Mediagazer: The News Merchant — Interested in booking Joran van der … (Sheelah Kolhatkar/The Atlantic Online)

12:20 PM ET, August 11, 2010

Top News:

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

A Weekly Magazine Meant for Mobile — A small group of former magazine journalists and editors, including the former president of Newsweek, plan to launch a weekly digital magazine this fall that they hope will capitalize on the idea of creating content specifically for mobile technology.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Media Buyer Planner, Venture Capital Dispatch, On Media's Blog, Silicon Alley Insider, Brooks in Beta, Romenesko and AdPulp

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Newsweek's editor exodus — Pressure is mounting to find a new editor-in-chief of Newsweek, as the staff defections continue in the wake of the sale two weeks ago to stereo mogul Sidney Harman. — Jon Meacham, the current editor-in-chief, is telling staffers he hopes to pack it in by Labor Day.

Discussion: The Wire

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
Newsweek's Evan Thomas leaving the magazine

Discussion: FishbowlNY, The Wrap, Gawker, New York Magazine and New York Observer

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Confirmed: HOPA Dry Erase Girl Is A Hoax, Identity Revealed — “Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office (33 Photos)” is indeed a hoax, say its creators John and Leo Resig. — I'd love to pull out some well-worn meta-media analysis about how memes are increasingly …

Discussion: The First Post, The Consumerist, Gizmodo and PE Hub Blog, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Meet the Prankster Brothers Behind “Jenny,” the Whiteboard-Using, Farmville-Exposing, HPOA Girl — Yesterday, everyone on the Internet loved Steve Slater, the Jet Blue flight attendant who quit his job by cursing out his passengers and bolting out of his plane using the emergency slide.

Ryan Tate / Gawker:

The Quitting Tale That Suckered the Whole Internet — Photos of an aspiring broker purportedly telling off her boss garnered widespread news coverage and more than 105,000 Facebook “likes” Tuesday. Too bad the story was published by two guys who have pranked the media before.

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

You've got friends — Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong are quietly discussing a strategic alliance aimed at boosting their online ad businesses, The Post has learned. — The two companies have been talking for several months about a partnership …

Discussion: GigaOM and CMO.com, more at Techmeme »

Mike Steib / Inside AdWords:

DIRECTV partners with Google TV Ads — Cross-posted from the Google TV Ads Blog — Today, we're announcing a strategic partnership with DIRECTV through which Google TV Ads will offer inventory on a broad selection of television networks available on DIRECTV.

Discussion: TechCrunch, paidContent and The Wire

Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:

Did Netflix Pay Too Much for Epix Content? — The news that Netflix is teaming up with Epix to bolster its online catalog has generally gotten good reception today, with Netflix stock up 8 percent and analysts like J.P. Morgan's Imran Khan giving the deal a thumbs up.

Discussion: Online Video News, Company Town, Moneywood, Light Reading, Cinematical and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

David Kaplan / paidContent: Disney's Iger: Getting Aggressive On ‘Premium’ DVD Rental Window, Pricing

Wall Street Journal:

H-P Board Surprised Hurd Didn't Go Quietly — Hewlett-Packard Co.'s board got caught off guard by the public relations campaign waged on behalf of its ousted chief executive, Mark Hurd, to defend his reputation in the wake of his departure. — H-P's directors “hoped he would move on,” …

Discussion: Deal Journal and DailyFinance

Guardian:

Desmond wields axe at Channel Five — • Desmond plans to invest £1.5bn over five years — • Up to 80 jobs to go in £20m cost-cutting drive — • Five may return to Project Canvas — Channel Five is to lose seven of its nine executive board directors …

Discussion: Variety, The First Post and Media Week

Sheelah Kolhatkar / The Atlantic Online:

The News Merchant — Interested in booking Joran van der Sloot's ex-girlfriend for the morning news? Want an exclusive? Got a little cash to spend? Larry Garrison's the person to call, though most news networks won't admit they call him. The inside story of how tabloid TV news is made …

Discussion: Romenesko

Laura McGann / Nieman Journalism Lab:

To click or not to click: Could tiered data plans water down advertising possibilities for news publishers? — In the good old days (of three months ago) you could surf the web on your iPhone with abandon. Do I want to watch this video? Sure! Do I want to download this huge attachment?

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Zeke Turner / New York Observer:

Stefano Shows Off His Very Own Vanity Project … “I think we should have our salad and then we will go fast through the magazine,” said Stefano Tonchi, the editor of W. It was Tuesday afternoon on the fourth floor of 4 Times Square and Mr. Tonchi was wearing a two-button gray suit and an open-collared white shirt.

Discussion: Romenesko and New York Magazine

Cory Bergman / Lost Remote:

Location services to ‘devastate local media’ — As rumored for what feels like the last decade, Facebook will launch its geolocation feature “within weeks,” according to a CNET report: … If you work in local media — or run a neighborhood blog — what does this mean?

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, Mashable, GigaOM and ReadWriteWeb, more at Techmeme »

Julia Boorstin / Media Money with Julia Boorstin:

Media Industry to Grow Faster than US Economy — A new report out today from Veronis Suhler Stevenson forecasts spending on media and communications will outpace economic growth as consumers invest in mobile and web access and companies pay to reach them there.

Discussion: Business Wire, rbr.com and MediaPost

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Former Forbes.com CEO Jim Spanfeller Dishes On His Forthcoming Food Website — We just got off the phone with Jim Spanfeller, the former Forbes.com CEO whose Spanfeller Media Group announced today it has closed an initial funding round to launch a food website, “the first in a series …