Mediagazer: Global Ad Spending Slowed in Second Quarter (Matthew Campbell/Bloomberg)

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: TeleRead and Future of Journalism

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.

Discussion: @robcurley, @sdkstl and Talking Biz News, more at Techmeme »

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

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

Matthew Campbell / Bloomberg:

Global Ad Spending Slowed in Second Quarter — Advertising spending declined in almost half of the world's most important media markets in the second quarter, deflating global growth, as economic concerns crimped sales, according to Nielsen Holdings NV. — Sixteen of 36 major markets …

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

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Adweek Struggles With Identity Crisis: Is Wolff In Or Out? — Less than a year since Michael Wolff took over as editorial director of Adweek, tension is rising over the course of the revamped magazine amid speculation over Wolff's own future with the company.

Henry Porter / Guardian:

Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography - review — For a book born amid such ill-feeling, Julian Assange's memoir is surprisingly revealing — Despite being rushed, unfinished and disowned by its subject - making it perhaps the first ever unauthorised autobiography …

Discussion: Spiked and Economist

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, Future of Journalism, TechCrunch and Business Insider

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