Mediagazer: Jim Breyer Joins News Corp. Board as Tom Perkins Departs (Jeff Bercovici/Mixed Media)

3:00 PM ET, September 2, 2011

Top News:

AOL SPOKESMAN: Mike Arrington Is No Longer Employed By This Company* — Update: WAIT! Now AOL Says Mike Arrington Is Still An Employee - In The Business Development Division — Earlier: TechCrunch founder and editor Michael Arrington is “not employed by AOL” anymore, AOL Huffington Post spokesperson Mario Ruiz tells us.

Discussion: AllThingsD, The Business Insider, Bits, Forbes, VentureBeat, L.A. Times Tech Blog, mediabistro.com, Digits, FishbowlNY, Between the Lines Blog, @pkafka, @pkafka, @lyneka and Editors Weblog, more at Techmeme »

Dan Primack / Fortune:

CrunchFund confusion — If Michael Arrington is leaving TechCrunch, what does that mean for the investors in CrunchFund? — Yesterday we were first to report that tech blogger Michael Arrington has launched a $20 million venture capital fund, which is being backed by AOL (AOL) and a group of Silicon Valley's top VC firms.

Discussion: The Business Insider, Poynter, Future Journalism Project, The Business Insider, New York Magazine, @jayrosen_nyu, @eldon, Adweek and broadstuff, more at Techmeme »

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

The CrunchFund: Actually, Tim, We Don't All Have “Different” Standards — Yesterday afternoon, Mike Arrington and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced the launch of “the CrunchFund”, a venture fund that will — according to the New York Times — “invest in start-ups, including some that [Arrington] and his staff write about”.

Discussion: FT Tech Hub

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Mike Arrington, AOL Employee, Won't Have “Influence on Coverage,” Says AOL — You thought a story about Mike Arrington would be clean and easy? Ha. — So here's the latest (for those just tuning in, we'll do backstory later — who said the inverted triangle was dead?):

Discussion: Mixed Media and The Loop

Dave Winer / Scripting News:

Arrington is the future of what we used to call journalism — Interesting but not too surprising how the tech press is spinning the new VC fund being run by Mike Arrington of TechCrunch. — There's not any real controversy here, however. — 1. It's not news. He's been investing in tech startups for a long time.

Discussion: Anil Dash and Mark Evans Tech, more at Techmeme »

Nicholas Carlson / The Business Insider:
AOL Is Replacing Michael Arrington At TechCrunch - He'll Still Write

Discussion: Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Future of Journalism and Gizmodo

Dan Primack / Fortune:
Michael Arrington launching venture fund

Mat Honan / Gizmodo:
Aol: You've Got Conflicts

Discussion: Venture Capital Dispatch, Betabeat, The Business Insider, L.A. Times Tech Blog, @kemcke, @zee and @fromedome

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch receives $12.5m bonus — News Corp chief's total pay package soars 47% to $33m, while his son James lands $6m bonus to hit total of almost $18m — The News Corporation chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, received a $12.5m (£7.7m) cash bonus for the last financial year …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, FishbowlNY, Media Decoder and Business Wire

Felix Gillette / Business Week:

Matthew Freud Will See You Now — If the PR whiz can steer himself and his wife, Elisabeth Murdoch, through the News Corp. scandal, he could emerge as a central force in the empire — In the night of July 2, Elisabeth Murdoch and her husband, Matthew Freud, threw a party at their country estate on the outskirts of London.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Company Town and Felix Salmon

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

Phone hacking: 34-year-old man arrested — Unnamed man arrested by officers from the Met police's Operation Weeting team in connection with phone hacking and perverting the course of justice — Today's arrest is the 15th by the Met police's Operation Weeting phone hacking investigation

Discussion: Press Gazette

James Cusick / The Independent:

Gordon Brown issues challenge over Sunday Times recordings — Gordon Brown has stepped up his campaign against Rupert Murdoch's News International media group, sending tape recordings to the Metropolitan Police earlier today which he says challenge the Sunday Times's assurances that it broke …

Reuters:

Insight: Murdoch's tough guy Carlucci under pressure — (Reuters) - Paul Carlucci's name doesn't appear on any public list of News Corp's power players. As CEO of News America Marketing and publisher of the New York Post, he is the most influential executive you've never heard of inside Rupert Murdoch's empire.

Discussion: Stop Big Media News, The Slog and Crikey

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Jim Breyer Joins News Corp. Board as Tom Perkins Departs — Jim Breyer. Image via CrunchBase — Tom Perkins won't be the one who sees to it that all is set to rights at News Corp. The prominent venture capitalist is giving up his seat on the media conglomerate's board of directors after 15 years …

Discussion: paidContent, FishbowlNY, Adweek, Forbes, TechCrunch, AllThingsD and Globe and Mail

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD: James Murdoch Turns Down $6 Million Bonus, Citing PhoneGate

Ben Popper / Betabeat:

Fashion Week Flameout: Why the Industry Is Erupting at Tumblr and Rich Tong — Earlier this year Tumblr was the toast of fashion week. The company's fashion director, Rich Tong, negotiated access for influential Tumblr users to cover swanky events. The bloggers, once the red headed step children …

Ben Popper / Betabeat:
The Legal Risks of Rich Tong's Tumblr Fashion Week Proposal

Discussion: The Corsair

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Oprah calls on tech bigs to save Web site — Oprah Winfrey is in need of an Internet intervention. — The talk show queen plans to huddle with top tech players next week to gin up some ideas for reviving her flagship site, Oprah.com, whose traffic has plummeted since her daytime talk show ended in May, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Gawker, The Business Insider, The Huffington Post, AllThingsD, VatorNews, The Next Web, The New York Observer and TVWeek.com

Ben Fritz / Company Town:

Netflix offered $300 million-plus, but Starz wanted higher consumer prices — Starz didn't just want Netflix to pay more money for its content. It wanted Netflix consumers to pay more too. — Netflix offered Starz more than $300 million per year to renew their agreement …

Shira Ovide / Deal Journal:
Netflix Stock Sinks as Starz Ends Deal Talks

Discussion: Starz Entertainment Media Room, Reuters, CNET News, The Wire, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, Variety, Between the Lines Blog, msnbc.com, Mashable!, ReadWriteWeb, SplatF, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @felixsalmon, @jtoeman and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

It's not just nice for media to be social — it's imperative — By now, plenty of people have written about the need for traditional media entities to embrace social media as a way to engage with their readers, or what journalism professor Jay Rosen has called “the people formerly known as the audience.”

Discussion: College Media Matters, Free Press and Future of Journalism, Thanks:ejbarbwilkinson

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Reporters Without Borders suspends WikiLeaks mirror site — Press freedom group temporarily suspends mirror site following WikiLeaks' publication of its entire cache of unredacted US embassy cables — Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has temporarily suspended …

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, Guardian, Between the Lines Blog and The First Post