Mediagazer: Three Founders Are Out At Demand Media (Ingrid Lunden/paidContent)

9:40 AM ET, January 31, 2012

Top News:

Anita Singh / Telegraph:

Jonathan Franzen: e-books are damaging society — Jonathan Franzen has launched a passionate defence of the printed book, warning that our desire for the instant gratification of e-books is damaging for society. — Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom, is being hailed as one of America's greatest novelists

Discussion: Techland, The Vook Blog, CNET, Guardian, Runnin' Scared, Slate, GalleyCat, The Daily Weekly, Jacket Copy and eBookNewser

Lance Ulanoff / Mashable!:
Jonathan Franzen Is Wrong: Ebooks Are Good for Everyone

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

BuzzFeed Bulks Up Again, With a Tech Section Run by Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan — Do we need more Web sites writing about tech? Yes, yes we do. — Which is good, because here's another one: BuzzFeed, the online publishing start-up that's the toast of people who like to write …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Ben Fenton / Financial Times:

New Sunday newspaper on hold after Sun arrests — Plans for a new Sunday newspaper to replace the News of the World have been put on hold after the arrest of four senior journalists from its sister paper, The Sun, according to three senior insiders. The plans, known as Project X …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk and Press Gazette

Nick Davies / Guardian:
Mysteries of Data Pool 3 give Rupert Murdoch a whole new headache

Discussion: CJR, Times of India and Business Insider

Business Wire:
Teri Everett to Exit as News Corporation's Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications

Discussion: Media Decoder, Bloomberg, @brianstelter, Variety, FishbowlNY, @michaelwolffnyc, Reuters and Hollywood Reporter

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Sun arrests show that News Corp is now at war with itself

Discussion: Guardian

Jonathan Browning / Bloomberg:

BSkyB to Start Movie Service Rivaling Netflix — British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY) will start an Internet-television service to gain new customers outside its traditional satellite offering after winning fewer TV clients in the second quarter than estimated.

more at Techmeme »

Robert Andrews / paidContent:
As Sky Growth Slows, Can Internet Defend It From Downturn And New Rivals?

Discussion: Pocket-lint, Hollywood Reporter and Softpedia News

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is it good for journalism when sources go direct? — In a piece in the New York Times on the weekend, media writer David Carr took a look at News Corp. billionaire Rupert Murdoch's use of Twitter, and how the media mogul has used it as both a bully pulpit and a soapbox.

Discussion: blogs.forbes.com/peterhimler, Mixed Media, Erik Wemple, Future of Journalism, The Verge, Media Decoder and New York Times, Thanks:@ak2webd3

Nikhil Pahwa / MediaNama:

Amazon To Launch In India As Junglee.com — MediaNama has learned from multiple, reliable sources that Amazon is launching in India as Junglee.com. At the time of writing this report, Junglee.com doesn't load, but sources in at least two Amazon partners have confirmed the development.

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

Three Founders Are Out At Demand Media — Demand Media is known for churning lots of content through its sites, but today it's notable for another churn, of the executive kind: three of the people who helped found and build up the company are leaving. — Larry Fitzgibbon, Joe Perez …

Discussion: AdExchanger.com, Fortune, Future of Journalism and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:UK:
All Change At Content Farm Demand Media: Three Of The Founders Are Out

Discussion: The Wrap

Sarah Maslin Nir / The Caucus:

Colbert's Super PAC Raises More Than $1 Million — Stephen Colbert's quasi-satirical presidential bid has raised serious cash — over $1 million, as of Tuesday morning, the comedian announced. — An announcement on the Web site of Mr. Colbert's political action committee said the “super PAC” …

Discussion: Media Decoder, The New York Observer, BuzzFeed and Guardian

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Former Cosmo editor gives $30 million to establish media innovation center at Stanford, Columbia — Stanford's engineering school and Columbia's journalism school will use the $30 million gift to establish the bi-coastal David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation.

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Google Set To Relaunch OnePass, Halting French Papers' Kiosk — paidContent understands Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is set to make some big first-anniversary upgrades to its OnePass paid content system in the next few weeks, designed to increase slow take-up among publishers.

John McQuaid / Forbes:

The Yale Rhodes Scholarship Quarterback Story Is Not About Sexual Assault — There's been a backlash against the New York Times story on Yale quarterback Patrick Witt (which I wrote about last week). Kathleen Parker denounced the Times, saying Witt has been unfairly indicted in the public eye …

Discussion: National Review

Kelly McBride / Poynter:
Yale Daily News, New York Times both make wrong call on Patrick Witt sexual assault complaint coverage

Discussion: Yale Daily News, National Review, NESN.com and SBNation.com

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Clear Channel to Invest in Company Run by TV's ‘Idol’ Host — Ryan Seacrest, who already is a host, producer and spokesman for Clear Channel, will soon be an investment partner as well. — On Tuesday, the radio conglomerate is expected to announce its acquisition of a minority stake …

Jim Romenesko:

Tribune bankruptcy bill hits $231 million — Tribune's financial results appear to be improving. The monthly operating report filed on Jan. 24 shows the Chicago-based company increased its cash balance to $2.05 billion as of Dec. 25 from $1.78 billion a year earlier.

Discussion: Chicago Business and LA Observed

Guardian:

Julian Assange to appear on The Simpsons — The WikiLeaks founder will play himself in the show's 500th episode, which airs on 19 February — Julian Assange will be a guest character and voice on The Simpsons, playing a neighbour of the family after they move from their home in fictional Springfield.

Michael Brendan Dougherty / Business Insider:

Drudge Fights Back Against The Charge He Is In Romney's Pocket — On the top right corner of the Drudge Report, the master of the news-cycle links to a story from Politico in which former Senator Fred Thompson alleges Drudge is in Romney's pocket. — And just below that link …

Discussion: WebProNews and FishbowlDC