Mediagazer: Forget Murdoch and Branson, could TRVL's gorgeous iPad magazine … (Martin Bryant/The Next Web)

3:30 PM ET, December 1, 2010

Top News:

Google Set to Launch E-Book Venture — Google Inc. is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, Google Editions, a move that could shake up the way digital books are sold. — The long-delayed venture—Google executives had said they hoped to launch this summer …

Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Google Says Its E-Books Store Will Launch By Year-End

Discussion: Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and The Next Web

Tara Palmeri / New York Post:

Co-host spittin' mad over Spitzer — Tweet — Eliot Spitzer's TV sidekick is so fed up with playing second fiddle to the hooker-loving ex-gov that she's threatening to walk, sources told The Post yesterday. — Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker actually stormed off the set of the …

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Times, The TV Guy, Politics Daily, Inside Cable News, Company Town, New York Magazine, On Media's Blog, TVbytheNumbers, NewsBusters.org blogs and ClickZ

Reuters:

New York Times looks to WeightWatchers for Internet tips — (Reuters) - New York Times Co is completing plans to charge readers for online news after spending a year studying websites such as Consumer Reports and WeightWatchers. — The New York Times, which in 2007 abandoned its first big effort …

Discussion: Gawker, Yahoo! News and New York Observer

Felix Salmon:

The new Gawker Media — Gawker Media's big company-wide redesign, a year in the making, will finally come out of beta on January 3. It will the biggest event in Gawker Media history, for all three arms of the company—editorial, sales, and technology. It's a concerted attempt for Gawker Media …

Discussion: SAI, The Awl, eMedia Vitals, Romenesko, Yahoo! News, Runnin' Scared, New York Observer and Lifehacker

Edward Wyatt / New York Times:

F.C.C. Chairman Outlines Broadband Framework — WASHINGTON — Thwarted by the courts, by lawmakers on Capitol Hill and by some of his fellow commissioners, the Federal Communications Commission chairman will try again on Wednesday to devise a new strategy for regulating broadband Internet service providers.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Post Tech, CNET News, GigaOM, Epicenter, Tech Daily Dose, The Rural Blog, savetheinternet.com/blog, New York Magazine and The Atlantic Online, more at Techmeme »

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:

‘The Walking Dead’ Lets Go Of Writers; Considers No Writing Staff For Season 2 — EXCLUSIVE: I hear The Walking Dead writer/ executive producer/ director Frank Darabont has let go of the writers on the hot freshman AMC series, which has already renewed for a second season.

Discussion: Tuned In, New York Observer, Celebritology 2.0, New York Magazine, Gawker, Mediaweek and TVbytheNumbers

Nick Summers / New York Observer:

The Great Murdoch iPad Debate — The Daily is the most exciting news media start-up of the millennium! … On the sleek iPad, it is indescribably magical to touch the news. — Apple is a fascist censor with onerous terms. — News Corp. is paying journalists, and paying them well!

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Awl, The Corsair and Poynter

Mark Briggs / Poynter:

What journalists need to know about starting a nonprofit business — There is a misconception among many would-be entrepreneurs, especially in journalism, that starting a nonprofit business will mean relief from the pressure of making money. Not so. Any business, whether nonprofit or not, must bring money in to survive.

ProPublica:

NYU and ProPublica Team Up to Experiment With Explanatory Journalism — At ProPublica, we often cover topics that are not only critically important but also mind-bendingly complex. (CDOs, anyone?) To help readers follow along, we frequently back up a step and offer primers, FAQs, and backgrounders.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, Pressthink, Studio 20 and Poynter

Michael Donohoe / First Look:

Swiping, Linking and Highlighting: A Few New Features — On a site as big as NYTimes.com, changes and updates occur on a daily basis. Here's a look at some of the features we've added in the past six months. — Inside NYTimes — You've probably noticed the “Inside NYTimes.com” module …

Discussion: New York Observer, Thanks:taylorbuley

Wall Street Journal:

Web-Traffic Tension Rises — U.S. regulators are looking into a dispute between two large companies that shuttle traffic around the Internet, a business invisible to most consumers but increasingly fraught with tension. — The issue gets to the heart of a longstanding argument: Who should pay for the Internet?

