Mediagazer: The Language of Fakebook — I HAVE a feeling that if Andy Warhol … (Katie Roiphe/New York Times)

3:30 AM ET, August 16, 2010

Top News:

Lymari Morales / Gallup:

In U.S., Confidence in Newspapers, TV News Remains a Rarity — No more than 25% say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in either — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news — with no more than 25% …

Discussion: Mediaite, Gateway Pundit and Gawker

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Times Paper in Mass. to Charge for Online Content — The Telegram & Gazette, a New York Times-owned newspaper in Worcester, Mass., said that it would begin charging readers to view some of the local news articles that appear on the paper's Web site. — Starting on Monday …

New York Times:

Hulu Is Said to Be Ready for an I.P.O. — By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED — Hulu, the rapidly growing hub for online television and movies, aims to go public through an offering that could value the company at more than $2 billion, according to people briefed on the matter.

Discussion: VentureBeat

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

Murdoch's New iPaper: One Last Tragic Roll Of The Digital Dice — “Rupert Murdoch To Launch New National Newspaper”. — As headlines go, that's up there with “DeLorean To Unveil New ‘Gull-Wing’ Car”, “Freddy Laker Reveals Trans-Atlantic Airline Plans” and “Charge! says Light Brigade” …

Discussion: broadstuff, Los Angeles Times and Felix Salmon

Joe Pompeo / Silicon Alley Insider:
Meet The Print Guy Who Will Lead Rupert Murdoch's Digital Newspaper

Discussion: Engadget

Katie Roiphe / New York Times:

The Language of Fakebook — I HAVE a feeling that if Andy Warhol were alive he would be spending the summer writing a novel that takes place in real time on Facebook. In that spirit, Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser have been writing a clever serialized novel on Slate called “My Darklyng.”

Discussion: Runnin' Scared

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: Facebook Snaps Up Chai Labs — In yet another small acquisition, Facebook has bought Chai Labs, several sources said. — BoomTown could not confirm the price for the purchase of the content-focused start-up, but it is likely to be around $10 million and more focused on acquiring talent.

Discussion: CNET News, Mashable!, paidContent, Pulse2 and VentureBeat

Kevin Kelleher / DailyFinance:

Demand Media's Bad Week: Accusations of Malware, Lies and Plunging Traffic — Has it only been a week since Demand Media filed for an initial public offering? For Demand Media, it's been a long week, and certainly not a felicitous one for its plans to go public.

Jay Rosen / PressThink:

The Citizens Agenda in Campaign Coverage — The idea is to learn from voters what those voters want the campaign to be about, and what they need to hear from the candidates to make a smart decision. So you go out and ask them: “what do you want the candidates to be discussing as they compete for votes in this year's election?”

Discussion: Sydney Morning Herald

The Independent:

Pied Piper of Mischief leads the red tops on a merry dance — Chris Atkins tells Paul Bignell of his disciples' desire to continue planting fake stories — Film director Chris Atkins appears to have a death wish - having already taken on the collective might of tabloid newspapers, PR guru Max Clifford and Bob Geldof.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

With Summer, Big Cable Channels Keep Getting Bigger — Thirty-one percent ratings growth is the kind of history that the History channel likes to make. — The channel is having a remarkably strong summer, with an average of nearly 1.6 million viewers a night in June and July, up from 1.2 million in the same months last year.

Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: Goodreads.com founder pushes print on the Web, not on paper — The website for book lovers is run by Otis Chandler of newspaper family fame. — ByJames Rainey — “Book reviews in newspapers, well, those are gone,” the young Web entrepreneur told me in the most matter-of-fact way.

Christopher Cox / The Paris Review:

TPR v. The New Yorker: The Softball Diaries — After the jump, a recap of Tuesday night's softball game against The New Yorker. — Pregame: It's a tense start to the annual Paris Review v. New Yorker softball game. By staff size alone, the Small Fry (apparently it's a rule …