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

3:55 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: Future of Journalism, @julianprucha and @amadeus3000

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.

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

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

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

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: MediaPost, The Wrap and Forbes

Sam Harris:

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

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: @tcarmody

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, FishbowlLA and Boing Boing

Scott Timberg / Salon:

The creative class is a lie — The dream of a laptop-powered “knowledge class” is dead. The media is melting. Blame the economy — and the Web — Someday, there will be a snappy acronym for the period we're living though, but right now — three years after the crash of 2008 …

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Chris Blackhurst: 'It's relentless, but I'm having fun' — The Independent's new editor talks about his plans to give the paper more energy - and whether the title will back Labour or the Lib Dems ever again — Chris Blackhurst is quick to tell me that this is his “fourth incarnation at the Independent” …

CNN:

‘Grouch-in-chief’ Andy Rooney, 92, signs off from ‘60 Minutes’ — Andy Rooney's commentaries have been featured on “60 Minutes” since 1978. He joined CBS in 1949. — New York (CNN) — Legendary and curmudgeonly TV commentator Andy Rooney offered his final remarks Sunday on the news show …

Discussion: CBS News, TVNewser, EW.com and The TV Guy