Mediagazer: James Frey's Next Act (Wall Street Journal)

2:40 PM ET, November 12, 2010

Top News:

Daily Beast, Newsweek to Wed! — Some weddings take longer to plan than others. The union of The Daily Beast and Newsweek magazine finally took place with a coffee-mug toast between all parties Tuesday evening, in a conference room atop Beast headquarters, the IAC building on Manhattan's West 18th Street.

Nick Summers / New York Observer:

Observer Exclusive: Newsweek and Daily Beast to Merge — Newsweek and The Daily Beast will announce tomorrow morning that the two publications will merge, a source close to the deal tells The Observer. — It will be a 50-50 merger of the two companies. The editorial staffs will combine under …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, SAI, Adweek, Mediaite, DailyFinance, The Wrap, paidContent, The Daily Caller, MediaPost, Romenesko, NY Daily News, AdAge, Journalism.co.uk, Macleans.ca, The Wire, TBD All News, eMedia Vitals, Post Now and Gothamist, Thanks:taylorbuley

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Newsweek and Daily Beast Have a Deal — Tina Brown is back in the world of print. — After a brief and interrupted dalliance, Newsweek, the 77-year-old magazine, and The Daily Beast, Ms. Brown's two-year-old Web site, have decided to put their cultural differences aside and join forces.

Discussion: Romenesko, Washington Post, NPR, Guardian, Commentary, The Huffington Post, TheStreet.com and New York Observer

Wall Street Journal:

Valuing Facebook's Ads — The Site Commands 24% of Online Display Ads, but the Dollars Don't Match — Facebook Inc. is attracting more advertising, but marketers are still trying to figure out the value of those ads. — New data from comScore Inc. show that in September 24% …

Discussion: SAI and MediaPost

Wall Street Journal:

James Frey's Next Act — For James Frey, success and controversy are a package deal. — His 2003 debut book, “A Million Little Pieces,” was named Amazon Book of the Year and has sold eight million copies in more than 30 languages. When it was revealed that parts of the purported memoir …

Discussion: New York Magazine, New York Observer, Mediaite and io9

Mark Milian / CNN:

Yahoo to expand its blog network Monday — (CNN) — As countless print- or TV-based news organizations continue their descent, the future of the news business still seems curiously bright. — Just sniff around online for a look at the multitude of startups and internet giants throwing their bets on the table.

Nikhil Pahwa / MediaNama:
Yahoo News Rolls Out Beta Design: Personalization, Social, Blogs

Thanks:medianama

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Twitter Takes the Newsroom — The media's in trouble. The microblogging sensation is on fire. Can Biz Stone's latest gambit help prop up a financially crippled industry? Howard Kurtz reports. — Biz Stone, the funny and engaging co-founder of Twitter, had an unusual message …

Discussion: Romenesko

George Winslow / Broadcasting & Cable:

iPad Users More Likely to Cut Pay TV — A new survey from The Diffusion Group (TDG) finds that people who own iPads or are planning to purchased one in the new few months are significantly more likely than average adult broadband users to either downgrade or cancel their pay TV services.

Discussion: Fast Company and TVWeek.com

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Can Adding Staff Curators Help Digg Recover? — Digg has had a rough time since it launched a redesign of the site several months ago; users reacted badly to the loss of certain features and the site's new focus on more “mainstream” sources of content, and the new CEO spent his first few weeks apologizing …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Digg Blog, Download Squad and ReadWriteWeb

John Wall / Washington Post:

First Person Singular: David Gregory, journalist and “Meet the Press” moderator — I think it's the greatest job in journalism. I leapt at the chance to do [it], but having to succeed Tim [Russert] after he died was clearly the most difficult thing to do. It was a very delicate time.

Discussion: Romenesko

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Why Boxee's Box Doesn't Matter-And Why It Does — I've seen lots of oohing and aahing about the new Boxee Box that rolled out Wednesday. I haven't played with it yet, but for now I'll assume it's as cool as the gadget press says it is. — But let's be clear about what the Boxee Box is, and what it's not:

Discussion: New York Magazine

Alexis Mainland / City Room:

Young Manhattanite Is a Beacon on the Blog Scene — ON THE SCREEN In a list on its home page, the group blog Young Manhattanite offers 13 definitions of itself, including “a random Tumblr page” and “blogging Illuminati.” Both are accurate, as is this: YM is a cipher of insider chatter.

Matt Diaz / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Hacking data all night long: A NYC iteration of the hackathon model — In the main room of the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center's massive 15,000-square foot office and lab space in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, more than sixty developers, designers, and journalists pore over their computer screens.

Hunter Walker / New York Observer:

Just How Big Is Patch.com? — After receiving approximately $50 million in funding from AOL, the hyperlocal news network Patch.com went on a hiring spree that earned it the ire of alt-weeklies and the nickname “Poach” from one rival. — Trepidation about the rapid rise of Patch hasn't been limited to its competitors.