Mediagazer: Rockville Central Bids Farewell on Facebook (Sean Sedam/Rockville Patch)

9:30 AM ET, October 17, 2011

Top News:

Media Equation: Brian Williams Adds Newsmagazine to His Portfolio — There is something disconcerting about seeing Brian Williams sitting in front of the television. — At his apartment in New York last Thursday night, he fussed with the remote, scanned CNN and checked the local news …

Discussion: Chickaboomer

Jennifer Preston / Media Decoder:

A Print Focus on Social Media — Four new monthly magazines advising business owners on how to use social media tools will go on sale on Monday. Each publication focuses on one of the major platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn. — The magazines, published by GSG World Media …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

Digital Media Companies Inuvo And Vertro To Merge — Digital media companies Inuvo and NYC-based Vertro, both publicly listed, this morning announced a merger agreement whereby Inuvo will acquire Vertro and its ALOT branded consumer applications business in a tax-free exchange of shares …

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Republican Debates Are a Hot Ticket on TV — In September 2007, Fox News put Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani and a man who was, back then, a long shot for the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain, on a debate stage in New Hampshire.

Discussion: Washington Post, ABCNEWS and CNN

David Kaplan / paidContent:

NY Magazine's Focus On Daily Blogs Leads To Traffic Boost — New York magazine's website traffic has grown significantly in the past year by finding that the sum of the parts really are greater than the whole. — Instead of just repurposing articles from the weekly cultural magazine …

Ken Auletta / New Yorker:

Jill Abramson, New York Times first woman executive editor.

Discussion: Poynter, CBS News, The New York Observer, Ask the Author and WWD Media Headlines

Eric Pfanner / New York Times:

Court Orders French Cop-Watching Site Blocked — PARIS — A court here has ruled that French Internet service providers must block access to a Web site that shows pictures and videos of police officers arresting suspects, taunting protesters and allegedly committing acts of violence against members of ethnic minorities.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

USA Taps Yap.TV For New Social TV App — Today the USA television network has announced a partnership with Yap.TV to power its mobile social application. Yap.TV is one of the hottest social TV apps on the App Store, offering users the chance to chat up television shows in real time.

Discussion: Multichannel

Sean Sedam / Rockville Patch:

Rockville Central Bids Farewell on Facebook — Rockville Central, the news and community site that attracted a loyal following and stirred up the Web when it turned exclusively to Facebook in February, will cease publishing. — Editor Cindy Cotte Griffiths and founder and publisher Brad Rourke announced …

Bobbie Johnson / GigaOM:

IPads for €1: French students face tablet deal deluge — With the popularity of the iPad, operators in a few different countries have been experimenting with subsidized tablets as a way of hooking users in. Last year Japanese operator Softbank started offering the Apple tablet for free …

Gordon MacMillan / The Wall Blog:

News International ditches paywall idea for The Sun — by @gordonmacmillan, posted on 17 October, 2011 at 12:01 pm, filed under Media Owners, Paywall, paid content and tagged anti-social media, Paywall, The New York Times, The News of the World, The Sun, The Times. Bookmark the permalink.

Discussion: paidContent

Los Angeles Times:

McDonald's to launch in-store channel — Mark Burnett, BBC America and KABC-TV Eyewitness News will provide content for dine-in customers. — McDonald's customers will soon be able to have local school sports, movie previews and heartwarming human interest stories to go with their fries — McTV is here and in high definition.

MSNBC Today Books:

‘American Story with Bob Dotson’ to be a book — TODAY.com updated 10/7/2011 12:06:43 PM ET Print Font: NBC News correspondent Bob Dotson has won more than 100 awards spotlighting the extraordinary accomplishments of everyday Americans on TV. Now his long-running “American Story” feature …