Mediagazer: The Long-Form Renaissance (Jon Whiten/AAN)

11:25 AM ET, September 28, 2011

Top News:

Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet — Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the world's largest online retailer, unveiled its Kindle Fire tablet computer, taking aim at Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s bestselling iPad with a device that's smaller and less than half the price. — The Kindle Fire will have a 7-inch display …

Chris Velazco / TechCrunch:
Amazon Unveils New $79 E-Ink Kindle, $99 Kindle Touch

Discussion: VentureBeat, Engadget, This is my next and gdgt, more at Techmeme »

Ryan Block / gdgt:
Oh, one more thing about the Amazon tablet: the second, better version is coming very soon

Julia Angwin / Digits:

Wall Street Journal Revises Its Privacy Policy — The Wall Street Journal revised its website privacy policy on Tuesday to allow the site to connect personally identifiable information with Web browsing data without user consent. — Previously, the Journal's privacy policy stated that it would obtain …

Discussion: New York Magazine, The New York Observer, Felix and Lauren Weinstein

Dan Gillmor / Google+:

What a crappy and hypocritical move by the Wall Street Journal, which has been running an overwrought but still useful series of articles in recent months re online privacy. The WSJ is changing its own privacy policy in a way that mocks everything it's been complaining about — giving itself the right …

Discussion: Poynter

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:

Media coverage of Wall Street protest ramps up following cop clash — Major media outlets—Yahoo included—have drawn criticism for their collective lack of coverage of the ongoing, youth-led protests near Wall Street. But it appears that tide is changing.

Jerry Barmash / FishbowlNY:

WNET/MetroFocus Reporter Calls Arrest at Occupy Wall Street Protest ‘Pretty Terrifying’ — A young reporter got caught in the crosshairs of a chaotic scene in Lower Manhattan. John Farley (left) of WNET's new online local news magazine, MetroFocus was at the Occupy Wall Street protests on September 24th.

Discussion: Poynter, Future of Journalism and New York Times

Adrianne Jeffries / The New York Observer:

Overnight at Occupy Wall Street — BY MONDAY NIGHT, the 10th day of the Occupy Wall Street protest, the miniature colony at Liberty Park Plaza was rather sophisticated. The “media tent,” which on Saturday had consisted of a MacBook and an umbrella, now looked like an amateur version of the CNN newsroom.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, MetroFocus, BAGnewsNotes, Associated Press, Gawker and Media Matters for America

Media Decoder:

James Rubin Abruptly Departs Bloomberg — 5:03 p.m. | Updated James P. Rubin, a former assistant secretary of state hired by Bloomberg News just 10 months ago to help lead its new opinion-writing section, has left his job after a rocky start. — His departure came as a surprise …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, New York Magazine, Poynter, The Huffington Post, On Media's Blog, Business Insider and Talking Biz News

Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:

In switch, cable operators want to go “a la carte” — * Programmers will resist attempts to unbundle programs — * Sports rights and retransmission fees are biggest costs — U.S. cable operators are privately working on a plan to force programmers to unbundle their networks and allow customers …

Discussion: Electronista, Free Press, App Advice, GigaOM, Gizmodo and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Hearst Passes 300,000 Monthly Digital Subscribers, Takes a Bow — Hearst, which is about to sell its digital magazines via Amazon's new tablet, wants the world to know it's selling its digital magazines on plenty of other gadgets, too: The publisher says it is now racking up more than 300,000 paid digital downloads per month.

Discussion: Poynter, eMedia Vitals, NetNewsCheck Latest, paidContent, AppleInsider, WWD Media Headlines, Medacity, Electronista, CNET News, Editors Weblog, PC Magazine and Softpedia News

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Time Warner Cable Said to Be Close to Offering HBO Go to Subscribers — Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) is close to offering the HBO Go application to its 12.2 million video subscribers, enabling them to watch shows including “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on mobile devices …

Discussion: Deadline.com

Dave Itzkoff / ArtsBeat:

Questions Raised About Dylan Show at Gagosian — Michael Kennedy Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery — Bob Dylan in his studio in the late 1980s. — The freewheeling artistic style of Bob Dylan, who has drawn on a variety of sources in creating his music and has previously raised questions …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Guardian, New York Magazine and The New York Observer

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Sports Illustrated Gets Roles for Swimsuit Models in EA's New ‘Need for Speed’ — Offers Subscription Plus Full Game for Less Than the Game's Retail Cost — Sports Illustrated is trying to find new readers by integrating a pair of its Swimsuit models, as well as billboards promoting the magazine …

Discussion: New York Post

Christina Warren / Mashable!:
Sports Illustrated Puts Football Rivals on the iPhone and iPad

Discussion: mediabistro.com, App Advice and eMedia Vitals

Bloomberg:

News Corp. Marketer Used Movie Lessons to Instill Fear in Rivals, Clients — A News Corp. unit that used lessons gleaned from gangster films to motivate employees and crush rivals is the latest arm of Rupert Murdoch's media empire to be swept up in a probe that began with hacking and bribery allegations.

Discussion: Business Insider and Mogulite

David Folkenflik / NPR:
News Corp.'s U.K. Actions Under Scrutiny In U.S.

Discussion: Capital New York and Poynter

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
James Murdoch's press adviser resigns

Discussion: paidContent:UK, Guardian, MediaFile, Financial Times, Erik Wemple, Adweek, New York Magazine and Guardian

Jon Whiten / AAN:

The Long-Form Renaissance — Over the past year or so, a number of high-profile and prominent journalists and technologists have launched new apps, sites and other ventures dedicated to cultivating lengthy works of journalism. These projects — like The Atavist, Byliner, Longform.org …

Discussion: Poynter

Ben Popper / Betabeat:

How Newsweek's Most Notorious Fellow Got Caught Conning Silicon Alley — Jerry Guo considers himself a modern nomad. The 24-year-old Chinese-American stays in a different apartment each month, couch surfing or subletting, whatever works best. “Moving around makes it easier to find cool new venues,” Mr. Guo explained.

Discussion: Poynter and Gawker

Gail Shister / TVNewser:

Andy Rooney To End Regular ‘60 Minutes’ Appearances — First on TVNewser: Andy Rooney's “60 Minutes” commentary on Sunday is expected to be his last regular appearance, TVNewser has learned. — Rooney, who began his whimsical end-of-show pieces in 1978, was MIA from last week's 44th-season premiere.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, Wall Street Journal, GalleyCat, Media Decoder, Broadcasting & Cable, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Speakeasy, On Media's Blog, New York Magazine, Gawker and CBS News

Alison Flood / Guardian:

Julian Assange memoir sells just 644 copies — Huge publicity last week managed to generate only very modest sales for his ‘Unauthorised Autobiography’ — Despite acres of publicity and buckets of scandal, Julian Assange's unauthorised autobiography sold just 644 copies last week.

Discussion: Bookseller news, ITProPortal and Gawker