Mediagazer: Kindle to Go ‘Mass Market’ (Geoffrey A. Fowler/Wall Street Journal)

8:40 AM ET, July 29, 2010

Top News:

Clint Hendler / CJR:

The Story Behind the Publication of WikiLeaks's Afghanistan Logs — From Brussels, to a bunker, to blockbusters — You wouldn't be reading the coverage of the so-called Afghanistan logs—in The New York Times, Der Spiegel, and The Guardian—if Nick Davies, a senior contributor to the British paper …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Romenesko, The Biz Blog, Fast Company, Mediaite, On Media's Blog and J-Source

Samuel P. Jacobs / The Daily Beast:

Julian Assange vs. The New York Times — Julian Assange is calling The New York Times, “pusillanimous” and “unprofessional.” In these parts, those are fighting words! — While Assange has often positioned himself against the press, accusing it of flinching in the face of power …

Discussion: Romenesko, Democracy Now, The Daily Beast, Fast Company, Washington Post and Guardian

Farhad Manjoo / Slate:

Is radical transparency compatible with total anonymity? … - Spitzer: The New Financial Reform Bill Is Nothing To Celebrate- If the Pope Prays for a Dead Person, Does It Help the Deceased Get Into Heaven? - The Dangers of Sharing a Netflix Queue With Your Spouse- Can You Expense a Prostitute, Like in Mad Men?

Discussion: FishbowlNY and New Scientist

Callie Schweitzer / Neon Tommy:
Has WikiLeaks Eliminated The “Middleman” In Journalism?

Discussion: Poynter Online, CJR, The Huffington Post and George Brock

Geoffrey A. Fowler / Wall Street Journal:

Kindle to Go ‘Mass Market’ — Amazon Digs in Heels by Introducing New, Cheaper Version of E-Book Reader — Amazon.com Inc. plans to release a cheaper Kindle e-reader next month, said Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, laying out a strategy to go “mass market” with an inexpensive gadget designed …

Discussion: Editors Weblog, Engadget, CrunchGear, Shelly Palmer, Gadget Lab, The Next Web, Mike Cane's iPad Test, TechCrunch, pasmith's blog, TeleRead, MediaMemo and eBookNewser, more at Techmeme »

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Journolist veers out of bounds — This may be the most embarrassing thing I have ever written — and looking back on my writing, there is a lot of competition for that dubious distinction — but when I became a reporter, it was almost a holy calling. — We really believed we were doing good.

Discussion: DailyFinance, Gawker and FAIR Blog

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
The full Chuck on Journolist, Breitbart and journalism

Discussion: The Plum Line, Romenesko and The Huffington Post

Dunstan Prial / FOXBusiness.com:

SEC Says New Financial Regulation Law Exempts it From Public Disclosure — So much for transparency. — Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests …

Discussion: BusinessJournalism.org …, Hot Air, Romenesko and DealBook

Zach Goldfarb / Market Cop: Does new financial law block FOIA requests at SEC?

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Time Inc.'s iPad Problem Is Trouble for Every Magazine Publisher — Time Inc. likes to show off its iPad apps as a symbol of the company's future. But inside the publisher, the digital editions have become a source of hair-pulling frustration. — That's because the magazine giant …

Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:

Sumner Redstone gal pal says she got nothing — THR EXCLUSIVE: Peters defends Viacom chief amid scandal — Sumner Redstone's news-making gifts to women are proving irksome to his longtime lady friend, Christine Peters. — Peters is well aware that her longtime production deal …

Peter Lauria / The Daily Beast:
New Sumner Girl on Payroll

Discussion: Gawker, Showbiz411 and Hollywood Reporter

Ryan Tate / Gawker:

Mark Zuckerberg's Age of Privacy Is Over — Mark Zuckerberg turned strangers' intimate moments into riches. We turned the tables on the Facebook CEO, lurking outside his house, following him out with his girlfriend and pals, and to Chinese language lessons. America's youngest billionaire got the paparazzi treatment.

Discussion: Media News, NBC Bay Area, All Things Digital, WebProNews, CJR, The Not-So Private Parts, SFist, Forbes, THINQ.co.uk, Boing Boing, The Awl and New York Magazine, more at Techmeme »

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:

The New York Post's Newsroom: On Edge and Under Hot Water After Correction Boils Over — We received a tip earlier this afternoon: “heads might roll” by the end of the day at the New York Post's Metro desk, as they're in crisis mode after a humiliating correction was published this morning in the paper.

