Mediagazer: Brian Williams on Katrina, being No. 1 and Couric (Jon Friedman/MarketWatch)

4:25 PM ET, August 18, 2010

Top News:

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:

Google TV Is a Tough Sell Among Would-Be Partners — Google Inc. is launching a campaign to line up TV networks' support for its new Google TV software, but many remain reluctant to partner with a service that encroaches on their turf. — The service will allow people to watch and search cable …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Online Video News, Google Watch, Los Angeles Times, The Digital Home, Jonny Evans's blog, SlashGear, Epicenter, Tech Trader Daily, Fortune, DailyFinance, Fast Company, TechCrunch, CrunchGear and NewTeeVee, more at Techmeme »

Jessica Guynn / Los Angeles Times:
Google TV undergoes a trial by partisans

Discussion: The Big Picture

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Fareed Zakaria Is Leaving Newsweek — We hear that Fareed Zakaria, arguably the biggest name on Newsweek's masthead, has decided to leave the magazine at the end of September. The news was announced to the magazine's sales team yesterday, a source told us. — Newsweek did not immediately return calls and emails for comment.

Discussion: Romenesko

Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

What's Wrong With “X Is Dead” — Technologies die violent deaths less often than we think. — This is the basic problem with the Chris Anderson-anchored Wired cover story, “The Web is Dead.” If you think about technology as a series of waves, each displacing the last …

Discussion: PC World, TechCrunch, @vanelsas, Podcasting News, Bits, Poynter Online, Infocult, Wired, Techdirt and GigaOM, more at Techmeme »

Ryan Tate / Gawker:
Wired Says ‘The Web is Dead’ — On Its Increasingly Profitable Website

Discussion: The Wrap, Technologizer, MediaPost, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, Epicenter, Wired, The First Post, Fast Company, eMedia Vitals, broadstuff, kottke.org, New York Observer, New York Magazine and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Auton on the go at Time Inc. — Shakeups are already underway at Time Inc. in advance of Ann Moore's exit and Jack Griffin's arrival from Meredith as the new CEO. — Sylvia Auton, executive vice president in charge of Time Inc.'s Lifestyle Group, which includes Real Simple and Southern Living …

Discussion: Mediaite, Romenesko, Media Week, MinOnline and The Wire

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

News Corp. defends $1 million donation to Republican Governors Association — Rupert Murdoch, who has never been shy about making his political views known, has voted with his sizable checkbook. — Murdoch's News Corp. has made a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association …

Discussion: Newsonomics, Media Matters for America, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, New York Times, Company Town, Chickaboomer, The Daily Politics and Editors Weblog

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
Murdoch's News Corp. gives $1 mil. to Republican govs

Discussion: The Politico, TVNewser, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, Think Progress, Media Decoder, CNN, The Huffington Post, Wonkette, rbr.com, Washington Post and Guardian

Ryan Lawler / NewTeeVee:

Verizon to Put Live TV on the iPad — Verizon unveiled a series of new video applications today, including an upcoming iPad app that will allow FiOS subscribers to watch the same linear programming that is available on their TV screens on their tablet devices.

Discussion: Crain's New York Business, Bloomberg, The Next Web, SlashGear, Electronista, Techland, Engadget, VentureBeat, MacRumors, 9 to 5 Mac, Reuters, Gizmodo, Tech Trader Daily and Digits, more at Techmeme »

Leon Neyfakh / New York Observer:

OK, Cupid! Baby Angel Alexis Ohanian Comes to New York — There's a new angel in town! 27-year-old Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of social news aggregation site Reddit.com, is moving to Brooklyn, and he's looking to expand his investment portfolio of early stage start-ups.

