Mediagazer: True/Slant Shutting Down (David Cohen/WebNewser)

1:15 AM ET, July 30, 2010

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Audio Tycoon's Newsweek Bid Said to Be Favored — As the Washington Post Company prepares to sell Newsweek to the most appealing bidder, it is closely examining an offer from Sidney Harman, the California billionaire who made his fortune selling audio equipment.

Wall Street Journal:

Newsweek Parent Uneasy With One Bidder's Ally — Washington Post Co. is balking at selling Newsweek magazine to Avenue Capital Group amid concerns over the hedge fund's plans to partner with the publisher of the National Enquirer, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: Romenesko and FishbowlNY

David Cohen / WebNewser:

True/Slant Shutting Down — The May acquisition of True/Slant by Forbes Media turned out to be the death knell for the digital news site, as writer and reporter Neal Ungerleider said in a post on the site that operations would wind down at the end of the month.

Discussion: Romenesko, Falafel Mafia, Ephemera Etcetera, Buzz, Boom & Sizzle, paidContent, On Media's Blog, epstein's razor, Political Pulse, New York Magazine and Making a Mockery

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

How Did William Shatner Interview a D.C. Sniper? He Asked. — LOS ANGELES — In an interview to be televised Thursday night, one of the D.C. snipers, Lee Boyd Malvo, said he and the other convicted gunman, John Muhammad, had co-conspirators. — “There were supposed to be three …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Movieline and Gawker

Jeff Bercovici / DailyFinance:

Rolling Stone Writer: McChrystal Pals ‘Were Lying’ About Ground Rules — Michael Hastings, the Rolling Stone writer whose reporting compelled the White House to fire Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, does not mince words when it comes to allegations …

Richard Stengel / Time:

The Plight of Afghan Women: A Disturbing Picture — Our cover image this week is powerful, shocking and disturbing. It is a portrait of Aisha, a shy 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws.

Discussion: The Nation, The Huffington Post, Jezebel, Mediaite, The Awl, Matthew Yglesias, Hot Air, BAGnewsNotes, The Wrap, FAIR Blog, Soup, New York Observer, The Biz Blog and New York Magazine

Tony Perry / L.A. NOW:

Shirley Sherrod vows to sue conservative blogger who misrepresented her remarks — Shirley Sherrod, the African American federal agriculture official who was forced out of her job after a conservative blogger posted a heavily edited portion of a speech she had made, said Thursday …

Discussion: Romenesko, The Politico and MIJE.org

Keach Hagey / The Politico:
Fox News admits ‘a breakdown’ on Shirley Sherrod story

Discussion: Gawker, Associated Press, Media Decoder, The Wrap, Gothamist, The Rural Blog, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, On Media's Blog and Strupp

Mia / YouTube Blog:

Upload limit increases to 15 minutes for all users — We want YouTube to be the best place to upload video. Without question, the number one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes. We've heard you, and today we're pleased to announce that we've increased the upload limit to 15 minutes.

Deadspin:

ESPN Killed That LeBron Story Because Reporter “Did Not Properly Identify Himself” (UPDATES) — ESPN now says in a statement that Arash Markazi's LeBacchanalia story was pulled because “Arash did not ... clearly state his intentions to write a story.” Full statements are below …

Discussion: @richarddeitsch, SBNation.com, The Awl, MediaMemo, SportsGrid and New York Observer

Amy Odell / New York Magazine:

W Is Filming a Documentary About Its September Issue — Cameras have been trolling the halls of the W offices filming a documentary of the making of the magazine's September issue under new editor-in-chief Stefano Tonchi. The magazine's redesign will debut for September, which is …

Discussion: Styleite

Financial Times:

Wylie theatens broad digital expansion — Andrew Wylie, the literary agent whose exclusive deal with Amazon.com last week stunned the publishing world, has threatened a broad expansion of his digital publishing business to include up to 2,000 titles if traditional publishers refuse to improve digital royalties.

