Mediagazer: Tools to Help Companies Manage Their Social Media (Tanzina Vega/New York Times)

10:10 AM ET, November 15, 2010

Top News:

A Defense of Newsweek.com — It's always nice to wake up and find out in the Times that your job is doomed. As they put it on Saturday morning, quoting the new CEO of the so-called Newsweek Daily Beast Company, Stephen Colvin: “Newsweek.com will cease to exist after the merger …

Discussion: New York Times, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, paidContent, New York Magazine and AdAge, via:nicksumm

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

New Vision for Old Press — For Newsweek, Tina Brown Aims for Right Mix of Serious and Light (on a Budget) — Facing a steady bleed of talent and money, Newsweek's merger with the Daily Beast is widely viewed as the best-possible outcome for the weekly magazine.

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Vicious Infighting at NBC News — MSNBC's president vowed to fire Keith Olbermann after he threatened to take his case to other networks. Howard Kurtz on the civil war that has NBC brass—and his own staff—fuming. — Keith Olbermann was having dinner with his manager at an Upper East Side restaurant …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Nat Ives / AdAge:

What to Expect as News Corp. Dives Into Business of Education — Hiring of Ex-Schools Chancellor Klein Signals Interest in Paid-Content Curriculum — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Are you ready for News Corp. to help teach your children? — Hearst Magazines Chairman Cathie Black got …

John Heilemann / New York Magazine: The Education of a Murdoch Man

Nick Bilton / Bits:

One on One: Tim Wu, Author of ‘The Master Switch’ — Tim Wu, the Columbia law professor who came up with the term “net neutrality” in a research paper, has just written a new book, “The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires,” published by Knopf.

more at Techmeme »

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

NBC Ad Urges Recording News — Of all the news commercials on the networks this year, one running this fall for “NBC Nightly News” might be the most unorthodox. In it, the anchor Brian Williams recommends that people record the 6:30 p.m. newscast if they will not be home in time to watch live.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Romenesko and New York Magazine

AdAge:

Hitting Pay Dirt on Content Farms Is All About the Traffic — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The Examiner and its better-known competition, Demand Media and Associated Content, are often lumped into a sector called “content farms,” which enlist freelancers to write search-friendly content …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: Comcast's Top Digital Exec Amy Banse to Open New Silicon Valley Equity Fund for Cable Giant and NBC — Amy Banse, currently the president of Comcast Interactive Media, is shifting into a job as head of a new Silicon Valley-based equity fund aimed at making digital investments …

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Let a Zillion Users Blab: Yahoo Debuts “Contributor Network” — Yahoo is debuting a new offering for its hundreds of million of users, which takes the Demand Media model and notches up the volume by presumably allowing a 1,000 flowers to bloom. — Or, more to the point, blab.

Brian Steinberg / AdAge:

As for Conan, He Who Laughs Last... O'Brien's Move to TBS Seen as Early Success for Viewers and Advertisers — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Conan O'Brien looks to be having the best laugh. — After all the hype and months of speculation over Mr. O'Brien's move from NBC to cable's TBS …

Discussion: MediaPost, Thanks:rawmeet

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Miller announces GMG reorganisation — Guardian Media Group to focus on ‘core business’ - national newspapers and websites — Andrew Miller, the new chief executive of Guardian Media Group, is planning an internal reorganisation aimed at aligning the company more closely with its flagship newspapers and websites.

Discussion: The Wire

Ron Lieber / New York Times:

Zagat Survey Aims to Regain Its Online Balance — BACK in the early '80s, when the Zagat Survey was still just a single sheet of legal-size paper that Nina and Tim Zagat gave to friends and colleagues, they learned that their list of the best restaurants in New York had been reproduced — en masse — inside Citibank.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

Tools to Help Companies Manage Their Social Media — As companies move to aggressively market themselves through Facebook fan pages, blog posts and Twitter updates, they are waving goodbye to the days when a corporate message could be tightly controlled by just a few managers in a communications office.