Mediagazer: Michael Wolff to Lead a Stable of Trade Magazines (Tim Arango/Media Decoder)

2:05 PM ET, October 4, 2010

Top News:

Michael Wolff to Lead a Stable of Trade Magazines — Michael Wolff, the Vanity Fair columnist and troublemaker who seems to relish public feuds and collecting enemies as much as chronicling the folkways of the Manhattan media world, has agreed to become editorial director of a group …

Discussion: All Things Digital, MinOnline, FishbowlNY, New York Observer, Gawker, The Wrap, Romenesko, The Wire and DailyFinance

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

Chasing Fox — The loud, cartoonish blood sport that's engorged MSNBC, exhausted CNN—and is making our body politic delirious. — In the spring of 2006, a year and a half after he was hired to run CNN/U.S., Jonathan Klein went to his boss Jim Walton with an idea. CNN was in trouble.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Inside Cable News, Chickaboomer and Washington Post

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:
NY Mag's ‘Chasing Fox’: The Takeaway for MSNBC

Discussion: The Wire

David Carr / New York Times:

Film Version of Zuckerberg Divides Generations — At what point does ambition, a cornerstone of American commerce, morph into something darker and less celebrated? Over the weekend, people who saw “The Social Network,” the movie about Facebook and its principal creator, Mark Zuckerberg …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Gawker, ArtsBeat, Reuters, Vanity Fair, Fast Company, TBD All News and From 416 to 905, more at Techmeme »

John Schwartz / New York Times:

No Stopping Movie View of Mark Zuckerberg — Millions of the moviegoers who made “The Social Network” the top box-office draw of the weekend saw an unflattering portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook. — To many viewers, Mr. Zuckerberg comes off as a callow …

Discussion: Jezebel, MTV Movies Blog, Company Town and OK! Magazine, more at Techmeme »

Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:

The New York Observer Is Close To Buying Dealbreaker, But Bess Levin Is Holding Everybody Hostage — Jared Kushner's newspaper, The New York Observer, is close to buying Breaking Media's Wall Street gossip blog, Dealbreaker. In fact, a source close to the deal tells us people at both companies describe it as “done.”

Discussion: Romenesko

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter Online:

BGov, New Bloomberg Site, Pairs Analysts & Reporters for Public Policy Coverage — Bloomberg Government, a new subscription-based news site in Washington, D.C., will take a unique approach to covering the federal government when it launches in January. In hiring subject-matter experts along …

Discussion: The Corsair

Tom Lowry / Variety:

Journalist Richard Siklos to Time Warner — He joins as VP of corporate affairs, media adviser — Veteran media scribe Richard Siklos is joining Time Warner as a VP in corporate affairs handling external communications and advising on media strategy. — Siklos will report to Gary Ginsberg …

Jon Friedman / MarketWatch:

Keith Kelly: scourge of media industry — NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Don't mess with New York Post columnist Keith Kelly, the scourge of the magazine industry. — Consider the time that the new public-relations man for a prominent newsweekly magazine called Kelly to introduce himself …

Discussion: Romenesko and Regret the Error

The Independent:

Stephen Glover: The Guardian can't go on like this — Media Studies: The Guardian reportedly fielded 19 journalists at the Labour Party conference in Manchester — This column does not normally take much interest in motoring magazines, which may be a weakness.

Discussion: Press Gazette and Guardian

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer, CNN's duo of civil dispute — They are, somewhat self-consciously, an odd couple, the Northern pol and the Southern belle, the prosecutor and the journalist, the man trying to recover from disgrace and the woman graciously forgiving his sins.

Discussion: NY Daily News, Reliable Source, Chickaboomer and Inside Cable News

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

An Award, Criticism and Perils for Comcast — Criticizing Fox News is a year-round sport for many hosts on MSNBC, the cable news channel, and especially for Keith Olbermann, whose verbal spitballs at the Fox host Bill O'Reilly have occasionally put his parent company, NBC Universal, on edge.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Media Nation and Free Press

James Hibberd / Hollywood Reporter:

Industry backs Robert Greenblatt to run NBC — Strong belief that ‘beloved’ exec can lead turnaround — Robert Greenblatt is not running NBC — yet — but the prospect of the former Showtime entertainment president taking command of the network has the creative community buzzing with anticipation.

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

Ad Group Unveils Plan to Improve Web Privacy — As the debate around online privacy and advertiser access to users' data continues, a group of the advertising industry's largest trade organizations was to announce on Monday the details of a self-regulatory program that would allow users …

Discussion: paidContent and Digits, more at Techmeme »

Stuart Elliott / Media Decoder:

Madison Avenue ‘Plays Ball’ With Fox — In another sign of how eager advertisers are these days to sponsor live sports on television, Fox is reporting strong demand for commercials to appear during its post-season baseball coverage. — Fox Broadcasting, part of the News Corporation …

Discussion: The Wire, rbr.com, AdAge and Company Town

MIJE.org:

NAHJ Clams Up on Rick Sanchez Firing — Others Compare Lou Dobbs' Fate, Assess Racism Claim — Others Compare Lou Dobbs' Fate, Assess Racism Claim — The board of directors of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists has decided not to comment on CNN's firing of anchor Rick Sanchez …

Felix Salmon:

How Carlos Slim made $150 million from the NYT — The New York Times is going to pay back the $250 million loan from Carlos Slim three years ahead of schedule. It's very expensive debt, so it makes sense that it should be the first debt to be paid down. But this also turns …

Discussion: New York Observer