Mediagazer: The Economist Mistakenly Gave Away Free Digital Subscriptions (Robert Andrews/paidContent)

7:20 PM ET, October 20, 2011

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Times Company Reports a Profit — The New York Times Company continued to attract paying subscribers to its flagship Web site in the third quarter, bolstering a new revenue stream that has helped offset a decline in advertising revenue. — The company, which reported its earnings …

Discussion: The New York Times Company, AllThingsD, American Journalism Review, Future of Journalism, Forbes, Mashable!, Adweek, FishbowlNY, Gannett Blog, The Huffington Post, Guardian, New York Magazine, paidContent, On Media's Blog and Noted

David Kaplan / paidContent:

NYTCo's Robinson: Paywall Hasn't Dented Pageviews—Much — The weak economy and the About Group's declines have eaten away at revenue gains that the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) won with last year's ad recovery. But CEO Janet Robinson said that there hasn't been much negative impact …

Discussion: CJR, Future of Journalism and Media & Entertainment

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

‘Leveson inquiry no threat to free press’ - PM — Prime minister tells Newspaper Society annual lunch that inquiry will not be used as revenge for the expenses saga — David Cameron has said that he does not want the newspaper industry to view the Leveson inquiry as a “hideous threat” …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Big News Network.com and Media Matters for America

Ben Smith / The Politico:

New York funds to vote against Murdochs, over Bloomberg objections — New York City's giant pension funds have voted to oppose the board of directors at a shareholders meeting of the troubled media giant News Corp. tomorrow, a move against a feared local media company that was opposed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Discussion: New York Magazine and Gawker

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks's payout - will News Corp investors be told about it?

Discussion: Company Town and Birmingham Mail

Bloomberg:
Rupert Murdoch's Critics Press for Changes They Can't Force at News Corp.

Discussion: Globe and Mail and FishbowlNY

Bob Andelman / Poynter:

AFP, AP transmit graphic photos of dead Gadhafi — Graphic images of a reportedly-dead Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are being transmitted by the AP, AFP and possibly other wire services. … The AP images come from video screengrabs provided by Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, says Paul Colford, director of media relations.

Discussion: TVNewser

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Moammar Gadhafi Killed, Injured or Captured: Broadcast and Cable Nets Scramble to Confirm and Cover — Update: CBS News has a great exclusive: video of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton learning of Gadhafi's alleged death via her Blackberry: — Update: A Libyan transitional government minister …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, CJR, Future of Journalism, Forbes, Poynter, FishbowlDC, Broadcasting & Cable, mediabistro.com and TVSpy

Julie Moos / Poynter:

NPR host will remain with ‘Opera’ show after becoming spokesperson for ‘Occupy DC’ — Lisa Simeone, host of “World of Opera” since 2002, does not understand why NPR is raising questions about her involvement with the Washington, D.C., arm of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. She tells the Sun's David Zurawik:

Discussion: Media Decoder, Erik Wemple, Baltimore Sun, The Huffington Post, Editors Weblog, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, War Is A Crime .org, New York Magazine, Big Journalism, Hot Air and Gawker

Neda Semnani / Roll Call:
Heard on the Hill: Breaking the Code of Ethics

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News, On Media's Blog, Time, The Daily Caller, The Awl, Adweek and DCist

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Times and Sunday Times cut 150 editorial posts — Casual staff worst hit by News International announcement, and compulsory redundancies not ruled out at the Times — The Times and Sunday Times are to cut at least 150 editorial posts, out of their combined full- and part-time workforce …

Discussion: Media Week, Globe and Mail and Journalism.co.uk

Mark Kleinman / Kleinman:

Exclusive: Kingdom Eyes Twitter Stake — The ultra-wealthy Saudi investor who owns stakes in Citigroup and News Corporation is examining a swoop on the internet industry that would involve acquiring hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of shares in Twitter, I have learned.

