Mediagazer: How Buzzfeed Won Over Madison Avenue (Josh Sternberg/Digiday)

6:05 AM ET, August 9, 2012

Top News:

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

News Corp writes $2.8 billion off its publishing activities — Suddenly, you can see why News Corp is eager to split its news, TV and movie businesses in two... Operating income in the group's existing “publishing” division - comprising Dow Jones, WSJ, The Daily, New York Post …

Discussion: Home Media Magazine

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

News Corp. Takes $2.8 Billion Charge — News Corp. missed its quarterly numbers today by reporting adjusted earnings of 32 cents a share on revenue of $8.4 billion; the Street was expecting 32 cents and $8.7 billion. — More interesting is the $2.8 billion “non-cash impairment charge” …

Discussion: Media Week, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Capital New York, The Wrap, Variety, Los Angeles Times, TheAustralian, Fox Business, Wall Street Journal, @edmundlee, CNBC, Forbes, Guardian, Broadcasting & Cable, TechCrunch, @davidfolkenflik and Media Money …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: In earnings call, News Corp. executive says they are ‘on course’ with breakup plan

Reuters: News Corp posts higher profit on cable, movies

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The New York Times Is About to Say Goodbye to About.com — The New York Times' time with About.com may be coming to an end. The paper has been looking to get rid of the struggling Web site, which produces high-volume, low-cost content, and has a deal in place to sell it to Answers.com.

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes: NY Times Co. Stock Trading Up On About.com Sale Report

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

How Buzzfeed Won Over Madison Avenue — For a site that's been around for six years, Buzzfeed's had quite a run recently, thanks to skyrocketing traffic growth, a knack for knowing that the world wants to watch a 31-year-old video of a man try to perform the uneven bars …

Victor Fiorillo / Philly Magazine:

$28 Million In Cuts Proposed at Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News — Today, the leadership of the Newspaper Guild, the union that represents many employees of the Inquirer, Daily News, and philly.com, sent the following email to its members, making it clear that recent slashes to personnel were just the beginning:

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Liz Cox Barrett / CJR:

NYT uses false balance while reporting on false balance — Wonder if the “news media critic in chief” spotted that? — From today's New York Times, we learn that “Obama Is An Avid Reader, and Critic, of the News,” as the headline on Amy Chozik's piece has it.

Amy Chozick / New York Times:
Obama Is an Avid Reader, and Critic, of the News

Discussion: Poynter, thenation.com/blogs/180, Media Decoder, NewsBusters.org blogs, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, Prof Chris Daly's Blog and The Raw Story

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Bloomberg News Doubles Staff For 2012 Political Conventions — NEW YORK — Al Hunt, Washington editor of Bloomberg News, said he still gets “excited” heading to the political conventions — even after covering 19 previous Republican and Democratic gatherings over the past 40 years.

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Al Gore to host conventions for CurrentTV

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jennifer H. Svan / Stars & Stripes:

Delayed Olympic coverage irks AFN viewers — KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Michael Phelps concluding his record-setting Olympic career and Usain Bolt blowing away the competition on the track are among the highlights so far of the 2012 Summer Olympics broadcast on AFN Europe.

Discussion: Deadspin

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Washington Post's TruthTeller project hopes to birth real-time fact-checking — Steven Ginsberg saw the future of fact-checking while listening to a politician tell lies in Iowa last summer. — “It was one of those small parking lot affairs outside a sports bar and the candidate …

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Wikipedia locks possible VPs' pages — Tech President's Micah Sifry, who introduced the idea that Wikipedia revisions could help predict Mitt Romney's selection of a running mate, reports that Wikipedia has put a lock on the pages of the leading veep candidates following a segment on the topic by Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert.

Discussion: Daily Mail, New York Magazine, The latest episodes …, Mediaite and Drudge Report

Aaron Mesh / Willamette Week:

Stop the Presses — The Oregonian may not be a daily newspaper much longer.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Poynter and The Newspaper Guild

Paula Froelich / The Daily Beast:

You're Worth How Much? — Cooper. Sawyer. Blitzer. They have multimillion-dollar contracts and perfect hair. But which newsmakers deliver the most bang for their boss's bucks? Paula Froelich does the math.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Austin Carr / Fast Company:

Rhapsody President: Spotify Hasn't Won — Last week, Spotify revealed that it had grown to 15 million active users of its ad-supported music service. That's great news for cofounder Daniel Ek, but for Spotify's competitors in the space? Not so much. — Rhapsody declined to provide …