Mediagazer: New York Times plans new social networking, comment features for fall launch (Jeff Sonderman/Poynter)

4:45 PM ET, August 5, 2011

Top News:

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

New York Post:

Celebrity-mag circulation takes it on the chin — The circulation numbers com ing out early next week from the Audit Bureau of Circulations are expected to show a particularly dismal first half of the year for the major celebrity magazines, according to estimates and insider reports.

Discussion: Adweek and The Business Insider

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, Tuned In, New York Magazine, Company Town, Chickaboomer, On Media's Blog and Gizmodo Australia

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, NetNewsCheck Latest, VentureBeat, Beet.TV and TechCrunch

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.

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 …

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: The Politico, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, nation.foxnews.com, Gawker, New York Magazine, Runnin' Scared and NetNewsCheck Latest

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

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

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: NetNewsCheck Latest and Techland

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

Richard Huff / NY Daily News:

TV reporters are getting a touch too personal — Upclose and personal is getting, well, a little too personal these days. — How so? — Earlier this week, ABC's “Good Morning America” presented an interview with Jon Bon Jovi done by Lara Spencer, tied to, it seems, his longevity in the business.

David Kaplan / paidContent:

How The Plunging Financial Markets Will Impact Ad Spending — Throughout the past six months, global ad spending forecasts haven't been revised down that much. Meanwhile, online ad growth has continued to look resilient. With stock market indexes plunging—the Dow Jones (NSDQ: NWS) …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Steve Myers / Poynter:

How The Economist's conversational tweets drive clicks, while Al Jazeera's automation drives retweets — The conventional wisdom among digital journalists is that tweeting is better done by humans than robots - an argument that would cause @nytbot5000, the robot that automates Twitter feeds …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk