Mediagazer: Why the MP3Tunes Case Is a Big Deal You Won't Notice (Peter Kafka/AllThingsD)

10:15 PM ET, August 23, 2011

Top News:

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

What you need to know about StumbleUpon, the Web's newly-hot referral source — The social-powered Web browsing service StumbleUpon now claims to drive more than half of all social media referral traffic in the U.S., according to new data from StatCounter. — Is it true?

Discussion: Marketing Pilgrim

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Does StumbleUpon Really Drive More Traffic Than Facebook? — StumbleUpon, the social discovery service, has about 15 million users. Is it possible it could be directing more traffic to outside websites than Facebook, which has more than 700 million? — That's what StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp claims.

Discussion: Click Here Blog

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

MediaNews Group Consolidates Eleven Bay Area Papers Into Two — California's Bay Area residents are a couple months away from losing many of their local newspapers, as the Bay Area News Group—a division of MediaNews Group—consolidates eleven newspapers, including the Oakland Tribune, into just two: The Times and the East Bay Tribune.

Discussion: Contra Costa Times and Future of Journalism

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

About 120 lose jobs in Bay Area News Group rebranding, streamlining — The existing Bay Area News Group (BANG) newspapers titles will continue to be published after the changes take effect on November 2, 2011, but under two consolidated mastheads. The Contra Costa Times, Valley Times …

Discussion: Dublin Patch

MediaShift:

5 Lessons Learned Building The Daily Dot, a Media Startup — This is the third and final post in a series from Nicholas White, the co-founder and CEO of The Daily Dot. — It was one year ago this month that I moved to Austin, Texas, in full dedication to creating The Daily Dot, the hometown newspaper of the world wide web.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Thanks:dmfreeman

Heather Kelly / VentureBeat:
The Daily Dot wants to be a small town paper for the entire Internet

Discussion: Gawker, Mashable!, On Media's Blog, Daily Dot, GigaOM, SiliconANGLE, ShortFormBlog, Garcia Media, Poynter, ReadWriteWeb, Forbes, Nova Spivack, SiliconFilter, eMedia Vitals and Betabeat, Thanks:dmfreeman

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

U.K. Tabloid Daily Mail's U.S. Web Boss Out After Less Than a Year — The man who is supposed to help British tabloid The Daily Mail establish itself in the U.S. has left, after less than a year on the job. — Matthew Kearney, whose title had been CEO of U.S. for MailOnline …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Bloomberg:

Billionaire Slim Boosts Stakes in NYT as Market Slumps — Mexican Tycoon Pays $6.83 to $7.09 for 553,000 Times Co. Shares — Billionaire Carlos Slim spent $8.8 million to boost his stakes in Saks, Inc. and The New York Times Co., adding to his biggest U.S. holdings as the stock market slumped last week.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Poynter, FishbowlNY and On Media's Blog

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Time Inc. Launches Its First Four Magazines On Nook Color — Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is expanding its magazines' presence on the Nook Newsstand. Starting today, print subscribers to Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated, and Time will be able to read the Nook editions of those magazines for free …

Discussion: Folio, CNET News, FishbowlNY and mediabistro.com

Teresa Novellino / Portfolio:

Social-Media Mags Want to Friend Business Readers — Why is there no magazine focused on using Facebook or Twitter to build business? Exactly, thought GSG WorldMedia, whose founders say their four social-media magazines will debut with 5 million subscribers, thanks to Office Depot.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and MediaPost

Joanne Ostrow / Denver Post:

Al Jazeera is reliable and often ahead of the curve in its coverage of Libya — Libyans watch an Al Jazeera channel at freedom square in Benghazi, Libya. The news network's coverage has been lauded as reliable and often ahead of the curve. (Gianluigi Guercia, AFP/Getty Images )

Discussion: Mediaite

The Huffington Post:

It's Official: Sharpton Gets MSNBC Hosting Gig — Al Sharpton has been officially named the host of the 6 PM hour on MSNBC. The network announced Tuesday that Sharpton will host “PoliticsNation” on weeknights starting August 29. — Sharpton has been the de facto host of the hour for many weeks …

Discussion: Inside TV

Matt Kinsman / Folio:

American Printer Magazine Folds After 128 Years; American Press Closes Shop — Penton mag saw no model of profitability; printer closes due to economy. — Started in 1883 as Inland Printer, Penton Media's American Printer magazine will be stopping production after 128 years.

Discussion: Audience Development

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

San Diego Union-Tribune passes on NYT's Issa story, readers react — The New York Times' Eric Lichblau wrote last week “most wealthy members of Congress push their financial activities to the side, with many even placing them in blind trusts to avoid appearances of conflicts of interest …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, On Media's Blog and SignOnSanDiego.com

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Why the MP3Tunes Case Is a Big Deal You Won't Notice — Yesterday, a U.S. District Court Judge handed down a decision which slapped around a big music label and put an entrepreneur on the hook for what could be a very big legal bill. — What does that mean for the rest of us?

Discussion: Softpedia News, VentureBeat, Electronic Frontier Foundation and TorrentFreak

Tim Cuprisin / onmilwaukee.com:

OnMedia: The courage of CNN's Tripoli reporters — It's hard to imagine more thrilling live news coverage than CNN's reporting from the Libyan capital of Tripoli starting Sunday night and continuing into the week. Most compelling were the live reports from the besieged Rixos Hotel …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Wire

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Journalists Kept in Hotel as Battle Rages Outside

Discussion: New York Magazine, mediabistro.com, Adweek, Mediaite and Telegraph

Adam Hochberg / Poynter:

Rick Perry's assertions on global warming reveal reporting challenges when science, politics collide — In the course of two days last week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry expressed controversial views on two politically sensitive scientific issues. The news coverage of his remarks once again demonstrated …

Discussion: Mediaite and Agence France Presse