Mediagazer: Backstory: the reporter who interviewed Akin (Mike Hoyt/CJR)

12:15 AM ET, August 27, 2012

Top News:

Dylan Byers / Politico:

NYT's Abramson rebuts Brisbane charge — The executive editor of the New York Times is disputing an accusation of liberal bias made by her very own public editor, Arthur Brisbane. — In his final column for the Times, Brisbane wrote that his fellow staffers “share a kind of political …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, @buzzfeedben, americanthinker.com and @jayrosen_nyu

Arthur S. Brisbane / New York Times:

Success and Risk as The Times Transforms — “WHY on earth would you want this job?” — Two years ago, I set out to answer this question in my inaugural public editor column — if only because so many people at The New York Times had asked it. Now, as I complete my term and hand the baton …

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, Media Myth Alert, The Huffington Post, NewsBusters.org, @jayrosen_nyu, @nycsouthpaw, @jeffjarvis, Mediaite, @moorehn, Politico and Pressing Issues

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Barry Diller Shows Up Late, Gets What He Wants: IAC to Buy About.com From New York Times for $300 Million — The New York Times, which was set to sell its About.com unit to Answers.com, now looks ready to sell it to Barry Diller instead. — People familiar with the transaction say the Times …

Discussion: Politico, Capital New York, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Media Decoder, FishbowlNY, paidContent, The New York Times Company, CNET and Mashable!

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

Reporters: Why are you in Tampa? — I challenge every journalist in Tampa for the Republican convention — every one of the 15-16,000 of you — to answer this: — * Why are you there? — * What will we learn from you? — * What actual reporting can you possibly do that delivers anything …

Discussion: @hernanri, @pkafka and @dangillmor

David Carr / New York Times:
Political Conventions Can Learn From Reality Shows

Discussion: Firedoglake

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Tampa prepares for 15,000 journalists covering the RNC

Discussion: The Wrap

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

No, metered-content walls won't save journalism — Paywalls of all kinds have been popping up at newspapers across North America like mushrooms after a rainstorm, thanks in large part to the adoption of a metered paywall at the New York Times last year. The latest to join the cavalcade …

The Independent:

Angry Murdoch used Harry photos to defy Leveson — An angry Rupert Murdoch ordered The Sun to publish pictures of a naked Prince Harry against the wishes of the Royal Family because he wanted to send a warning shot to Lord Justice Leveson, sources said yesterday.

Discussion: Reuters, Gawker, Guardian, Digital Spy, BBC and TMZ.com

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

CNN Looks for a Boost From HBO Shows — In a bit of corporate synergy, Time Warner is planning to dip into one of its strongest cable channels, HBO, to help revive the fortunes of one of its weakest, CNN. — As part of Time Warner's attempt to reinvigorate its 24-hour cable news channel …

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Two moves that tell you everything you need to know about Twitter's future — We've been writing a lot lately about the transformation that Twitter is going through — one that has seen it shift from being a kind of real-time information utility to being a global media entity …

Discussion: paidContent, MOTHERBOARD, Slate, Business Week and VentureBeat

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Book Reviewers for Hire Meet a Demand for Online Raves — TODD RUTHERFORD was 7 years old when he first understood the nature of supply and demand. He was with a bunch of other boys, one of whom showed off a copy of Playboy to giggles and intense interest.

Discussion: The Big Picture

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Coming in the side door: The value of homepages is shifting from traffic-driver to brand — Moving on from newspapers, journalism industry soothsayers are now predicting the decline of something much younger: the homepage. — As with newspapers — which haven't so much disappeared …

Mike Hoyt / CJR:

Backstory: the reporter who interviewed Akin — As transitions go, it was pretty jagged, a classic of the “moving right along” category. Answering a question about abortion in the case of rape, Todd Akin, the 65-year Missouri congressman and current candidate for the US Senate, says:

Discussion: New Yorker

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Photo Alert: Instagram Goes Mainstream as the AP Plans Convention Coverage via iPhones — The AP's staff photographers covering the upcoming political conventions in Tampa and Charlotte will not just be shooting for the wire service with their high-end DSLR cameras, they will shoot separate …