Mediagazer: Google News gets a new human touch, launching publisher-curated Editors' Picks as a standing section (Megan Garber/Nieman Journalism Lab)

John Higginson / Metro.co.uk:

Guardian journalist: Phone hacking gave me a ‘thrill’ — A Guardian executive admitted hacking telephone messages - and getting a ‘voyeuristic thrill’ from it. — Assistant editor David Leigh said he intercepted voicemails in an article written in December 2006 in order to investigate …

Discussion: New York Magazine, The First Post, Press Gazette, Guy Fawkes' blog and Runnin' Scared

Introducing Guardian Shorts — Guardian Shorts is a new series of ebooks from the Guardian, providing detailed guides to topical news stories, public policy, sports and cultural events. The ebooks will demonstrate the best of Guardian journalism, with timelines, data and comment, curated and packaged for a quick, portable read.

Discussion: paidContent, eBookNewser and TeleRead

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Google News gets a new human touch, launching publisher-curated Editors' Picks as a standing section — When Google News launched in 2002, it did so with some declarations: “This page was generated entirely by computer algorithms without human editors.” And: “No humans were harmed or even used in the creation of this page.”

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Future of Journalism, @marshallk, @niemanlab and @gaberivera, more at Techmeme »

Google News highlights unique content with Editors' Picks — (Cross-posted on the Google News Blog) — News organizations tell stories online in ways that bring together the best of traditional and digital journalism, whether that involves long-form investigative features …

Discussion: Search Engine Land, Marketing Pilgrim and WebProNews

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Media stocks drop more than the market as a whole — Stocks fell across the board Thursday in the worst day of trading since 2008. The drop was fueled by a global credit crisis and a weak U.S. economic recovery, with the expectation that Friday's jobs report will add to the worries.

Discussion: MarketBeat and Fox News

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

The New York Observer Will Switch From Tabloid to Broadsheet — Beginning August 24, The New York Observer will be printed in a mini-broadsheet format, Observer Media Group president Christopher Barnes announced today. — The mini-broadsheet is a shorter, narrower version of the traditional broadsheet …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Daily Beast-Newsweek Traffic Is Down 24 Percent From Last Year — Barry Diller is sanguine about the future of the merged Newsweek/Daily Beast news entity, even though he expects it to lose $50 million before crossing over into the black. “In a year, year-and-a-half or so …

Discussion: The New York Observer

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

DirecTV CEO downplays interest in Hulu — One more potential Hulu acquirer has thrown its hat in the ring, with DirecTV admitting it has joined Apple, Yahoo, Google, Verizon, AT&T and Amazon in taking a look at the online video site's financials. But while it's an interesting opportunity …

Larry Atkins / The Huffington Post:

Media and Consumers Must Be Careful in Relying on Twitter for Breaking News — Last week, a false rumor that CNN's Piers Morgan had been suspended as a talk show host due to his alleged role in phone hacking as an editor for a UK tabloid was spread repeatedly by journalists through Twitter for a brief time.

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Playbook's first subscriber was Clinton strategist Howard Wolfson — The 1,500th edition of Politico's Playbook was published today, and author Mike Allen marked the occasion by sharing the history of the D.C. must-read morning roundup. … Little-known fact: Mike Allen profiled Jim Romenesko …

American Journalism Review:

A Welcome Change — After years of decline, the audience for network news jumps upward. Thurs. August 4, 2011 By Deborah Potter

Discussion: Poynter

Bloomberg:

Murdoch's Cleanup Effort Draws Criticism — News Corp. (NWSA)'s Rupert Murdoch told British lawmakers he's the “best person” to clean up the company after a phone-hacking scandal. Fifteen days later, it isn't clear how he'll accomplish that. — The committee the New York-based media company set …

Keach Hagey / On Media's Blog:

Fox Business launches series on Media Matters — The Fox News fight against Media Matters is now being taken up by its cousin, Fox Business. — Fox Business published a 2,500-word investigation into the legitimacy of Media Matters' tax-exempt status yesterday, promising it was the first in a three-part series.

Discussion: The New York Observer and Big Journalism

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

9 reasons newspapers are suddenly asking print subscribers to pay for full Web access — After years of searching for a workable paid digital content model, a wave of small and mid-sized newspapers have all hit on the same solution: Ask print subscribers to pay just a little more to get full website access.