Discussion: Between the Lines Blog, Comcast Voices and Free Press

Ben Klayman / Reuters:

New York Times in talks to sell Red Sox stake — (Reuters) - New York Times Co (NYT.N) is talking with a variety of potential buyers for its stake in the Boston Red Sox and expects to turn a profit on the baseball team's sale, the media company's chief executive said on Tuesday.

Discussion: The Wrap

John Cook / Gawker:

Inside the David Paterson Rumor Mill — A while back, we filed a Freedom of Information Law request looking for e-mails between New York Gov. David Paterson's flacks and a bunch of reporters. The governor's office tried hard to keep them secret, but we finally got them. — And there's not much there!

Discussion: Yahoo! News, CJR and Capital Tonight

Clare O'Connor / Filthy Rich:

Want Access To Richard Branson's Billions? Ask His Daughter — Richard and Holly Branson at today's launch. — Back in March, right before the official U.S. launch of the iPad, Giovanni Donaldson had an idea. The London-based manager at Richard Branson's Virgin Group saw …

Discussion: Mixed Media, Virgin.com, New York Magazine and MediaMemo

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

Forget Murdoch and Branson, could TRVL's gorgeous iPad magazine transform publishing? — It looks like iPad-only publications might be a trend to look out for in 2011. Rupert Murdoch has a team busy preparing ‘The Daily’ newspaper app, while Richard Branson yesterday launched his flash 'Project magazine.

Thanks:bradtnw

Natalie Zmuda / AdAge:

Print Still Reigns, but More Retailers Turn to TV, Online Ads for Holidays — BDO Survey: Flat Holiday Budgets Mean a Little Less for Print as Marketers Spread Resources — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Faced with flat budgets, marketers are experimenting with new media mixes this holiday season.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, MediaPost and Media Buyer Planner

Paul Farhi / American Journalism Review:

From the Fringe to the Mainstream — How “scandals” of dubious validity or relevance end up attracting so much media attention. Posted: Wed, Dec. 1 2010 — Senior Contributing Writer Paul Farhi (farhip@washpost.com), a Washington Post reporter, wrote about the National Enquirer in AJR's Summer issue.

Ellie Behling / eMedia Vitals:

Online advertising in strange places — A number of creative online display ad formats have surfaced to shake consumers out of our banner-induced slumbers. In fact, a new study published this week by AdweekMedia/Harris reconfirms that banner ads are the Internet ads most likely to be ignored.

Discussion: Adweek and MediaPost

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Google Cuts Off AppNexus, and the Ad Tech World Shudders — AppNexus, a high-flying ad technology start-up, just had a bad few days. The next few weeks could be rough, too. — That's because over the weekend, Google suspended the company's access to the ad giant's “real time” ad exchange.

Discussion: ClickZ, AdExchanger.com, TechCrunch and Wall Street Journal

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Introducing the new Poynter.org: Learn about the site & tell us what you think — After months of strategizing, design and development, I'm proud to share the new Poynter.org with you. — If you are a longtime Poynter loyalist, I hope you will find the site easier to use, with the most relevant content easier to find.

Discussion: The Awl

Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:

Why the Kindle Is Losing Me — I really loved my Kindle when I first got it. I love writing books, and I'm for anything that helps people consume and purchase more of them- I don't care if I make a fraction of the royalties off electronic sales. — I was especially struck by how much I wished I'd had a Kindle in college.

Discussion: Guardian and TeleRead

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Behind CBS' Morning Show Shakeup — Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez got axed from the Early Show Tuesday. Howard Kurtz talks to Smith and CBS News President Sean McManus about the perennial challenges of the low-rated show. — Harry Smith is sounding remarkably upbeat for a man who just got pushed out of his job.