Mediagazer: Five stages of grief: A cautionary (and optimistic) tale for online community news startups (Michele McLellan/rjionline.org)

The Future of the Book — Writers, artists, and public intellectuals are nearing some sort of precipice: Their audiences increasingly expect digital content to be free. Jaron Lanier has written and spoken about this issue with great sagacity. You can purchase his book here …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Michele McLellan / rjionline.org:

Five stages of grief: A cautionary (and optimistic) tale for online community news startups — The emerging local news ecosystem looks as choatic as ever. But a few patterns are emerging in the way online community news start ups develop or stall out. Here's my latest attempt to make some sense of what I am seeing.

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Poynter

Business Insider:

Facing Low Bids For A Site That's Working, Hulu's Parents May Not Sell At All — Hulu's owners are reconsidering whether to sell the company at all because the bids are not coming in as high as they hoped. — Two sources say that Hulu is less likely to sell now given recent market developments.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Search Engine Watch, VentureBeat, Deadline.com and Electronista

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

Nikki Finke Exposed, Part 1: Desperate, and Out of Control — Here at WaxWord we've decided that it's time to expose Nikki Finke's backroom maneuvers. — Because she was beat Friday on a major insider story - that Michael Ovitz had failed in an attempt to take over IMG - she sent an email to Reuters …

Discussion: @rafat

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Alibaba's Jack Ma at Stanford: “We Are Very Interested” in Buying the “Whole” of Yahoo — In answer to a direct question about whether his company was going to buy Yahoo at a forum at Stanford University in Silicon Valley this afternoon, Alibaba Group Chairman and CEO Jack Ma said: “We are very interested.”

Discussion: CNET News, Softpedia News, Reuters, VentureBeat, Bits, TechCrunch, Future of Journalism and Business Insider

Michael Arrington / UNCRUNCHED:

Nick Bilton Turns Down $1.5 Million+ From CBS/CNET, Stays At NY Times — Nick Bilton, the NY Times lead technology writer, may be one of the most heavily recruited tech writers around. He was our number one most desired hire while I was at TechCrunch. And apparently at CNET, too.

more at Techmeme »

Leigh Gallagher / Fortune:

The fall of the house of Forbes — Welcome to the Weekly Read, our column that features Fortune staffers' and contributors' takes on recently published books about the business world and beyond. We've invited the entire Fortune family — from our writers and editors to our photo editors and designers …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Who'll Be NPR's Next CEO? — NEW YORK — It's been over six months since NPR's board of directors ousted CEO Vivian Schiller, following a hidden-camera scandal involving an NPR fundraising executive, and eight months since NPR's top news executive, Ellen Weiss, was shown the door in the wake of the Juan Williams firing.

Discussion: Chickaboomer

Tara Williams / Baristanet:

Online News Startup NJ Spotlight Wins Prestigious Online Journalism Award — The Online News Association (ONA), the world's largest organization of digital journalists, presented NJ Spotlight, the online news service launched in 2010 to spotlight public policy issues in New Jersey …

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Judith Miller: ‘Just what kind of journalism is Poynter promoting?’ — Fox Newser Judith Miller took Poynter's free online course titled “Covering Islam in America,” then graded it “mediocre.” She complains that “the implicit message” of the course is that the 3,000 9/11 deaths have been over-covered …

Discussion: Media Research Center and Fox News

Matth / Nielsen Wire:

Top US Web Brands — Google was the most visited website during August 2011 with 176 million unique U.S. visitors. The Top Sites among U.S. web users remained largely the same as the month before, with Amazon increasing its rank to become the 9th most visited site during August 2011.

Discussion: PC Magazine and Mashable!

The Wrap:

Michael Ovitz Fails in Takeover Bid at IMG, Board Moves to Oust Him — Follow @sharonwaxman Follow @BrentALang — With IMG Worldwide Chairman and CEO Ted Forstmann on his deathbed, board member Michael Ovitz has made a failed play to take over the giant sports talent agency, and it has backfired, TheWrap has learned.

Discussion: FishbowlLA

Daniel Bentley / Ink Think:

Big Media is at the mercy of the tech giants and it's their own fault … This is a question I have been asked to answer. Well, not answer, but at least research the issues enough to stimulate some debate. So over the course of a few blog posts I intend to share some of what I uncovered and solicit some feedback.