Mediagazer: Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news (Ted Koppel/Washington Post)

11:20 PM ET, November 12, 2010

Top News:

New Details Emerge on Newsweek-Beast Merger — Tina Brown met separately with the staffs of The Daily Beast and Newsweek today, just hours after a merger between the two very different publications was completed. Details of the combined entity, to be known officially as The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, are beginning to emerge.

Discussion: Mediaweek, mediabistro.com and Guardian

Tina Brown / The Daily Beast:

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.

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: The Daily Beast, Folio, Washington Post, Guardian, mediabistro.com, Adweek, MarketWatch, Newser, Romenesko, DailyFinance, dmwmedia.com, Commentary, TBD All News, MediaPost, Post Now, Mixed Media, New York Observer and NY Daily News

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Newsweek CEO First Casualty of Deal with Daily Beast

Discussion: Telegraph, Los Angeles Times and The Week Magazine

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast: Inside the New Beast — As The Daily Beast and Newsweek combine …

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.

Discussion: Romenesko, MediaPost and New York Observer

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: AllTwitter, KnightBlog and Romenesko

Hillary Busis / Mediaite:

Did NY Mag Rush Their James Frey Feature Online Only After Learning Of WSJ Scoop? — Readers of both NYMag.com and the Wall Street Journal's website may have noticed that in the wee small hours of the morning, both publications posted similar but competing articles about author James Frey …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Suzanne Mozes / New York Magazine:

James Frey's Fiction Factory — The controversial author is hiring young writers to join him in a new publishing company. The goal is to produce the next Twilight. The contracts are brutal. — In February, James Frey was invited to speak to a small seminar in the graduate writing program at Columbia called “Can Truth Be Told?”

Discussion: AdAge, The Paris Review, GalleyCat, New York Observer and Boing Boing

Wall Street Journal:
James Frey's Next Act

Discussion: io9 and The Awl

Ted Koppel / Washington Post:

Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news — To witness Keith Olbermann - the most opinionated among MSNBC's left-leaning, Fox-baiting, money-generating hosts - suspended even briefly last week for making financial contributions to Democratic political candidates seemed like a whimsical …

Discussion: Romenesko, Mediaite and TVNewser

Wall Street Journal:

Comcast to Reorganize, Streamline Executive Suite at NBC Universal — Comcast Corp.'s chief operating officer Steve Burke plans to announce a major reorganization of NBC Universal as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing in some new talent while expanding the role of several existing executives.

Discussion: paidContent, Company Town, GigaOM and Hollywood Reporter

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter Online:

Chat Replay: Can You Judge Wired by its Covers (and Coverage) of Women & Tech? — In an open letter to Wired this week, reader Cindy Royal criticized the magazine for featuring a cover image of a woman's cleavage for a story about breast tissue regeneration.

Discussion: Romenesko, BlogPost, The Huffington Post, Change The Ratio, Journalism.co.uk, Cindy's Take on Tech and The Awl

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

As Funding Talk Swirls, Tumblr Lands A Director Of Product — Earlier today, a Business Insider report indicated that Tumblr has landed a “very big and competitive” new round of funding from Sequoia Capital. We're still looking into that, and they're not commenting, but here's one thing …

Discussion: VatorNews and New York Observer, more at Techmeme »

SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:
Tumblr Lands “Very Big And Competitive” Round From Sequoia

Discussion: VatorNews and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Amy Gahran / Knight Digital Media Center All-Site Feed:

For live coverage, does your content management system “play nice with others?” — For breaking news or high-profile ongoing coverage, it helps to be able to quickly present news no matter how it arrives. But at many established news organizations, their content management systems don't make this easy.

Thanks:carlitosway