Mediagazer: AOL's Next Attempt At Social Networking Is Bebo-Meets-Patch (Zachary Lichaa/Business Insider)

2:25 PM ET, September 15, 2011

Top News:

Nick Davies, Ana Marie Cox join Guardian's new U.S. operation — Nick Davies, the reporter who's blown the lid off some of the biggest scoops of the U.K. phone-hacking scandal for the British newspaper, will join the American operation next spring. I first reported last month that he was considering making the move.

Discussion: The Wrap, FishbowlDC, On Media's Blog and Guardian

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Megan McCarthy Named Observer News Editor — Megan McCarthy has been named news editor of The New York Observer, editor Elizabeth Spiers announced today. — “Megan has a great eye for a story and I look forward to seeing her talents contribute to making an Observer that's faster and more agile,” Ms. Spiers said.

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlNY, @kevinmarks, @espiers, @megan, @megan and @mathewi

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

New Subscribe button lets journalists use Facebook like Twitter — Facebook announced a new feature today that competes directly with Twitter and will make it easier for journalists to use their personal profiles to share updates and links with the public. Facebook users can now visit …

Discussion: TechCrunch, eMedia Vitals, VentureBeat and Inside Facebook

Zach Rait / Facebook Blog:
Introducing the Subscribe Button

The Independent:

Johann Hari: A personal apology — I've written so many articles over the years laying bare and polemicising against the errors and idiocies of other people. This time, I am writing an article laying bare and polemicising against the errors and idiocies of myself. If you give it out, you have to take it.

Discussion: Mixed Media, Jon Slattery, The First Post, Guardian, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Journalism.co.uk, The Daily Dish, Reason and The Huffington Post

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

For morning TV's ‘bookers,’ a constant race to secure ratings-grabbing guests — A tornado tears across southwestern Missouri, visiting devastation on the small town of Joplin. The dramatic news breaks in network TV newsrooms in New York in the early evening hours of May 22. What next?

Discussion: TVNewser

New York Post:

Wolff tracks seen — Publisher Prometheus Global Media has started searching for a replacement for Adweek Editor Michael Wolff amid an internal back-and-forth over the direction of the company, The Post has learned. — Prometheus backer Jimmy Finkelstein, who hired Wolff to overhaul Adweek …

Discussion: Gawker and New York Magazine

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

What media companies can learn from Walmart — As reported in a number of places, Walmart has acquired OneRiot: a startup that originally tried to do social search before pivoting to focus on social advertising. OneRiot joins a unit called Walmart Labs, which the giant retailer created earlier …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, ClickZ, WebProNews, AdExchanger.com and VentureBeat, Thanks:terryflynn

Kristen Wyatt / Associated Press:

News executives say mobile delivery future of news — News executives opening the Associated Press Managing Editors meeting in Denver on Wednesday said mobile news delivery offers newspapers and other media companies a good opportunity to make money in the digital world.

Gregory Ferenstein / Fast Company:

Reading Rainbow: The Next Generation — The iconic brand returns—with a 21st-century upgrade for iPads. — LeVar Burton, a children's literacy advocate and a former star of Star Trek: The Next Generation, plans to make an ambitious comeback, giving the once-loved Reading Rainbow brand a 21st-century upgrade.

Discussion: App Advice, WebProNews, TUAW and The Loop

Ki Mae Heussner / Adweek:

Ad Buyers on AOL-Microsoft-Yahoo Deal: What's in It for Us? — Apparently applying the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” philosophy, AOL, Yahoo, and Microsoft are reportedly working on a deal to sell each other's online advertising inventory. But while the plan may help the three tech giants compete …

Discussion: AdAge, Guardian, Media Week and MediaPost

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Former ‘Newsweek’ Editor Meacham Joins ‘Time’, Officially — In April, Adweek reported that ex-Newsweek editor Jon Meacham switched teams and wrote his first cover story for Time magazine. Now, Meacham and Time have made their relationship official: He's joined the magazine as a contributing editor.

Discussion: Time

Zachary Lichaa / Business Insider:

AOL's Next Attempt At Social Networking Is Bebo-Meets-Patch — Is AOL about try social networking again? — Earlier this month AOL filed five applications with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) designed to enhance the company's online local and community based service offerings.

Discussion: What's Trending …

Max Blumenthal / CJR:

Conflict in Israel? — A problematic speaking deal at The New York Times — Running the Jerusalem bureau for The New York Times is a tough job in a hypersensitive area, one that attracts more than its share of slings and arrows. So maybe it is best not to hand out extra arrows, as Ethan Bronner seems to have done.

Discussion: jerusalemchai.org

Nikki Finke / Deadline.com:

BREAKING! Deadline's Parent Company Sues The Hollywood Reporter's Parent Company For Copyright Infringement — 2ND UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter has just removed from its website PMC's unique and original featured module comprised of source code that produced PMC-owned TVLine.com's distinctive homepage.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, New York Magazine, mediabistro.com, Company Town, Washington Post, Gawker, The Awl and Movieline

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Vanity Fair Nabs New York Design Director Chris Dixon — Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter has poached Chris Dixon, New York magazine's design director, according to an internal memo sent out today. — Longtime VF design director David Harris is reducing his role at the magazine.

Discussion: WWD, magCulture.com/blog and FishbowlNY

Steve Myers / Poynter:

When it comes to disclosing potential conflicts of interest, New York Times shouldn't throw stones at Arrington — The meta-media debate for the last few weeks has been about the conflict of interest inherent in Michael Arrington's proposal to run a new venture capital fund while writing …

Discussion: True Ventures, NetNewsCheck Latest and Boing Boing