Mediagazer: Viacom Ad Sales Decline the Most Since Early 2009 (Bloomberg)

10:35 AM ET, August 3, 2012

Top News:

Huffington makes her tablet magazine free, after five issues — When The Huffington Post launched its weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, a month and a half ago, executive editor Tim O'Brien explained why they had decided to make it a paid product at 99 cents an issue, $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year.

Discussion: Mashable, Garcia Media, Folio, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine and Canadian Magazines

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

HuffPo, The Daily and the flawed iPad content model — A little over a month ago, The Huffington Post launched an ambitious project with much fanfare: a weekly magazine app for the iPad called Huffington, which users could download for 99 cents an issue or $19.99 for a year's worth.

Discussion: Poynter, eMedia Vitals and Publishing Executive …, Thanks:@mathewi

Nadia Khan / Unity News:

Student journalist ejected from open NAHJ board meeting — The president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Michele Salcedo, refused to allow media coverage of its open board meeting Tuesday, July 31, 2012. Salcedo barred use of social media and video recording in the meeting …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Tanzina Vega / New York Times: Division Threatens Unity as Minority Journalists Meet

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

Rebekah Brooks Formally Charged — Rebekah Brooks was formally charged on Thursday with conspiring to hack into phones, including that of murdered teenager Milly Dowler. The former News of the World editor and News International chief appeared at a London police station Thursday night and was charged with three counts.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

BNO News:
Police statement: Rebekah Brooks charged by Operation Weeting

Discussion: Poynter, The Daily Beast, Guardian, Deadline.com, Hollywood Reporter, ABCNEWS, ITV, Politico and The Wrap

The New York Observer:

Changes at the New York Observer — The Observer Media Group announced today that editor-in-chief and editorial director Elizabeth Spiers is leaving her post at the end of August to launch a new company. — “I'm incredibly proud of what we've built to date and will miss the fun of putting …

Discussion: MediaPost, AdAge, The Wrap, Adweek, Capital New York, @reidpillifant, @pfro, @pkafka, Man About Town, Politico, FishbowlNY, WWD Media Headlines, Spiersblr, New York Magazine, @reidpillifant and Gawker

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York: ‘New York Observer’ heads of business and editorial are leaving

Bloomberg:

Viacom Ad Sales Decline the Most Since Early 2009 — New DirecTV Deal Will Help Revenue, But Ratings Problems Persist — Viacom, owner of the Paramount film studio and cable networks such as Nickelodeon and MTV, has reported quarterly profit that missed analysts' estimates …

Discussion: Media Decoder, The Wrap and Multichannel

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

Washington Post Co. second-quarter profit up 13.6 percent — The Washington Post Co. reported a 13.6 percent increase in second quarter profit, but net income from continuing operations fell 28.6 percent. — The company announced net income of $51.8 million, or $8.84 a share, up from $45.6 million, or $5.74 a share, a year earlier.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Business Wire and Bloomberg

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

Rick Gorka, Romney ‘Kiss My A—’ Spokesman, Taking A Break From Campaign — The Mitt Romney aide whose profane outburst at reporters became one of the lowlights of the Republican's overseas trip is taking a break from the campaign, ABC News reported Thursday.

Discussion: New York Magazine and ABCNEWS

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The Truth About Pay TV: It's Still Not Shrinking — Reuters says more than 400,000 Americans have dropped pay TV this year. So maybe cord-cutting is real, after all. — But if it is, the numbers don't show it. — It's easy to be confused about this stuff, but it's also easy to clear it up …

Discussion: Reuters, CNET, Forbes and paidContent

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Northcliffe Media abandons efforts to unmask spoof Twitter account — Newspaper group withdraws attempt to force Twitter to reveal identity of person behind @UnSteveDorkland after legal fight — Regional newspaper group Northcliffe Media has abandoned its bid to unmask a spoof Twitter account of its chief executive.

Discussion: Press Gazette, Digital Spy, Media News and Electronic Frontier Foundation

Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

15 Minutes of Meaning for Jonah Lehrer — What happens when you make humans into vessels for ideas. — Forgive me for being late to Jonah Lehrer's transgressions and resignation. It's a sad story. I did not know quite what to say. — I don't want to delve too deeply into the media scrum …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

NBC Says Live Online + Tape Delayed Olympics Are a Ginormous Success — OK, people who are furious about NBC's Olympics coverage. The network has thrown you a bone: On a press call today NBC sports head Mark Lazarus said the company is watching the criticism it's getting on Twitter and Facebook.