Mediagazer: Does L.A. Times qualify as a charity case? (Alan D. Mutter/Reflections of a Newsosaur)

8:35 AM ET, September 6, 2012

Top News:

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 …

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?

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: 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

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 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.

James Poniewozik / Time:

What We're Learning from the Convention Ratings (Or Lack Thereof) — The ratings for the first night of the Democratic National Convention are in, and they're not tremendously more impressive than those for the first night of the RNC: about 22 million viewers in the 10 pm hour, compared with about 20.5 million.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post, Politico and TVNewser

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

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Poynter and Capital New York

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
A media lovefest in Charlotte

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite and New York Times

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

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Two from Murdoch's stable defect to the ‘Daily News’ — News Corp. just lost a little talent to one of its New York newspaper rivals. Two New York Post alumni are headed to the Daily News. One is Jon Blackwell, who is leaving his post as copy chief at News Corp's tablet title, The Daily …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Israeli judge to reporter - state security matters more than press freedom — An Israeli court has ruled that state security is more important than freedom of the press and the public's right to know. — A judge decided that national security trumped the rights of journalists because …

Discussion: @ojazeera

Emily Brennan / Guernica:

Reporting Poverty — hile covering poverty and social welfare for the Washington Post in 1993, Katherine Boo was commissioned to write a magazine profile of the new vice president, Al Gore. For most reporters, such an assignment would signal entry into the big leagues.

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: Guardian

Ryan Singel / Wired:

YouTube Flags Democrats' Convention Video on Copyright Grounds — While First Lady Michelle Obama's speech won rave reviews on Twitter Tuesday night, those who got inspired to try to watch the livestream of the convention on BarackObama.com or YouTube found the video flagged by copyright claims shortly after it finished.

Discussion: Hit & Run, GigaOM, WebProNews, Boing Boing, Techdirt and CNET

Jack Mirkinson / Huffington Post:

Journalists Confronted By Police While Covering DNC — Two journalists had a nasty run-in with Charlotte police during the run-up to the Democratic National Convention on Sunday. — In a post on Tuesday night, Kevin Gosztola, a journalist for the Firedoglake blog, wrote about the police intimidation …

Discussion: Firedoglake

Kevin Gosztola / Firedoglake:
Undercover Agent or Cop Threatens to Assault Journalist, Grabs Other Journalist with Credentials at DNC

Discussion: Pressing Issues

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