Mediagazer: Murdoch's paywall: those who leap are an engaging lot (Peter Preston/Guardian)

11:05 PM ET, October 31, 2010

Top News:

Arthur S. Brisbane / New York Times:

Sharing Secrets at Arm's Length — THE two stories stood side by side: one said that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was on the run, in fear of Western intelligence agencies and seen by some colleagues as “delusional,” “erratic” and “imperious.” The other story?

Discussion: the nytpicker

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

Michaels Weighs Comeback Plans — Barely a week after an ignominious end to his career at Tribune Co., Randy Michaels said he hopes to return to the industry that didn't exactly embrace him. — “I may go buy some media, I may go run some media, I don't know,” he said. “My phone's been ringing.

Discussion: Tower Ticker

Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:

Why Twitter's C.E.O. Demoted Himself — AT the annual South by Southwest gathering of techies in Austin, Tex., in March, conference organizers had chosen a hangar-size room to accommodate their star speaker: Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, the messaging and social networking site that had become a digital phenomenon.

Discussion: TechCrunch and SAI, more at Techmeme »

Peter Preston / Guardian:

Murdoch's paywall: those who leap are an engaging lot — The Times can take comfort from the fact that its few hundred thousand unique visitors are jolly good sorts — For a totally technical, mechanically precise medium, the internet is a hopeless measuring tool.

Cory Bergman / Lost Remote:

Good advice for journalist entrepreneurs at ONA — “If you are a journalist and you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to have a serious, serious attitude adjustment.” — That was Michele McLellan's advice leading off the “Turning Bits into Bucks” session here at ONA 2010.

Keisha C. Frazier / ONA10:

Online Journalism Awards honor the best of the best — Online Journalism Awards recognized journalists for their compelling pieces this year. General Excellence in Online Journalism award winners include msnbc.com, California Watch and the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Texas Tribune …

Discussion: West Seattle Blog

Michael Oneal / Los Angeles Times:

Hedge funds sue banks that funded Tribune Co. buyout — They allege the lenders knew the company was being made insolvent. — A group of hedge funds has sued the banks that funded Tribune Co.'s 2007 leveraged buyout, alleging that the lenders knowingly rendered the company insolvent and precipitated its 2008 bankruptcy.

Media Decoder:

Fox Returns to Cablevision — The Fox network flickered back to life in three million homes serviced by Cablevision on Saturday night, signaling an end to an unusually long and bitter feud between the cable company and Fox's parent company, the News Corporation.

Discussion: Multichannel News, Multichannel, MediaPost, Gothamist, NYConvergence.com, The Spy Report, paidContent, rbr.com and The Wire

Laurie Sullivan / MediaPost:

Topix Finds Niche In Political Ads — Local is fast becoming the biggest part of a company's online social strategy, and politicians are catching on, albeit slowly. The insight led Topix to create forums based on ZIP codes that let visitors share their views on local and state political issues and candidates.

Brian Stelter / The Caucus:

Rally Includes Lesson in Media Criticism 301 — The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear will be remembered, in part, as an expensive, engrossing act of media criticism. — Jon Stewart, the comedian who hosted the Comedy Central rally alongside Stephen Colbert, spoke about the press as an …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, New York Times, Examiner, SAI, New York Magazine, Washington Post and The Daily Beast

ProPublica:

A New Partnership: American Public Media's Public Insight Network — Today we are announcing our partnership with American Public Media's Public Insight Network. — The Public Insight Network began in 2003 at Minnesota Public Radio as a new way to connect journalists with the community they serve …