Mediagazer: What Would a Tina Brown-Helmed Daily Beast-Newsweek Hybrid Look Like? (Chris Rovzar/New York Magazine)

7:05 AM ET, October 7, 2010

Top News:

Michael Cieply / Media Decoder:

Ex-Variety Critic McCarthy Lands at Hollywood Reporter — LOS ANGELES — Todd McCarthy, fired as Variety's chief film critic seven months ago, has landed — again. Shortly after losing his long-standing gig with Variety in a round of cost-cutting last March, Mr. McCarthy joined …

Discussion: Thompson on Hollywood, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter and New York Magazine

Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:

Newsweek's Final Price: $1 In Cash And $47 Million In Liabilities — Confirming what was widely reported but never publicly acknowledged, a Washington Post (NYSE: WPO) SEC filing shows that billionaire Sidney Harman paid $1 in cash for Newsweek and also assumed about $47 million in liabilities.

Ben Parr / Mashable!:

Mark Zuckerberg's Take on “The Social Network” — Despite previous statements that he had no plans to see The Social Network, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg did, in fact, watch the film on the company's field trip to the movies last Friday. — I just wrapped up an interview …

Tina Brown / The Daily Beast:

The Daily Beast Turns 2! — To mark our site's second birthday, we sent some questions to Tina Brown about traffic, far-flung datelines, and those rumors out there. On October 6, 2008, The Daily Beast was born. We celebrated by getting the editor and founder, Tina Brown, to answer some impertinent questions.

Discussion: New York Observer, MediaPost, Gawker and The Awl

Chris Rovzar / New York Magazine:

What Would a Tina Brown-Helmed Daily Beast-Newsweek Hybrid Look Like? — This morning, to celebrate the two-year anniversary of the Daily Beast, founding editor Tina Brown interviewed herself. As to the hot rumor of the moment, that she may become editor of Newsweek and bring the Beast along …

Nicholas Carlson / The Wire:
Daily Beast - Newsweek Merger Talks Heat Up - Staffers Feel Like It's A “Done Deal”

Discussion: Folio and FishbowlNY

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Daily Beast's Tina Brown Brags About “Interesting Discussions” With Newsweek

Discussion: The Wrap, J-Source and New York Times

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Memo Hints at Name Change for MSNBC.com — NBC Universal and Microsoft, the parents of MSNBC.com, are holding high-level talks about a name change, something that could be a risky endeavor for the second most popular news Web site in the United States. — The two parents have determined …

Discussion: Mediaite, paidContent, Inside Cable News, The Wrap, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, WebNewser and Collective Talent

Jason Fell / Folio:

Next Issue Media Names Tech Team, Hints at Digital Newsstand Plans — Nabs three former Nokia executives for tech ‘dream team.’ — Next Issue Media, the digital publishing consortium including some of the magazine industry's biggest players, has expanded its senior technology team and …

Discussion: paidContent and eMedia Vitals

Lucia Moses / Mediaweek:

Next Issue Media CEO Guenther Short on Details — Next Issue Media, a publisher-founded e-reader consortium, has been quiet about its activities since it got off the ground almost a year ago, prompting some industry head-scratching about what exactly it's doing.

New York Post:

Richard Johnson LA-bound — Tweet — It's the end of an era — Richard Johnson is leaving Page Six after nearly 25 years as editor of the world's most famous gossip column. — Emily Smith, who cut her teeth on Fleet Street before coming to New York five years ago …

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Ben Smith's Blog, Gawker, New York Magazine and LA Observed

Wall Street Journal:

Hasbro Aims to Show TV Channel Isn't One Big Commercial — Hasbro Inc. is set to launch a children's cable network Sunday, in its evolution from a toy maker to a full-fledged entertainment company where playthings like My Little Pony and Transformers morph into TV shows and movies.

Discussion: AdPulp

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Time Warner Sees Ally in Web

Discussion: MediaPost, NewTeeVee, Online Video News, Company Town, New York Observer and Hollywood Reporter

Gillian Reagan / Capital New York:

Taking time to read on the web: Instapaper gets ready for the big show — Photo via davidville's flickr stream. — A couple of years ago, Marco Arment, who was then the lead technologist of the social-blog platform Tumblr, became frustrated with the way the web made his ideal reading diet difficult.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, ReadWriteWeb, Tomorrow Museum, Mashable! and VentureBeat

Steve Myers / Poynter Online:

How Disruptors with Nothing to Lose Paved the Way Online for Old Media Stars Like Howard Kurtz — Who should Howard Kurtz thank for his new job at The Daily Beast? Tina Brown, his new boss? Barry Diller, the head of the site's parent company? — How about Josh Marshall …

Discussion: Seattle PostGlobe, Guardian and American Journalism Review

Howard Kurtz:
A personal note — I've just discovered what it is like to become a media metaphor.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Romenesko, The Politico, The Daily Beast, CJR and New York Observer

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

News Video on Twitter to Expand as Brightcove Completes Implementation — NEW YORK — With last month's launch of the new Twitter Web page, selected beta users have been able to embed videos from YouTube and Vimeo. — Now, Brightcove has been authorized by Twitter to have its videos embedded.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Guarded Pals In a Critical TV Rivalry — “Welcome to 8,” read the Twitter message from Dan Harmon, an executive producer of “Community,” to Bill Prady, his counterpart on “The Big Bang Theory.” — It was May 19, and CBS had just made the biggest television scheduling move of the season …

Newsosaur / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

‘Community news sites are not a business yet’ — Although Jan Schaffer just produced a masterful analysis of how to run a grassroots news site, she came up dry on the crucial question of how to turn those journalistic labors of love into sustainable businesses.

Discussion: Romenesko, The Wall Blog and WebNewser

Deggans / blogs.tampabay.com:

EX-CNN anchor Rick Sanchez releases statement, says comments “never intended to suggest any sort of narrow mindedness.” — Former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez just released a statement saying his comments from last week were not intended to be “narrow-minded” and “should not have been made.”

Discussion: The Wrap, Slate, MIJE.org, Romenesko, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Riptide 2.0, PopEater, The Moderate Voice, Hit & Run and TVWeek.com

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

BW Digital Alum Neal Joins NYC Media Lab As First Executive Director — We've peeked in from time to time at the New York City Economic Development Corp.'s efforts to jump start the city's struggling media industry by encouraging innovation and creating new jobs.

Joy Mayer / RJI:

What “engagement” means to Tracy Record and West Seattle Blog — Lately, I've been immersed In a sea of motivated, passionate, scrappy people making a go of it in community news, trying a bunch of techniques and wondering what will work. It was therefore a yank into another world …

Deadline.com:

CNN's Piers Morgan Vows Format And Other Changes To Beat Fox News Competition: Promises “I'm Going To Be There To Win” And “It's Time To Kick Some Ratings Butt” — EXCLUSIVE: Piers Morgan tells us that he's planning big changes to the Larry King Live interview slot he inherits in January.

Discussion: TVNewser, Inside Cable News, New York Observer, The Wire and New York Magazine