Mediagazer: Amazon, Now a Book Lender (Wall Street Journal)

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

New round of belt-tightening at L.A. Times — According to a couple of independent newsroom sources, Los Angeles Times editor Russ Stanton called meetings on Wednesday to inform affected people that the design, news operations and web operations staffs would be combined into one department, along with at least some of the copy editors.

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

Despite Apple spat, Financial Times digital subscriptions see 30% growth in the last year — The Financial Times has had an interesting few months when it comes to its digital strategy, but it appears to be paying off as the business publication has announced 30% year-on-year growth …

Discussion: paidContent, Noted and Financial Times

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

Fifth of FT.com traffic coming from mobile devices — Overall digital subscriptions at the FT are up 30%, according to publisher Pearson, with 15% of new subscriptions for mobile devices — A fifth of the traffic to the FT's website is now coming from mobile devices, publisher Pearson announced today.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

FT Group revenue up 6% — Publisher Pearson also reports doubling of ebook sales at Penguin — Pearson has reported a 6% year-on-year revenue increase at FT Group, the division that publishes the Financial Times, announcing that ebook sales at Penguin have more than doubled in the first nine months.

Discussion: Press Gazette

Andrea Morabito / Broadcasting & Cable:

CNN Makes Morning Lineup Revamp Official — Soledad O'Brien returns to early hours with Ashleigh Banfield, Zoraida Sambolin — CNN has made the changes to its morning lineup official, announcing Thursday that Soledad O'Brien would return to hosting the network's mornings along …

Shannon High Jumps to CNN, Will Oversee New Morning Show — TVNewser has learned Shannon High is leaving NBC's Peacock Productions to join CNN where she will oversee the new four-hour morning show. An announcement on the hire, and the new show, could come as early as tomorrow.

Discussion: TVWeek.com, Inside Cable News and TVSpy

Wall Street Journal:

Amazon, Now a Book Lender — Kindle Owners Who Subscribe to Prime Service Will Be Able to Borrow E-Titles — As the e-reader and tablet wars heat up, Amazon.com Inc. is launching a digital-book lending library that will be available only to owners of its Kindle and Kindle Fire devices …

Discussion: Amazon.com, paidContent, Softpedia News, Wired Magazine, PC Magazine, Techland, GeekWire, Pocket-lint and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Discussion: The New York Observer, GalleyCat, TeleRead and eBookNewser

Brandon Griggs / CNN:

Steve Jobs biography is top-selling book in the U.S. — (CNN) — In its first week on sale, Walter Isaacson's biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs sold 379,000 copies in the U.S., making it by far the top-selling book in the country. — The book, titled simply “Steve Jobs,” …

Discussion: Speakeasy and Bookseller news

Alex Williams / New York Times:

Short Sainthood for Steve Jobs — THE glowing obituaries appeared moments after Steve Jobs's death was announced on Oct. 5. “Silicon Valley's radiant Sun King,” eulogized The San Jose Mercury News. His name was floated for Time magazine's Person of the Year, though the honor traditionally goes to the living.

Discussion: Poynter

D.M. Levine / Adweek:

Four Years In, Fox Business Network Still Treading Water — It was an abysmal month for Fox News' young sibling channel. Fox Business Network saw an average daily viewership of around 65,000 for October, according to Nielsen, which also happened to be the month of the network's four-year anniversary.

Discussion: TVNewser and Inside Cable News

A.J. Daulerio / Deadspin:

Why A Former ESPN VP Filed A Pre-Emptive Lawsuit Denying He Masturbated In Front Of Erin Andrews — Last month, ESPN announced it was eliminating its bi-coastal, 25-person Content Development department, which was responsible for the network's 30 for 30 series, among other things.

Colleen Taylor / GigaOM:

Twitter quietly debuts new ‘Top News’ and ‘Top People’ search features — Twitter's web interface got a couple of nice new additions Wednesday, seemingly aimed at making it easier to find relevant content when conducting a search within the site. — For some users, Twitter's website …

Discussion: WebProNews

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

‘X Factor’ Gets a 2nd Season on Fox — Fox's new singing competition, “The X Factor,” has won a second season. The network said Wednesday that it would bring the series back next year, potentially extending the scheduling pattern that features “X Factor” in the fall and “American Idol” in the spring.

Discussion: Guardian, Broadcasting & Cable and Rolling Stone

Julie Moos / Poynter:

ABC News previews exclusive Gabby Giffords, Mark Kelly appearance — When ABC airs its interview with Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, the country may well hear from the recovering Congresswoman for the first time since she was shot at an Arizona constituent event in January.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and ABCNEWS

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

News Corp.: Net Income Down On $91 Million In Hacking, BSkyB Charges — The aftershocks of the phone-hacking scandal that erupted at News International in the UK over the summer are still being felt by its parent News Corp.: the media giant posted a decline in net income for Q1 …

Discussion: Guardian, Press Gazette, Media Money …, Multichannel, Company Town, rbr.com, Adweek, MediaPost and Broadcasting & Cable

Discussion: Capital New York, Jon Slattery and The Huffington Post

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

Digital First — At CUNY's Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, we invited John Paton, CEO of Digital First Media, Journal Register, and Media News, and Justin Smith, CEO of Atlantic Media, to answer questions about how they are executing their digital first strategies.

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BT Vision is fastest-growing pay-TV service — Telecoms company adds more customers in a quarter than BSkyB for first time — BT Vision has become the fastest-growing pay-TV service in the UK, adding more customers in a quarter than BSkyB for the first time since launching more than four years ago.

Sarah Marshall / journalism.co.uk:

Journalists get a photo byline in Google News (but only those on Google+) — Google has started the roll out of a new feature giving journalists a photo byline for stories displayed on Google News. But there is a caveat - for the byline to be displayed journalists must have a Google+ account.

Discussion: Search Engine Land and Google News Blog

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Meghan McCain: MSNBC Contributor — It looks as though MSNBC has signed up a familiar new contributor. Via Johnny Dollar comes news that Meghan McCain, the daughter of Senator and former GOP Presidential candidate John McCain, has inked a deal with the network.

Discussion: The New York Observer, FishbowlDC and The Huffington Post

Alysia Santo / CJR:

Oakland Local Covers Occupy Oakland — Covering the national story in their backyard — When Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen was critically injured last week at Occupy Oakland, the eyes of the news media turned from Wall Street's encampment to Oakland's. A projectile used by police …

Discussion: Guardian

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Indestructible Chucky now No. 2 at Daily News — Arthur “Chucky” Browne moved back into the Daily News newsroom this week as the deputy editor. — Officially, that makes him the No. 2 man, behind just Editor-in-Chief Kevin Convey, the Boston Herald import who has been at the helm for just over a year now.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Pension plunderer Robert Maxwell remembered 20 years after his death — As soon as I entered the office of the Today newspaper on the afternoon of Tuesday 5 November 1991 I knew something had happened. — There was that unmistakeable newsroom hubbub that occurs only when a big story has just broken.

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

The One Question You Should Never Ask Chris Matthews — Chris Matthews reading a passage from his new book about John F. Kennedy — Be it known: Chris Matthews does not use a ghostwriter. The “Hardball” host does all his own writing, and he resents the idea that anyone would ever think otherwise.

Discussion: Poynter, Mediaite and TVNewser

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Will a name change help the St. Pete Times the way it did the South Florida Sun-Sentinel? — The St. Petersburg Times is trading in the name that bears its storied past for a new one targeting the future, Chairman and CEO Paul Tash said in an interview Tuesday.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, bizjournals and Garcia Media