Discussion: Forbes, Future of Journalism, The Wall Blog and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

The Economist Mistakenly Gave Away Free Digital Subscriptions — The Economist will next week revoke premium digital subscriptions from some users after realising it had been accidentally servicing them for free. — “Unfortunately, we have been providing you with full digital access in error …

Discussion: Folio, Talking Biz News, Canadian Magazines and paidContent:UK

Deggans / St. Petersburg Times:

St. Petersburg Times reveals it has cut staff by 6 percent in recent weeks — Executives at the St. Petersburg Times have revealed the extent of the job reductions at the company, saying that the staff was reduced by about 6 percent in recent weeks. The bulk of reductions should be completed by now …

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

USA Today toys with a side business: selling commercial access to its data — One year ago, USA Today opened up its massive database of articles, reviews, census figures, and sports salaries to the public. The newspaper provided open and well-documented APIs to software developers …

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Two Daily Caller Reporters Fired, Managing Editor Quits, Employees Nervous — The last two weeks has put employees at The Daily Caller on edge. Two reporters were fired and the Managing Editor, Joe Kildea, has jumped ship. One reporter is gone because of a bad attitude; the other for being in a beat she wasn't qualified to cover.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, FishbowlLA and FishbowlNY

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Does Warner Bros. Really Have Exclusive Movie Rights to a Story Posted on Reddit? (Analysis) — Fledging author James Erwin sold Warner Bros. on movie rights to his short story posted on Reddit. But the user agreement for the news community website could raise some thorny intellectual property questions.

Discussion: GigaOM, SocialTimes.com, Techdirt, TeleRead and Techland

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:

‘n+1’ starts $2,000 Kickstarter campaign to publish an Occupy Wall Street magazine of its own; raises it in an hour — A note went out to n+1 subscribers asking them to donate to help the literary-minded journal to publish “a quick history, analysis, and documentation” of the Occupy Wall Street protests about 45 minutes ago.

Discussion: Forbes, Speakeasy, Splice Today, Gawker, The New Yorker Blog, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer, B&C, Media News, CJR and Future of Journalism

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

A Washington Post paywall? No time soon — Hurting financially but wary of acting precipitously, the Washington Post has planted a strategic stake in the ground when it comes to paywalls: Let the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, with their national distributions and elite readerships …

Discussion: Poynter and mediabistro.com

Curtis Brainard / CJR:

The Scientist Lives — LabX Media Group signs intent to purchase — A potential buyer has emerged to save The Scientist from early retirement. — A week after it was reported that the life-science magazine's twenty-fifth anniversary issue would be its last, LabX Media Group announced …

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Declining Ratings Could Put Judge Andrew Napolitano's Fox News Future In Jeopardy — Back in May, Judge Andrew Napolitano seemed almost a shoo-in to take over Fox News Channel's 5PM time, slot vacated by Glenn Beck. Beck himself stated, on air, that he'd like to hand over the reins …

Sean Connolly / Online News Association:

Herman, Keefe, Summers elected to 2012 Online News Association Board — Members of the Online News Association, the world's largest membership organization of digital journalists, elected three new members to its Board of Directors and reelected three incumbents to two-year terms.

Sarah Marshall / journalism.co.uk:

Guardian predicts 1m installs of Facebook app in first month — The Guardian expects this weekend will see the millionth person install its new Facebook app, exactly a month since it was launched. — The app, which allows Facebook users to see what their friends are reading after a single sign …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Yahoo's Jerry Yang: “We Want to Be the Premier Digital Media Company” — When Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang last appeared on the D stage back in 2008, the Internet giant was in tumult. Tapped as successor to former CEO Terry Semel and the man who would finally turn Yahoo's fundamental strengths …

Discussion: GigaOM, AllThingsD, CNET News and Business Insider

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Phone hacking victims get access to critical evidence — (REUTERS) - Like all good tabloid tales, the News of the World saga is a scandal that keeps on giving. — British investigators have spent months sharing thousands of pages of seized evidence with hundreds of suspected targets …

Erik Sass / MediaPost:

‘Popular Science’ Receives First ABC Consolidated Media Report — The Audit Bureau of Circulations has released its first Consolidated Media Report, a customizable report for U.S. and Canadian consumer magazines to present their total brand with a range of print, digital and mobile products.

Discussion: Folio