications fear dipping their toes into darker waters, the Readings section's dark investigations into torture and greed always did remind us of the best possible blog. Here the magazine reprints conversations between undercover officer Ed Newcomer of the Fish and Wildlife Service and people who keep "roller" pigeons. Such folks aim to protect their pigeon collection by eliminating natural predators like hawks and peregrine falcons, sometimes in sadistic fashion. In the following excerpt, Newcomer incriminates pigeon keeper Rayvon Hall by asking him how he kills the hawks.