‘Sanity prevails’ in paper Origin war. State of Origin fever spilled over into print this week as News Limited tabloids went to war on the judiciary appearance of star Queensland back Jonathan Thurston. As we reported yesterday, The Courier Mail went so far as to declare a “campaign to save JT” on yesterday’s front page, insisting Thurston had been stitched up by blue forces. Well JT got off last night, and the Snail was celebrating — “JUSTICE,” they declared, “IS DONE.” …

So much for the conspiracy theory, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph said today …

Front page of the day. South Africans have been captivated by a visit to their shores of US First Lady Michelle Obama. The Citizen was particularly spellbound by her visit to Nelson Mandela …

Guardian’s move to ‘digital-first’ will involve job cuts

“The Guardian will make “significant” job cuts over the next two years in the transition to a “digital-first” strategy, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, has confirmed.” — The Guardian

Huffington Post to launch in Australia

“Arianna Huffington today confirmed that her eponymous US news website will launch in the UK on 6 July, as part of ambitious plans to be in a dozen countries by the end of the year. ‘We are planning to launch in France after England,’ Huffington said. ‘Then we are going to announce the roll-out of other countries; Latin America, Australia, India.'” — The Drum

Eastern European media leads in gender equality

“Women media professionals from several East European nations are more likely to shatter the glass ceiling than their counterparts in the rest of the world, according to a new study on gender equality in the news business.” — European Journalism Centre

Salon CEO Gingras to head up News at Google

“Richard Gingras, the chief executive of Salon Media Group, said on Wednesday he is leaving the online publisher to become global head of news products for Google Inc. His resignation is effective July 8, and he will start at Google July 11. In the meantime, Mr. Gingras said, he would work with its management to find a successor.” — The Wall Street Journal