Discussion: TeleRead and ResourceShelf

Frankie Stone / The Wrap:

Morning in America: It's All About the Local News — Bob Dylan told us, “You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” — Maybe these days we do. — Last week, what read like a minor announcement probably slipped by most people. But in terms of the Hollywood publicity machine …

Jeremy Caplan / Poynter Online:

Debunking 5 Myths of Entrepreneurial Journalism — Entrepreneurial journalists spot the seeds of start-ups where others see remnants of the news industry's retreat. Earlier this month, I worked with 19 forward-looking journos who convened at Poynter to get a jumpstart on their new micro-businesses.

MediaShift:

Pop and Politics Blog Becomes Converged Radio Project — These days it's not so unusual for a public radio program to boast a companion blog. But few shows begin online and move to broadcast.Pop and Politics is the exception. — Farai Chideya — a high-profile public affairs reporter …

Alex Weprin / WebNewser:

About.com Making B2B Push — First on WebNewser: About.com is planning a major move into the business-to-business space, launching a number of industry-specific sites. — Right now the site is in the process of recruiting experienced writers with expertise in areas such as public transportation …

Mat Honan / The Awl:

Yours is a Very Bad Press Release — Hi! We're the media. We get a lot of press releases. Press releases are almost always bad. Especially those that come to our personal email inboxes. Here's a better idea: write an email to someone you know will care. Or don't!

Reliable Source:

For Christiane Amanpour, commute will be shorter than some she's had — One of the questions when Christiane Amanpour took the anchor spot at ABC's “This Week” was how the longtime globetrotting star of CNN would take to life and work rooted inside the Beltway.

Discussion: New York Observer

Antony Bruno / Billboard.Biz:

Sources: Spotify Reboots U.S. Label Negotiations — Spotify's licensing negotiations with the major music labels have reverted back to square one, Billboard.biz has learned from multiple sources. — Having failed to persuade the major record labels to go along with its vision for a U.S. version …

more at Techmeme »

USA Today:

Volume of Kindle book sales stuns Amazon's Jeff Bezos — Amazon.com(AMZN) revolutionized book reading in 2007 when it introduced its Kindle e-reader. But now consumers can choose among several digital reading devices — and Apple hopes to change the game by making e-books available on its powerful iPad tablet computer.

Discussion: TeleRead, MediaMemo, The Next Web, chrisbrogan.com, The Wrap, Engadget, New York Times and ResourceShelf, more at Techmeme »

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Fox Uses Heavy Exposure for Previews of ‘Lone Star’ — BY the time Fox introduces the soapy new drama “Lone Star” on television this fall, some Vanity Fair readers, cruise line passengers, hotel guests and iPad owners will have had a chance to watch it. — The network says it wants the show …

Discussion: Media Buyer Planner, The Wrap and TVbytheNumbers

Megan O'Neill / SocialTimes.com:

Cisco Fails With Old Spice Copycat Campaign — Yesterday Cisco paid homage to Old Spice's recent response campaign with their own YouTube response project, featuring ‘Ted From Accounting.’ Just like Old Spice, Cisco announced the campaign in the morning, asked people to send in tweets …

Discussion: 5 Blogs Before Lunch and Adrants

Wendy Davis / MediaPost:

LexisNexis Publisher Backs Banks In ‘Hot News’ Reposting Case — Chiming in on a high-profile dispute, the business-to-business publishing company Reed Elsevier is asking a federal appeals court to uphold a finding that TheFlyOnTheWall.com misappropriates banks' “hot news” by reposting their stock recommendations.

Michael V. Copeland / Fortune:

Google: The search party is over — Yes, the company is still growing at rates that would be the envy of the rest of the Fortune 500. But its core business is slowing, its stock is down, its Android mobile platform generates scant revenue, and competition (hello, Facebook) is fierce.

Discussion: TechFlash, more at Techmeme »