Mediagazer: Exclusive: Barry Diller's IAC offers $300 million for About.com (Reuters)

9:45 AM ET, August 22, 2012

Top News:

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Tina Brown stands by Niall Ferguson — Newsweek editor Tina Brown is standing by Niall Ferguson following his controversial cover story about President Obama's handling of the economy, even as she said that she did not agree with many of the opinions he voiced in the article.

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Newsweek ditched its fact-checkers in 1996, then made a major error — “We, like other news organisations today, rely on our writers to submit factually accurate material,” Newsweek spokesman Andrew Kirk told Politico's Dylan Byers. — Byers had asked whether Newsweek has fact-checkers.

Discussion: bookforum.com, The Week, The Maddow Blog and PopWatch

Paul Krugman:
Kinds Of Wrong — Looking at the comments on my Niall Ferguson …

Discussion: CJR, SECONDED, The Atlantic Wire, @juliemmoos, FAIR Blog, The Huffington Post and Pressing Issues

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:
Is Tina Brown serious about Newsweek anymore?

Discussion: Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day, The Daily Beast, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Mediaite

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Newsweek: Niall Ferguson story ‘opinion’

Discussion: The Big Picture and The Huffington Post

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Niall Ferguson ducks, nitpicks, vilifies

Discussion: @evgenymorozov, @jonathanshainin, Bloomberg, Capital New York, The Daily Beast and CJR

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:
In Praise of Fact-Checkers — In the wake of Niall Ferguson's …

Discussion: GigaOM

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Niall Ferguson: ‘Credibility’ not undermined

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Daily Dish, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Guardian and The New Yorker Blog

Reuters:

Exclusive: Barry Diller's IAC offers $300 million for About.com — (Reuters) - Barry Diller's IAC/Interactivecorp submitted an offer in excess of $300 million to buy the About.com information website from the New York Times Co, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, NYConvergence.com, The New York Observer, The Wrap, AllThingsD, Media Decoder, CNET, Deadline.com, New York Magazine and Forbes

Guardian:

Syria: footage released of journalist Mika Yamamoto's final hours - video — Colleagues of Mika Yamamoto, Japan Press's war correspondent who was shot dead during a gun battle between Syrian forces and rebels in Aleppo on Monday, release footage of her final hours, including the last events she filmed.

The Daily Telegraph:

Husband of Japanese journalist killed in Syria speaks of attack — The husband and work partner of a Japanese journalist shot dead in Aleppo has described the gunfight between Syrian forces and rebels that led to his wife being shot. Kazutaka Sato said he was standing a little ahead …

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

‘Nightline’ gets stay of execution, but for how long? — ABC “Nightline” anchor Terry Moran. — ABC News executives are breathing a sigh of relief that “Nightline” wasn't canceled outright even though the network is moving Jimmy Kimmel into its time slot

Discussion: Poynter and Media Decoder

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:
Jimmy Kimmel to Move to 11:30 in January, ABC Announces

Discussion: TVNewser, The Week, USA Today, Splitsider, Tampa Bay Times, BuzzFeed, LA Observed, Speakeasy, Radio & Television …, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, ExtraTV.com, AdAge, Broadcasting & Cable, FishbowlNY and Poynter

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Media General President & CEO Morton to retire — Marshall N. Morton will step down as CEO of Media General at the end of 2012, the company announced Wednesday. George L. Mahoney will replace him. Mahoney, the company's release says, “has been responsible for Media General's digital media …

Rob Wong / Hulu Blog:

Launching a New Hulu: A Fresh Look for the Shows You Love — In 1992, the great comedian Phil Hartman threw on his Arkansas sweatshirt and walked into a McDonald's. He was on the set of “Saturday Night Live” and doing his best Bill Clinton impression, continuing the show's grand tradition of Presidential lampoons.

Discussion: Fast Company, 9to5Mac, GigaOM, The Verge, The Next Web and CNET

Hazel Sheffield / CJR:

Local news sites form new trade association — “We are the future” says LION chairman Dylan Smith — Next month, at the annual Block by Block conference for local news sites, around 100 independent publishers will celebrate the launch of a new nonprofit trade group that will offer support for the growing hyperlocal news industry.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and Street Fight

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

David Catanese, Politico Reporter, Apologizes For Todd Akin Tweets — NEW YORK — Politico reporter David Catanese apologized Tuesday night for tweeting in defense of Republican Rep. Todd Akin two days earlier, following the Missouri Congressman's controversial comment about “legitimate rape.”

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Conde Nast Booms Overseas But Future is Unclear — Luca Dini, the editor in chief of Italian Vanity Fair, faces difficulties his peers in the U.S. would welcome. The Milan-based magazine has grown so much since launching as a newsweekly nearly 10 years ago that it's hard to imagine it getting any fatter …

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

ABC News wants to talk to Tony Scott's family before deciding about retraction — ABC is waiting to hear back from Tony Scott's family or a family representative before determining whether its initial report about Scott was incorrect, a network spokesperson told Poynter.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Slate and The Daily Beast

Craig Silverman / Poynter:
After Tony Scott error, will news orgs now think twice about following ABC News scoops?

Discussion: ABCNEWS, newsfeed.time.com, Business Insider and Media Decoder

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Web TV needs to have captions starting next month, the FCC rules — TV networks and web video sites will have to start providing closed captions for any TV content available online by the end of September, the FCC ruled a few days ago (PDF of the ruling). The ruling reaffirmed the Twenty …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and SocialTimes

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Xbox Live Adds NBC News, Bringing Rachel Maddow, Hardball, And Meet The Press To The Game Console — Microsoft continues to add content partners for Xbox, pushing the game console into the center of the living room as more of a digital entertainment hub. The latest update, which goes live today …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, PC Magazine and WebProNews

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Huffington Post, Newsweek use coat-hanger imagery for GOP platform — On Tuesday the Republican Party approved a plank to its convention platform opposing abortion in all cases. — Newsweek acknowledged Huffington Post's homepage — “Whoa there, Huffington Post!” — on its Tumblr.

Discussion: Mashable!, Rob Delaney, CNN, Erik Wemple and Gawker