Mediagazer: Allan Jefferys, broadcast legend and theater critic at ABC, dead at 88 (David Hinckley/NY Daily News)

7:30 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, Future of Journalism, @amadeus3000, @julianprucha 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.

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

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: paidContent, MediaPost and Forbes

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 »

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: NY Daily News, Inside TV, All, /Film, LAist, Washington Post and Forbes

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 and The Next Web

David Hinckley / NY Daily News:

Allan Jefferys, broadcast legend and theater critic at ABC, dead at 88 — Allan Jefferys, who dropped a planeload of paratroopers into Normandy on D-Day and later became the theater critic for Channel 7, died Thursday at his home in Pinehurst, S.C. He was 88.

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” …

Discussion: Press Gazette

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