Mediagazer: NPR Names Sesame Workshop's Gary Knell As New CEO/President (Mark Memmott/NPR)

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

Mark Memmott / NPR:

NPR Names Sesame Workshop's Gary Knell As New CEO/President — Gary Knell, president and CEO of Sesame Workshop - producers of the Sesame Street educational children's TV show — has been named the new CEO and president of NPR. The news was broken this hour on Weekend All Things Considered.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Deadline.com, The Wrap, AllThingsD, Associated Press and The Politico

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 »

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

He's Back: Bob Pittman Named CEO of Clear Channel — Longtime media and Internet exec Bob Pittman has been named CEO of radio broadcast and outdoor advertising giant Clear Channel, the company announced today. — Pittman — who has been chairman of Clear Channel's media and entertainment platforms …

Discussion: Forbes

Nick Greene / Runnin' Scared:

Why Did the New York Times Change Their Brooklyn Bridge Arrests Story? — The above photo of juxtaposed screenshots from the New York Times website has been making the rounds on Facebook, and it shows two very different takes for the same story on yesterday's Brooklyn Bridge arrests.

Discussion: New York Times, Gawker, City Room and Boing Boing

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 …

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.

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

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

Judith Miller / Fox News:

Jihad Is Not Just Murder, Motive Matters — The respected Florida-based Poynter Institute, whose mission is to improve journalism in support of democracy, is trying to help journalists cover Islam more effectively by offering a new on-line course free of charge. So I registered.

Discussion: Media Research Center and Fox News