Mediagazer: The New York Observer Will Switch From Tabloid to Broadsheet (Kat Stoeffel/The New York Observer)

John F. Burns / New York Times:

Calls for CNN Host to Testify in Hacking Scandal — LONDON — Piers Morgan, the CNN talk show host and a former editor of the British tabloid The Mirror, faced calls on Thursday from prominent British lawmakers to appear before a parliamentary committee investigating the illegal hacking of cellphone messages.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Guardian, New York Magazine, On Media's Blog, Company Town, Tuned In, Chickaboomer and Gizmodo Australia

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: New York Magazine and FishbowlNY

Anthony Ha / Adweek:

Startups Look for the Future of Social TV — With venture capital and investment dollars flowing in, social TV has become one of the hottest startup categories. — Now consolidation may be under way. Social TV startup Philo was just acquired by advertising company Local Response.

Discussion: Lost Remote, VentureBeat, Beet.TV and TechCrunch

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Fox News vs. Politico: ‘Obama and His Rapper Friends Did Not Fix Economy’ Report Classic Case of Awful Aggregation — Media Matters screen-grabbed what you're seeing on the left from the Fox Nation website earlier today. Yes: it's real. They didn't provide context, but we will.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Politico, Mediaite and The Wire

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

David Bohrman Leaving CNN — After 14 years with CNN, former Washington Bureau Chief David Bohrman, named “chief innovation officer” of CNN Worldwide in March, is leaving the company, TVNewser has learned. — In a farewell email to staff, Bohrman writes, “I have been offered a fantastic new opportunity …

Discussion: Mediaite and Inside Cable News

Guardian:

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 and TeleRead

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

New York Times plans new social networking, comment features for fall launch — The New York Times is developing a new system for social interaction on its website, with big changes to begin arriving this fall. — Following up on speculation that its Times People social network had been shuttered …

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 …

Discussion: Techland

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Many Magazines Eke Out Gains, or at Least Hold Their Ground, in New Circ Report — Print Fighting the Undertow at Newsstand — Most magazines won't put grand slams up on the scoreboard when the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases figures for the first half of the year on Tuesday …

Discussion: Poynter and FishbowlNY

Robert Andrews / paidContent:UK:

The Onion Testing A Metered Paid Model — Some readers' eyes may now start to water when they cut a few layers in to The Onion's website. — “America's finest news source” has begun requiring a $2.95pm/$29.95pa charge from non-U.S. visitors who want to read more than about five stories within a 30-day period.

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: Poynter, Mashable!, Softpedia News, Marketing Pilgrim, eMedia Vitals, @marshallk, Future of Journalism, @niemanlab, @gaberivera and @digiphile

Discussion: Search Engine Land, 9to5Google, Geekosystem and WebProNews

Barb Palser / American Journalism Review:

A Strategy for Facebook — News outlets are devoting a great deal of energy to heightening their presence on social media.Posted: Fri., Aug. 5, 2011 — Barb Palser (bpalser@gmail.com) is director of digital media for McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Co. — For most of us, being “Liked” is a social affirmation.

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.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Steve Smith / MinOnline:

101 Years-Young: WWD Refreshes Web Presence — Citing Women's Wear's roots in the early 20th Century, editor Edward Nardoza announced to readers yesterday a “reimagined” WWD.com on a digital platform where “pages don't yellow or crumble.” — The new design has a clean tri-column structure …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

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 …

Discussion: Vanity Fair