Mediagazer: Pioneering Weird News Agency Calls It Quits After 30 Years (aolnews.com)

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.

Discussion: New York Post, Gawker, Romenesko, paidContent and On Media's Blog

Discussion: New York Observer, Romenesko, New York Magazine and FishbowlNY

Financial Times:

News Corp looks at unit for tablet devices — The media group is said to be close to a decision on whether to start a news organisation to provide content for a subscription application on platforms such as Apple's iPad

Discussion: paidContent and Editors Weblog

Amy Gahran / Knight Digital Media Center:

Scott Rosenberg: Why are news corrections so hard? — On July 19, video excerpts from a speech by USDA official Shirley Sherrod were posted to the web site of popular conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. He claimed they demonstrated blatant racism, and a media firestorm ensued.

Discussion: mediabistro.com and Media Matters for America

New York Times:

Disney Sells Miramax for $660 Million — LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Company agreed to sell Miramax Films to an investor group late Thursday for about $660 million. — The deal ends a laborious six-month bidding process that saw the co-founders of the storied independent film label …

Discussion: Guardian, Los Angeles Times, New York Observer, Company Town, Fast Company and Top Digital Journal News

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

Barnes & Noble Planning Big Push to Increase Nook Sales — BARNES & NOBLE customers are about to see a lot more of the Nook. — In September, the chain will begin an aggressive promotion of its Nook e-readers by building 1,000-square-foot boutiques in all of its stores, with sample Nooks …

more at Techmeme »

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

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 …

Discussion: MediaMemo, more at Techmeme »

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: MediaPost, Romenesko, Newsbroke, Editors Weblog, Falafel Mafia, paidContent, On Media's Blog, in the fade, FishbowlNY and New York Magazine

Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:

Music video supersite Vevo: Traffic has grown 62 percent — Vevo, the music video site created as a partnership between the record industry and YouTube, just released impressive statistics showing its growth since launching in December 2009. The site says it attracted 62 percent …

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: the Econsultancy blog, GigaOM and TechFlash, more at Techmeme »

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

Multimedia E-Books, Adorned With Video Extras — E-books of the latest generation are so brand new that publishers can't agree on what to call them. — In the spring Hachette Book Group called its version, by David Baldacci, an “enriched” book. Penguin Group released an “amplified” version of a novel by Ken Follett last week.

Discussion: The Vook Blog and New York Observer

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 …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and 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 …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

aolnews.com:

Pioneering Weird News Agency Calls It Quits After 30 Years — The world is a little less weird today, thanks to the demise of FlashNews, a pioneering news agency that made journalism even stranger than it already was. — After three decades of generating offbeat stories …

Discussion: Romenesko

Richard MacManus / ReadWriteWeb:

Video Content Farms: Howcast — Content farms have been in the spotlight over the past year. They're companies that generate hundreds or thousands of new pieces of content on a daily basis. Much of their traffic comes from Google search, so the aim of content farms is to rake in the money with online advertising.

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Chris Matthews Retapes Sherrod Segment For 7PM Hardball Rerun After 5PM Flap — Today on MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews tried to debate Salon's Joan Walsh and former Gov. Howard Dean that Andrew Breitbart's version of the controversial Shirley Sherrod speech was completely unedited.

Discussion: Salon, Big Government and Big Journalism

Tony Ortega / Runnin' Scared:

MEMO TO PROSPECTIVE FREELANCERS — Dear Prospective Village Voice Freelancers, — Each and every day, you send me pitches for stories that you hope I'll bite on. Some are quite good. A few are excellent. Most, however, don't interest me in the least. I try my best to answer as many pitches as I can.

Jason Fell / Folio:

Transcending Print — Last week, Condé Nast announced a slew of management changes, including the promotion of consumer marketing group president Robert Sauerberg to president of the company. The moves were part of a transitioning business model “focused around digital connectivity …

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Phoenix Airport Banishes Cable News Channels From Public TV Sets — Do you watch a lot of cable news? Well you won't be if you ever fly out of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The Powers-That-Be have banned cable news channels like CNN and Fox News from the big-screen televisions located throughout the terminal.

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.

Wendy Davis / MediaPost:

Gawker Settles Case Over Eric Dane Sex Tape, Removes Clips — Gawker Media has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit by Eric Dane and his wife Rebecca Gayheart stemming from Gawker's posting of a sex tape made by the couple, according to court papers filed this week.

the nytpicker:

At Last: New Website Lets Status-Crazed Readers Search NYT Wedding Announcements By Snooty College, Swanky Job, Glitzy Locale. — Wondering which Harvard grads got their wedding announcement into the NYT this week, while your best friend from Northeastern never even got his calls returned by the social editor?

Discussion: Romenesko

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 …

Mike Shields / Mediaweek:

My Damn Channel Ramps Up New Programming Slate — Web video entertainment hub My Damn Channel is in the midst of rolling out an aggressive new programming slate buoyed by ten custom channels, including three set to debut this summer. — Among the new channels in the works is The Mark Malkoff Channel …

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

5MIN's CEO: Content Creators “Have No ROI” in Producing Videos Just for Their Own Destination — Ran Harnevo, CEO of the big online video syndicator 5MIN, says that without a syndication strategy, there is no direct ROI around video for content producers. — Producers, big and small …

Discussion: MarketWatch

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 …

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.

Discussion: paidContent and Talking Biz News

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is WikiLeaks More Than Just a High-Tech Brown Envelope? Yes — WikiLeaks, the crusading anti-secrecy organization that just published 90,000 pages of secret government documents about the war in Afghanistan, has gotten a lot of attention for its campaign to become the world's repository …

Discussion: CNN, Telegraph and Jon Slattery

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Belo TV Station Website Revenue Rises — A few days after its newspaper sibling A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC) reported narrowing its losses, local broadcaster Belo Corp. (NYSE: BLC) posted some very healthy profits and revenue numbers. Among them was a 14 percent jump to $8.1 million in online revenues tied to its 20 TV station websites.