Mediagazer: Huffington Post Taps Rita Wilson (John Koblin/WWD)

9:10 AM ET, October 3, 2011

Top News:

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Murdoch's Tablet Newspaper Experiment Shows Some Promise — IPad-only Pub Has 120,000 Active Weekly Readers and Is Getting a Boost From Burgeoning Device Market, But Is Still a Long Way From Viable Biz — Can you build a general-news publication exclusively for tablets and gain an audience of paying subscribers?

Discussion: Guardian, @amadeus3000, @julianprucha, Future of Journalism and Business Insider

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Daily Claims 80,000 Paying Subscribers; Majority Opt For Annual Plan — News Corp has stopped stonewalling about The Daily's circulation following reports from Bloomberg that the tablet tabloid had 120,000 weekly uniques and from paidContent that nearly two-thirds of those were paying subs.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Mathew Ingram / @mathewi: .@katherinedanks: Murdoch spent over $30 million launching it and it costs $30 million a year to run — needs 500K paying to break even

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

ABC News and Yahoo News Announce Deal to Share Content — Yahoo News, which has more unique visitors than any other news Web site, is partnering with ABC News to share stories and feature Web video series. — The partnership, announced Monday on ABC's “Good Morning America,” …

Discussion: TVNewser, @brianstelter, Mediaite, The Wrap, @dirigoduke and @jcstearns

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

HuffPo at One Biiiilllliiion Monthly Page Views: More Buying, More Launching, More Hiring — The Huffington Post Media Group, which says it has topped one billion page views for the month of August, has bought an online grassroots platform called Localocracy.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Street Fight, Adweek, Future of Journalism and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

John Koblin / WWD:

Huffington Post Taps Rita Wilson — RITA WILSON'S NEW GIG: Big news: the Huffington Post is launching a new vertical today. In the last six months, this is only the 22nd time this has happened. — Technically, there will be three vertical launches. The latest additions …

Discussion: The New York Observer

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

NPR names Gary Knell, head of nonprofit behind ‘Sesame Street,’ as chief executive — NPR on Sunday named Gary Knell, who has headed the organization that produces “Sesame Street,” as its new chief executive and president. — Knell replaces Vivian Schiller, who left NPR in March …

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

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

Gary Knell / @nprgaryknell: I'm thrilled to join NPR. This is media with a deeply held mission, compelling history and boundless future.

Dave Itzkoff / ArtsBeat:

‘Arrested Development’ Movie, and New TV Episodes, Are in the Works — Captain Ahab had Moby-Dick; Linus van Pelt had the Great Pumpkin; and, in the five years since “Arrested Development” has gone off the air, fans of that underdog Fox comedy series have spent their lives pining …

Discussion: Deadline.com, Guardian, Speakeasy, NY Daily News, Inside TV, GigaOM, /Film, LAist, Washington Post, All and Forbes

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Kenneth Starr calls for cameras in the Supreme Court — The prosecutor known for introducing the world to Monica Lewinsky through his investigation of the Whitewater land deal is speaking out about cameras in the Supreme Court. In an editorial, former independent counsel Kenneth Starr (now president of Baylor University) writes:

Discussion: CNN and New York Times

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Dreaming at the Kindle Potential — With each introduction of a new reading device publishers around the world are overcome with the same recurring same fantasy: What if it worked, this time around? Could a reliable business model emerge for news publishing companies?

Discussion: Guardian and @tcarmody, more at Techmeme »

Brian Womack / Bloomberg:

Google Takes Page From Sunday Newspaper With New ‘Circulars’ Ads — Google Inc. (GOOG) is on a quest to make Internet advertising look more like the Sunday paper. — The online-search giant is working with advertisers such as Best Buy Co. and Macy's Inc. (M) to create Web-based circulars …

Discussion: The Official Google Blog, Fast Company, TechCrunch and Softpedia 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: paidContent, mediabistro.com, Los Angeles Times, MediaPost and Forbes

Joyce Chen / NY Daily News:

Anderson Cooper ‘distraught’ after teen falls into coma following instructions to film wild behavior — Anderson Cooper's three-week-old daytime talk show “Anderson” is already generating buzz - and this week's show snafu is one for the books. — A teenager who was meant to appear on the show …

Discussion: Chickaboomer