Mediagazer: Soraya Darabi Steps Back at Foodspotting, Eyes Bigger Role at ABC (Adrianne Jeffries/Betabeat)

7:05 PM ET, August 18, 2011

Top News:

Amelia Hill / Guardian:

First US-based NoW reporter is arrested — James Desborough arrested by police investigating UK hacking allegations, while Glenn Mulcaire sues News International — James Desborough, an award-winning former reporter at the News of the World, has been arrested by officers investigating the phone-hacking scandal.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, NetNewsCheck Latest, Company Town, The First Post, The Wire, Deadline.com, The New Yorker Blog, Multichannel, paidContent, Adweek, New York Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable, Gawker and FishbowlLA

Peter Lauria / Reuters:

News Corp executives mull chance James Murdoch may leave — (Reuters) - News Corp's senior management is starting to think about what the company might do if James Murdoch stepped aside, sources inside and close to the global media empire said. — With Rupert Murdoch's younger son under …

Discussion: The Awl, Gawker, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post and On Media's Blog

Lindsay Fortado / Bloomberg:

Ex-Investigator Mulcaire Said to Sue News Corp. Over Legal Fees — Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) — Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed in 2007 for intercepting voice-mail messages while working for News Corp.'s News of the World, sued the company. — The lawsuit against News Group Newspapers Ltd. …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Wrap

Sarah Lyall / New York Times:
New Hacking Arrest: Hollywood Reporter for British Tabloid

Discussion: The Informer

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

New York Press Is Dead, Long Live Our Town Downtown — As has been rumored for weeks, Manhattan Media is shutting down the New York Press and reviving Our Town Downtown, starting September 1. The weekly publication-a magazine/community newspaper hybrid, according to the press release-will focus on news …

Discussion: Poynter, On Media's Blog, FishbowlNY, Gothamist and AAN

Verne G. Kopytoff / New York Times:

That Remake of AOL? It's Still Being Written — SAN FRANCISCO — AOL hit a hard bump on its road to becoming a digital media company. — Last week it reported another loss and told Wall Street analysts it was not going to get much better: operating income for the year could be down as much as 20 percent because of weaker ad sales.

Discussion: Media Nation, The New York Observer and Fortune

Bloomberg:
AOL Discounted Gets Last, Best Hope in Private Equity

Discussion: Betabeat and The Business Insider

Steve Krakauer / CNN:

Christine O'Donnell and Howard Schultz — The former Senate candidate talks about the 2012 GOP field and her new book, and the Starbucks CEO on his plan to boycott campaign donations. — Set edition preference — READ about Piers Morgan's long career in journalism here.

Discussion: Guardian, CNN, The New York Observer, Guardian, Broadcasting & Cable, NY Daily News and Adweek

Daniel D'Addario / The New York Observer:

Christine O'Donnell On Her Piers Morgan Walk-Out: ‘It was fun.’ — After walking out of her interview with Piers Morgan, Christine O'Donnell addressed the Women's National Republican Club on West 51st Street, starting about forty-five minutes late, just before seven.

Discussion: Salon, Reuters, On Media's Blog, Gothamist and TPMDC

Bloomberg:

Guardian Loses Fight for Web Readers Even After Taking Out Murdoch Tabloid — The U.K.'s Guardian took down Britain's best-selling Sunday newspaper by exposing that the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid hacked a murder victim's voicemail. It may still lose an intensifying battle for British readers.

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Capital New York Snags Yahoo's Joe Pompeo In Mini Hiring Spree — NEW YORK — Capital New York, a website that promises to show readers “how New York works,” will soon have several more reporters working for it. — Launched in June 2010 by ex-New York Observer editors Tom McGeveran and Josh Benson …

Discussion: paidContent, The Wrap, @rafat, NYConvergence.com, New York Magazine and AdAge

Nick Bilton / Bits:

Ashton Kutcher Could Face Questions About Disclosure — Ashton Kutcher may not have much of a future in journalism. When he served as guest editor of an online-only version of Details magazine, he failed to fully disclose his investments in Internet companies profiled in the issue.

Discussion: Gawker, FishbowlNY, Adweek, Techland and New York Times

Michael A. Memoli / Los Angeles Times:

In China, reporters covering Biden get the heave-ho — Only minutes into the vice president's remarks, Chinese officials began directing journalists toward the exits. Soon the shooing became shoving. — Reporting from Beijing— Vice President Joe Biden's famously loquacious style …

Discussion: Gawker, New York Magazine, The New Yorker Blog, The Huffington Post, TPMDC and Political Punch

Dylan Byers / Adweek:

Newsweek-Daily Beast Announces New Hires, Promotions — Tina Brown's Newsweek-Daily Beast Company got hit hard last week. First, editor-at-large Randall Lane left to become editor of Forbes, and then international general manager Alan Bone bounced to Bloomberg Businessweek. — This week brings better news.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Hires Silicon Valley Tech Blogger Louis Gray as Google+ Evangelist — Notable Silicon Valley tech blogger and startup consultant Louis Gray is finally turning his passion for Google's products and services into a career. Gray has just accepted the position of Product Marketing Manager …

Discussion: The Business Insider, louisgray.com and Pulse2

Adrianne Jeffries / Betabeat:

Soraya Darabi Steps Back at Foodspotting, Eyes Bigger Role at ABC — Soraya Darabi, public face and retroactively-named co-founder for the Bay Area start-up Foodspotting, has effectively left her daily role at the company. — Ms. Darabi, who has more than 429,000 followers on Twitter …

Alysia Santo / CJR:

Web First, Print Later — Why some digital news startups are branching into print — When Knight Foundation executive John Bracken said that “Print is the new vinyl” this weekend, the point of his comparison seemed lost on many. In a post on the Knight Foundation blog, Bracken clarified his metaphor:

Discussion: Editors Weblog and Street Fight