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider

Gina Lovett / New Media Age:

News of the World paywall planned for October launch — News International is to put News of the World content behind a paywall by October, with The Sun to follow. — This content is only accessible to subscribers of new media age. Sign in below if you already subscribe to new media age or subscribe now for unrestricted access

Discussion: The Next Web, Guardian and paidContent:UK

Lee Margulies / Los Angeles Times:

Dr. Laura to leave radio amid N-word controversy — Schlessinger, under fire since using a racial slur on her radio show, won't renew her contract. ‘I want my 1st Amendment rights back,’ she says, citing threats. — “I want my 1st Amendment rights back, which I can't have on radio without …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Speakeasy, The Wrap, Media Buyer Planner, Cal Coast News, Media Matters for America, Politics Daily, DailyFinance, New York Observer, MultiCultClassics, Associated Press and Media Law Prof Blog

Jon Friedman / MarketWatch:

Brian Williams on Katrina, being No. 1 and Couric — Commentary: The NBC anchor is at the top of his game — This is the first of a two-part series about NBC News anchor Brian Williams. — NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Say this about Brian Williams, the anchor of NBC's No. 1-rated “Nightly News” program.

Discussion: Speakeasy, The Huffington Post and TVNewser

Elizabeth Jensen / Media Decoder:

Former Martial Arts Manager Buys PBS ‘Nightly Business Report’ — “Nightly Business Report” on PBS, by some measures the nation's most-watched business newscast, has been acquired from its owner, public station WPBT-TV in Miami, by a private company headed by Mykalai Kontilai …

Discussion: Gawker, TVNewser, Romenesko and Talking Biz News

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: BermanBraun Strikes Big Ad Deal with Starcom — In an interesting move for premium online content, Hollywood's BermanBraun has signed an advertising deal with Starcom MediaVest Group, the media agency unit of advertising giant Publicis Groupe, sources said.

Discussion: MediaPost, paidContent and New York Times

Gillian Reagan / Capital New York:

The education of 'Mosque'-tweeter Oz Sultan — Photo by Brian Solis. — “I'm sorry, I've been fasting and it has been a very long day,” Sultan said. — It began when Sultan, the social media consultant hired to help Park51, the Islamic cultural center planned for lower Manhattan …

Discussion: Gawker, Silicon Alley Insider and New York Magazine

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

CBS Plans Venture With Reliance in India — The CBS Corporation is entering the fast-growing television market in India in a joint venture with Reliance Broadcast Network. — The venture, called BIG CBS Networks, will initially operate three channels in India, leveraging the large library of English-language shows owned by CBS.

Discussion: rbr.com, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Speakeasy and Variety

mUmBRELLA:

Hot, censoring atheists: Google's insight into what punters think about pollies and journos — One of the charms of Google is autocomplete, where it takes a punt on what you're going to ask, based on what the rest of the world has been wondering previously.

Matt Kinsman / Folio:

Digital Media Deals Up 68 Percent in First Half 2010 — However, individual valuations decline, according to Peachtree Media Advisors. — The number of digital media deals exploded in the first half of 2010, up 68 percent to 564 while overall value for those deals jumped 117 percent to $9 billion …

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Bloomberg Hunts New Advertisers for Its Other Magazine — Bloomberg Markets, Title for Terminal Users, Gets a Robert Priest Redesign — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Bloomberg has delivered a lot of new attention to Businessweek, which it bought last fall and redesigned this spring …

Andrew Wallenstein / Hollywood Reporter:

EXCLUSIVE: People magazine iPad app delayed by paparazzi — Photo agencies want payment for photos used with new app — The publishing world's headlong rush to Apple's iPad has hit a big hitch. — More than a dozen of the photo agencies that supply celebrity snapshots from the paparazzi …

Discussion: Poynter Online

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Improving EMI Says Digital Music Is Over-Inflated, Too Reliant On iTunes — EMI again isn't detailing how much money it's making from digital in latest earnings, but it is saying estimates for digital growth were too high and labels must ween themselves off iTunes Store...

E.B. Boyd / WebNewser:

5 Questions with John Byrne of BusinessWeek, Fast Company, and Now, C-Change Media — Last week, former BusinessWeek and Fast Company editor John Byrne's new company, C-Change Media, launched the first site in a network he says will become “the Huffington Post of business.”

Discussion: Inc.com

Edmund Lee / AdAge:

Patch and Pro-Am Media by the Numbers — AOL Patch Launches 100th Local News Site, but Is it a Boon for Journalists? — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — AOL's hyper-local news division Patch launched its 100th news site today, underscoring just how quickly AOL is advancing its bid for original content through journalism.