Mediagazer: News websites avoid August doldrums to reach record Web traffic (Jeff Sonderman/Poynter)

9:10 AM ET, September 6, 2012

Top News:

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Journal Register can't afford for legacy costs to derail Digital First progress — Journal Register filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday. Hey, aren't these the same folks who have been touting as breakthroughs each step along the way of their fast-track digital transition?

John Paton / Digital First:

Another Tough Step — Folks, Today Digital First Media announced Journal Register Company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will seek to implement a prompt sale. We expect the auction and sale process to take about 90 days, and I am pleased to tell you the Company has a signed stalking horse bid …

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Journal Register Co. declares bankruptcy...again: Is this the industry's first real reboot? — It was just three years ago that the Journal Register Co. filed for bankruptcy, its collection of small local newspapers hit hard by the economic crisis and the secular decline of the newspaper industry.

Discussion: Street Fight and Journal Register Company

Steve Buttry / The Buttry Diary: Financial maneuvers won't slow Digital First progress

Jim Romenesko: Journal Register files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

News International attempts to block phone-hacking damages case — News International is trying to have a phone-hacking damages case involving Elle Macpherson's former adviser thrown out of court, 18 months after her claim was launched. Mary-Ellen Field, who acted as the model's financial adviser …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Former Labour MP says News of the World contributed to loss of her baby — Former Labour MP Claire Ward has claimed the News of the World may have contributed to the loss of her baby because of the stress it caused after “threatening” to publish a story based on “entirely false allegations” about her.

Discussion: Press Gazette

Bloomberg: News Corp. Selects Board Member With Ties To Colombia Wiretaps

Mark Sweney / Guardian:
News Corp bonuses cut following phone-hacking scandal

Discussion: Capital New York, Media & Entertainment and @dansabbagh

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Tom Brokaw Rushed to Charlotte Hospital — NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw was taken by ambulance to a Charlotte hospital this morning after an appearance on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” — Brokaw, 72, who stepped down as anchor of “Nightly News” after the 2004 election …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

MSNBC President Phil Griffin On Convention Ratings Victory: ‘Nobody Thought We Could Do This’ — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — MSNBC president Phil Griffin is a happy man. On Wednesday afternoon, Griffin learned that MSNBC was the top-rated cable network for the opening night of the Democratic National Convention …

James Poniewozik / Time:
What We're Learning from the Convention Ratings (Or Lack Thereof)

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, The Huffington Post, Politico and TVNewser

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
A media lovefest in Charlotte

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite and New York Times

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Not Their Party: Fox News Eschews Convention Celebrations

Discussion: Poynter and Capital New York

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Beyond Borders: Kobo Moves On With New E-Readers And Indie Bookstores Pact — While Amazon dominates the market for e-books and e-readers, the 27% share held by Barnes & Noble shows there's no shortage of buyers out there who prefer to get their reading devices from a bricks-and-mortar storefront.

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

Does L.A. Times qualify as a charity case? — Of all the troubled news organizations in all the land, the Ford Foundation recently gave the Los Angeles Times $1 million to hire four reporters, even though the newspaper's parent company amassed nearly $2.4 billion in cash during its 3½-year bankruptcy.

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

News websites avoid August doldrums to reach record Web traffic — August is traditionally thought to be a slow news month, and overall Web traffic has sagged more than 14 percent in Augusts past. — But something about this past month (Olympics? The RNC?

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and Guardian

Erik Wemple:

Fact-checking: What exactly are we debating again? — First in an endless, tireless, exhaustive series of blog posts on the fact-checking industry. — Margaret Sullivan, the new public editor of the New York Times, showed a nose for news when she penned her introductory blog post.

Discussion: Poynter, Forbes and FishbowlNY

CNN:

CNN International's Response to the Guardian — Here is CNN International's response to Glenn Greenwald's Guardian story about Amber Lyon's documentary. 1. False: CNN International did not air “its own documentary”. The Truth: It was never intended to air on CNN International.

Discussion: @ggreenwald, Inside Cable News and Guardian

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:

The Economics of Magazines and Diversity — Last week, I went on a bit of bender asking (begging, pleading, rather) for people to subscribe to the magazine — either in print or via iPad. In making my argument, I pointed to the support The Atlantic has traditionally given its writers …

Discussion: Poynter

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Public cost of Leveson inquiry at £3.9m — Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press standards cost £3.9m of public money in the 11 months to 30 June. The four lawyers acting as counsel to the inquiry have taken home just over £1m. The highest-paid of these will have been lead counsel Robert Jay QC.

Discussion: The Journalism Foundation