Mediagazer: News Corp seeks EU approval for Sky takeover (James Robinson/Guardian)

Rally to Shift the Blame — In his new role as a political leader, which is what you call somebody if he hosts a rally on the Washington Mall for over 200,000 people, Jon Stewart was a little hemmed at the Rally to Restore Sanity on Saturday. Because sanity should know no party, partisan rhetoric was not on the teleprompter.

Discussion: Lost Remote, Big Hollywood and The Nation

Discussion: The Wire, The Huffington Post, The New Yorker Blog, New York Magazine, SAI, Mediaite, Gawker, MetaFilter, Examiner, FrumForum and TPMDC

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:

Gawker to Drop Old Blog Look — Founder Denton Favors Newsmagazine Style, Refashioning Face of Online Media — Gawker Media founder Nick Denton, whose snarky approach has shaped the blogosphere's tone for years, is overhauling his sites to broaden their appeal, an attempted transformation …

Discussion: Romenesko, Guardian and SAI

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: Romenesko, Chicago Tribune and Tower Ticker

The Independent:

Stephen Glover: Two newspapers, two distinct readerships — Media Studies: I read one edition of i exhaustively having first filleted The Independent, and had little sense of déjà vu — Before the launch of i last Tuesday, there were two commonly expressed anxieties.

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:

Keeping the Party Going at Viacom — Philippe Dauman says he paid his way through college in part by playing poker. Now the Viacom Inc. CEO is making bets in an arena with high stakes for the media business: putting traditional content on the Web. — Viacom, a media company …

Meg Pickard / Guardian:

Open door on ... guidelines for journalists using social media — The Guardian's head of digital engagement on ... the rules of participation — The US department-store chain Nordstrom famously gave new starters an 8in by 5in card as an employee handbook.

Thanks:martinsfp

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Beware the GOP Coronation — Republicans will win big, and the press coverage will be glowing. But don't forget: At the 100-days mark in his presidency, Obama walked on water. Howard Kurtz on the media's mood swings. — Less than two years after taking office on a wave of hope …

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Time Magazine's Odd but Unintentional Pairing — Talk about a mismatch. — Time magazine's election preview issue contains four separate inside covers, each one featuring a Republican or Tea Party candidate prominent in politics this year: Rand Paul, Meg Whitman, Marco Rubio and Christine O'Donnell.

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

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Alaska station says Breitbart Web site audio attack is bogus — Is another Andrew Breitbart Web site production about to be unmasked as bogus? — Breitbart's Big Journalism site is making an incendiary accusation: That reporters at the Anchorage CBS affiliate KTVA were caught conspiring …

Discussion: Big Journalism, The Daily Caller, Media Matters for America and The Huffington Post

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Huffington Post, Media Matters for America, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, The Daily Dish, Mediaite and FrumForum

Tanzina Vega / Media Decoder:

Lucky Magazine Creates Web Videos for Its Birthday — Instead of putting candles on a cake to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, Lucky magazine is lighting up its December issue with more than 100 online videos connected to each editorial page in the magazine.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

James Robinson / Guardian:

News Corp seeks EU approval for Sky takeover — Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate is to kickstart its effort to gain clearance this week — News Corp is expecting to formally notify the European commission this week of its intention to bid for BSkyB. — The move will kickstart …

Bloomberg:

Cablevision-Fox Blackout May Raise Hurdles for Comcast in Deal for NBC — The spat between News Corp. and Cablevision System Corp. that blacked out Fox programming for more than 3 million subscribers may raise hurdles for Comcast Corp.'s $28 billion deal to take control of NBC Universal.

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Politicians Are Fighting Mad, at the News Media — This year will likely go down in the history books as the year of the angry voter. But 2010 will also be an election year notable for another kind of ire: when politicians let their contempt for the news media boil over.

Brian Morrissey / Adweek:

Publishers' iPad Apps: Hot or Not? — Such editions have disappointed, despite high hopes — The iPad dreams of magazine publishers could be the latest death by irrational exuberance. — Despite the optimism that greeted the new device, there is a danger that publishers are squandering …

Thanks:steverubel