Top News:
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.
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, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Awl, Matthew Yglesias, FAIR Blog, BAGnewsNotes, The Wrap, New York Observer, Soup, New York Magazine and The Biz Blog
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 …
RELATED:
Keach Hagey / The Politico:
Fox News admits ‘a breakdown’ on Shirley Sherrod story
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
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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.
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
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!
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 …
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
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 …
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 …
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:
MediaMemo, TeleRead, chrisbrogan.com, The Next Web, The Wrap, New York Times, Engadget and ResourceShelf, more at Techmeme »
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.
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 …
Steve Safran / Lost Remote:
Guest Post: Establishing news sites from the ground up — This post is by Polly Kriesman, the self-described “editrix” of theloopny.com and mind behind InvestigateNY.com. The sites are trying to help define new journalism, and are grassroots efforts. We asked Polly to tell us more about her adventures.
Will Richmond / VideoNuze:
Bloomberg is Now Using Taboola's Video Recommendations — Browsing the web last week, I noticed that Bloomberg.com is now incorporating videos throughout its site from Taboola, the video recommendations engine. If you click on any article on the site, in the lower part of the right column you'll …
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Interview: Virgin Media Plans TiVo Web Apps Beside Web, Mobile VOD — UK cable operator Virgin Media's new web and mobile VOD service will offer premium archive material, rather than the latest catch-up shows, because broadcasters already offer own-brand catch-up services …
Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The Newsonomics of membership — [Each week, our friend Ken Doctor — author of Newsonomics and longtime watcher of the business side of digital news — writes about the economics of the news business for the Lab.] — New journalism is hungry for new business models.
Discussion:
Romenesko
New York Post:
Sumner Redstone facing harassment claim — Embattled Viacom chief Sumner Redstone is facing even more pressure now that a prominent former employee is threatening to sue for harassment, Page Six has learned. — The woman worked closely with the 87-year-old billionaire prior to Viacom's split with CBS in 2006.
RELATED:
Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
Sumner Redstone gal pal says she got nothing
Zeke Turner / New York Observer:
Aliona Doletskaya Leaves Russian ‘Vogue,’ But is She Coming Stateside? — After 13 years at the healm of Russian Vogue, Aliona Doletskaya submitted her resignation to Jonathan Newhouse earlier this week, according to Memo Pad. Mr. Newhouse has already named a replacement, Viktoria Davydova.
Kunur Patel / AdAge:
Brands on Sidelines as Disney, Google and MTV Charge Into Social Games — Sale of Virtual Goods More Powerful than Ad Dollars, for Now — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — There's a land grab in social gaming, but at this point, it doesn't look like there's much room for advertisers.