Discussion: Regret the Error

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

As Mobile Advertising Heats Up, Millennial Media Prepares For An IPO In 2011 — Mobile advertising is currently a billion dollar market and we've witnessed tech giants like Google and Apple move into the space with the acquisitions of mobile ad networks AdMob and Quattro Wireless, respectively.

Discussion: Millennial Media

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

The Google Sewage Factory, In Action: The Chocomize Story — Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has quite famously been on record many times talking about how the web is full of garbage. It's a cesspool out there, he's said. Today, a short fast look at how his own company pollutes the web.

Discussion: MediaPost and CNN, more at Techmeme »

Kevin Allocca / TVNewser:

Alan Murray on the Future of WSJ and Television — Wall Street Journal deputy managing editor and executive editor, online Alan Murray tells TVNewser the WSJ's online video effort is already heading in the direction of a “Wall Street Journal Network,” but is not sure if we'll see a future combination …

Discussion: mediabistro.com

James Hibberd / The Hollywood Reporter:

Steve McPherson resigned amid alleged sexual harassment probe — Exclu: Steve McPherson resigned from ABC as the company conducted an internal sexual harassment investigation of the executive, according to a source. — ABC pointedly did not deny allegations of inappropriate conduct were involved.

Discussion: Deadline.com, Hollywood Reporter, TVNewser, Company Town, The Wrap and New York Magazine

Claudia Eller / Los Angeles Times:

Jeff Sagansky stakes claim to new media future — After holding management posts at big studios and TV networks for two decades and co-founding a production finance company, Jeff Sagansky has seen the digital light. — For 22 years Jeff Sagansky worked in “old media,” …

Mark Katches / California Watch:

INSIDE the NEWSROOM — In Switzerland, children attend school for 228 days a year. In South Korea, it's 220 days. — By this measure, California looks like a slacker. — The typical California school year lasts about 180 days - and it's shrinking. California Watch Senior Reporter …

Discussion: WebNewser and LA Observed

Scott Brown / Wired:

Scott Brown on How Max Headroom Predicted the Demise of TV Journalism — Pity Max Headroom. We think of him today as an empty-headed relic of the 1980s—if we think of him at all. Well, allow me to refresh your Memorex: Max was a computer-enhanced “talking head” with a freakishly sculpted scalp …

Financial Times:

Amazon writes new chapter in its strategy — Last November, Amazon.com, the online retailer, flew a dozen of the top US literary agents to a day-long meeting at the company's Seattle headquarters to try to tone down its image as the 800-pound gorilla of bookselling

Discussion: blogs.ft.com

Mathew Honan / Wired:

Print: One Man's Journey Into Stunt Books — Confound you, A. J. Jacobs! I used to enjoy your radical self-experimentation — like when you read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica and wrote about it in your best-selling book The Know-It-All. But since then, you've also published The Guinea Pig Diaries …

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:

Rupert Murdoch to White House: No free news — It looks like Rupert Murdoch has finally figured out a way to make the White House pay — literally. — The Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal has jacked up the rate it charges the administration's news clipping service by a jaw-dropping $600,000 per year …

Discussion: Gawker

Crain's New York Business:

Tax breaks for Thomson Reuters assailed — Daniel Massey - A contract dispute between Thomson Reuters and the Newspaper Guild of New York could threaten the media giant's attempt to shift $20.7 million in unused city and state sales tax subsidies from the construction of 3 Times Square to seven other Manhattan properties.

Todd Spangler / Multichannel News:

‘Social TV’ Startup Philo Announces Funding, Apps — Investors Include North Bridge Venture Partners, DFJ Gotham Ventures, ENIAC Ventures — Philo, a startup that has developed a social-media platform to let TV fans chat about their favorite shows, has raised an undisclosed amount of financing from institutional and angel investors.

Discussion: NewTeeVee and TVWeek.com

Edmund Lee / AdAge:

Capital New York Plies Tough Market With Earnest Journalism — Can a Smart New Start-up Survive in Era of Page-View Media? — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Capital New York, the sincere original-news site introduced in June by former New York Observer editors Tom McGeveran and Josh Benson …

Discussion: Gawker and Romenesko