Today in Media Files, an outspoken Indian journalist has been shot dead outside her home, and the ABC wraps up filming in Melbourne’s Studio 31.

Journalist killed outside home. An Indian journalist has been shot dead outside her home by three unidentified men. Gauri Lankesh was well-known in India as a dissenter — she was editor of an anti-establishment publication, Gauri Lankesh Patrike, and The Wire reports she’d recently come under attack for her views against the communal politics of the right-wing, Hindu nationalist organisation Sangh Parivar in Karnataka, a state that will have an election later this year. Writer K. Marulasiddappa spoke to The Wire about the murder:

“‘She was taking a bold stand, a very bold stand against the Sangh parivar here,’ he said. The fact that she had been killed makes it clear how dangerous the situation is now, he added. ‘The same people who killed Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi have now killed her,’ he said, referring to the earlier murders of prominent rationalists in Maharashtra and Karnataka who had also angered the Right with their writings and speeches.'”

That’s a wrap for Studio 31. The ABC’s Ripponlea studio in Melbourne has filmed its last show in Studio 31 — the largest studio at the Ripponlea location — before all production moves to the renovated Southbank studio. TV Tonight reports that Mad As Hell host Shaun Micallef fought back tears while thanking cast and crew after he finished filming this week’s program, earning a standing ovation. Studio 31 was home to Countdown. Some children’s programming is still being filmed at the site, but this is winding down. The ABC has sold the site to Woolworths.

Kate and Wills’ 100,000 euro payout. A French court has awarded the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge 100,000 euros in damages for a privacy breach. Photos of a topless Kate taken by paparazzi while they were on holiday in the French riviera were published by French magazine Closer, and the couple sued under France’s strict privacy laws. The payout, plus interest, will be paid by the magazine and the two photographers. The editor and CEO of the publishing company were also fined 45,000 euros each. The couple had asked for 1.5 million euros in their lawsuit.

New York tabloid sold for US$1. Outrageous tabloid the New York Daily News has been sold for just US$1 back to the company that started it, the publisher of sober legacy newspapers the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times. Tronc (previously Tribune Company) has taken over the paper and assumed all its US$30 million in liabilities, including its huge pension benefits. Seller US real estate billionaire Mort Zuckerman tried to sell the paper for the same amount in 2015, but couldn’t find any takers. He bought the paper out of bankruptcy 24 years ago for US$36 million. Tronc will assume whole ownership of the Daily News print plant in New Jersey and a 49.9% share in a joint venture with Zuckerman that will own the 25 acres of land on which the print facility is located.

The financials for the Daily News are not known, but the sale price gives you a pretty good idea. Tronc itself isn’t in good shape. Its second quarter fell nearly 9% to $US370 million on a 15% drop in advertising revenue. The Daily News sells about 200,000 copies a day. It used to sell 2.5 million papers a day back in the 1950s when New York had 13 daily papers. Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post is now the only other tabloid in the city. — Glenn Dyer

Glenn Dyer’s TV Ratings. Yet another win for Nine, boosted by a solid audience for the Australia/Thailand qualifier for the World Cup on Go, which had 611,000 national viewers (and another 250,000 on Foxtel, making 861,000 all up, a respectable number). The Block was also second nationally and top in the metro with 1.55 million and 1.06 million respectively.  Seven buried its Hell’s Kitchen flop in two coded efforts over two and a half hours of flagging enthusiasm from 7.30pm — the average was 803,000 for the first bit and 837,000 for what was coded as “Late”. Overall the 150 minutes of whatever it was called averaged 820,000. Nowhere near good enough for the money sunk into it.

Next Tuesday Seven returns 800 Words to the screen for the second time this year — a repeat of what happened a year ago when it was brought back early and split across the end of 2016 and resumed with the return of ratings in February — and the ratings slid. Desperate times at Seven and the end of 2017 is resembling the sagging end to 2016 for Kerry Stokes’ network. Shark Tank on Ten could only scare up 505,000 viewers nationally at 7.30pm, including just 394,000 in the metros. Shark Sunk! The House (the Tony gets smashed episode) averaged 798,000 for the ABC.

In regional markets Seven News was tops with 587,000, The Block was second with 484,00, then came Seven News/Today Tonight with 470,000, Home and Away was fourth with 466,000 and the 5.30pm part of The Chase was fifth with 377,000. Tonight its the final Mad As Hell and Utopia of this lot. That’s a shame — both were more engaging, sharp satire and better entertainment. — Read the rest on the Crikey website