Mediagazer: The Campaign That Put a Book at #1 on Amazon, Beating out Glenn Beck (Choire Sicha/The Awl)

1:05 AM ET, October 29, 2010

Top News:

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Behind Gawker's Christine O'Donnell ‘One-Night Stand’ Story — Christine O'Donnell. Image by Getty Images North America via @daylife — Gawker has proven yet again that the journalist's pen is sometimes most effective when it's writing out a check. — The Nick Denton-owned gossip site scored …

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Condé Nast Moves One Executive Out, Another Up — Carol Smith, the former Elle brand chief who made waves in the publishing industry this spring when she jumped ship for Condé Nast, is leaving, saying her partnership with the company was not the right fit.

Discussion: Speakeasy, AdAge and MinOnline

David Carr / Media Decoder:
Condé Nast Futuregram: No Magazines, but Lots of ‘Consumer Centricity’

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, New York Observer, MediaPost, FishbowlNY, WWD, NPR Topics and Romenesko

Brian Steinberg / AdAge:

To Hype ‘Conan’ on TV, Conan Takes to Web — Diet Coke to Sponsor Online ‘Triple Simulcast’ of Mr. O'Brien's Warm-Up — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Before Conan O'Brien takes to TBS to launch his new program on Nov. 8, he'll appear online to hype the new effort, in a brief video feature sponsored by Coca-Cola's Diet Coke.

Discussion: Multichannel and The Wrap

Bill Carter / Vanity Fair:
The Unsocial Network — Plunging ratings. Tense negotiations.

Discussion: Mediaite and The Corsair

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Updated: Ex-ABCNews.com Head Dube Joins AOL As SVP-GM AOL News & Info — AOL (NYSE: AOL) media chief David Eun said he was serious about AOL's journalism. Following a spate of editorial departures, Eun — Update: Dube is on a train to DC for the Online News Association's conference …

Discussion: MediaFile and WebNewser

Dan Frommer / The Wire:
AOL News Has A New Boss: Ex-ABC News Exec Jon Dube

Discussion: AOL Corp, FishbowlNY, New York Observer and Lost Remote

Choire Sicha / The Awl:

The Campaign That Put a Book at #1 on Amazon, Beating out Glenn Beck — This week, David Malki (who makes his living doing comics on the Internet) and friends self-published an anthology, called Machine of Death. It was self-published, in part, because traditional publishers didn't like that it didn't have any “names” in it.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire

David Saleh Rauf / American Journalism Review:

Shield Law Showdown — It's do or die. That's how media groups describe the state of the long-stalled legislation to create a federal shield law for journalists. The bill passed the House and has emerged from the Senate Judiciary Committee. But it is on the verge of suffering a familiar fate: death in the Senate.

MediaShift:

How the Tea Party Utilized Digital Media to Gain Power — The biggest story of the U.S. midterm election has been the growing influence of the Tea Party movement. Since their first rallies in early 2009, these vocal, visible conservatives have succeeded in shifting the center of American political discourse to the right.

Discussion: Media Matters for America and rbr.com

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Magazine Apps for the iPad: “Bloated and Unfriendly” — The former design director for the New York Times has written a blog post giving his thoughts on magazine apps for the iPad (something he clearly gets asked about a lot). The bottom line? He hates them. With a passion. Why?

Discussion: Subtraction.com

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:

Showtime ‘Crazy’ For Blog-Based Comedy — EXCLUSIVE: Showtime is developing Boycrazy, a half-hour comedy based on Alexi Wasser's provocative blog ImBoyCrazy.com, with Wasser attached to star and Lynda Obst to executive produce. Wasser will co-create the potential series with Daisy Gardner …

Discussion: Gawker

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Deputy Sunday biz editor at NYT leaving for Morgan Stanley — New York Times Sunday business editor Timothy O'Brien sent out the following message to the staff: … Kranz joined the Times from BusinessWeek in 2007. She has an undergraduate degree in European history and French …

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

What's the Boston Globe Worth, Anyway? Try $120 Million — A group of investors, led by entrepreneur Aaron Kushner, wants to buy the Boston Globe. The New York Times Co. says it's not for sale — but then that's what the Bancroft family said when Rupert Murdoch offered them $5 billion …

Discussion: Romenesko

Irin Carmon / Jezebel:

Antoine Dodson Responds To The Haters — Antoine Dodson has been accused of “turning rape into a joke”, and before his viral video fame, he survived sexual abuse and homophobic bullying. But he's not letting any of it get him down, he told me recently. — Antoine had no way of knowing …

Lois Beckett / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Engagement: Where does revenue fit in the equation? — Our post earlier this week about philly.com's seven-part equation to measure user engagement has sparked a lively debate in the comments. The central question: Should a news site's engagement equation factor in revenue? If so, how?

Hollywood Reporter:

Cablevision Customers File $450 million Class Action Lawsuit — The impasse between Cablevision and Fox over retransmission consent was bound to produce a good class action lawsuit. — A group of New York customers have filed one in federal court in New York, arguing that the cable company …

Discussion: Company Town, The Consumerist, NewTeeVee and Techdirt

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

A nonprofit journalism pioneer shifts strategy — The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit news organization launched decades before the decline of traditional journalism outlets made such organizations the rage, is planning a strategic overhaul aimed at matching donations with earned income …

Discussion: Romenesko

Carly Harrington / Knoxville News-Sentinel:

Scripps Networks Interactive moving headquarters to Knoxville — Register or log in using your account on these websites. — Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH — Election 2010 links — KNOXVILLE — Scripps Networks Interactive, the company that operates cable channels HGTV and The Food Network …

Leon Neyfakh / New York Observer:

David Karp Explains How Companies Can Win Points With Tumblr Users By Boosting Their Self Esteem — Speaking on a New Yorker-sponsored panel on social media at the Bryant Park Grill this morning, Tumblr founder David Karp explained how companies can use his blogging platform to promote themselves.