The redesigned Oregonian website has a familiar look. Willamette Week points out:

The new OregonLive design looks exactly like the revamped Advance sites in New Orleans and Alabama, where Advance this month ceased daily publication of its papers and laid off hundreds of employees.

But it’s not so easy reading the tea leaves here. At least one other Advance site, MassLive, has adopted the company’s bloggy new redesign without major changes being reported for its affiliated newspaper, the Springfield, Mass. Republican. Other Advance sites tied to newspapers—in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Syracuse, New York—have so far stuck with the old corporate design.

* OregonLive.com gets a new design, new concept (OregonLive.com)
* OregonLive.com redesigned, but no word on Oregonian changes (wweek.com)

Rupert Murdoch has finally warmed to the idea of News Corp. separating its publishing properties from its entertainment holdings.

“It would essentially mean splitting off the newspaper business that once formed the heart of the company from the Fox movie studio and television networks that now represent the strongest and most profitable parts of Rupert Murdoch‘s media empire,” writes Michael J. De La Merced.

The Wall Street Journal makes these points:

* A final decision on the split, which has been discussed internally for years, hasn’t been made.
* The idea isn’t expected to change the Murdoch family’s control of the businesses.
* Outside investors would welcome the split because they’re more interested in News Corp.’s TV/film assets than its publishing properties.

* News Corp. considers splitting the company in two (Wall Street Journal)
* News Corp. considers dividing itself in two (New York Times)