Mediagazer: Friendster founder launches social-news app, but will it fly? (Mathew Ingram/GigaOM)

8:35 AM ET, September 14, 2012

Top News:

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:

Romney's Team Turns On The Press — A frustrating week in Boston. “The polls are close, and so the media starts cheering on their guy,” says one adviser. — DULLES, Va. — As Mitt Romney finishes his second week of dismal news coverage — with slipping polls and a combustible international crisis driving …

Discussion: Capital New York, RedState, Forbes and The Daily Dish

Erik Wemple:
Fact-checkers say no to Romney ‘apology’ claims

Discussion: Mediaite, Mashable!, Associated Press, FactCheck.org and PolitiFact

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Obama-rooting reporters — In these days of media conspiracy …

Discussion: Examiner and Mediaite

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Wall Street Journal removes two Jonah Lehrer essays from archives — Jonah Lehrer “inappropriately reused passages from articles he wrote for the Boston Globe in two essays that he later wrote for the Journal's Review section,” The Wall Street Journal reported in a correction Thursday.

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘The Wall Street Journal’ pushes its glossy magazine to monthly (almost) — The Wall Street Journal's glossy luxury title, WSJ., may soon be losing its editor, Deborah Needleman, who—as we reported yesterday—has been offered a job editing rival magazine T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, FishbowlNY and WWD

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Time Inc.'s CEO Aims to Unify Print and Online Fiefdoms — Time Inc. Chief Executive Officer Laura Lang, hired last year to revive the struggling magazine publisher, is forging a plan to unify its long-sparring online and print fiefdoms. — Lang wants to give customers the ability …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Chicago Tribune combines local editions as Journatic suspension continues — The Chicago Tribune has cut the number of its local editions by “about half” since suspending work with journalism-outsourcing company Journatic, Lynne Marek reports. “For instance, coverage of Evanston formerly appeared …

Stuart Kemp / Hollywood Reporter:

Topless Pictures of Kate Middleton Published in French Magazine — UPDATED: The decision by “Closer” to publish the shots of the royal on vacation sparks a British media storm following the recent debate about naked Prince Harry photos. — LONDON - The decision by a French magazine …

Discussion: Gawker, Digital Spy, New Statesman, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Guardian, Mirror.co.uk, Mirror.co.uk, Sky News, BBC and Daily Mail

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Study: Smaller news websites depend more on social media for traffic than larger sites — In any local market, the dozens or hundreds of available news websites make up a news ecosystem. — In any real-life nature ecosystem — think of the food chain diagram you learned in 5th grade — the many species develop their own roles.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Knight Digital Media Center

John Koblin / Deadspin:

Bake-Off At Sports Illustrated! Jon Wertheim, Chris Stone Battle To Take Over Weekly Magazine — Who's in charge at Sports Illustrated? Earlier this summer, longtime editor Terry McDonell told his staff that he was dialing back on some of his responsibilities.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

‘USA Today’ Redesigns — USA Today is about to roll out the biggest redesign in its history, but is it too late? On the eve of the paper's 30th anniversary, John Hartman, author of The USA Today Way, said the paper is showing “all the makings of a death spiral” and predicted that it would shut down within three years.

Jim Romenesko:

Survey: U.S. publishers optimistic about future of newspapers — A survey by Missouri School of Journalism's Reynolds Journalism Institute finds that most publishers of U.S. dailies remain optimistic about the future of newspapers: 40% are “somewhat optimistic,” 25% are “very optimistic,” 4% are “not optimistic,” and 31% are neutral.

Discussion: CJR

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Friendster founder launches social-news app, but will it fly? — Even if he never achieves anything world-changing again — which he is certainly hoping to do — Jonathan Abrams will always be remembered as the guy who founded Friendster, the very first web-based “social network.”

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and TechCrunch

Pamela Erens / Los Angeles Review of Books:

Is The Atlantic Making Us Stupid? — JAMES BENNET WANTS US to have a conversation. The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, who took the helm in 2006, has overseen a remarkable rise in the magazine's fortunes and profile. He has turned The Atlantic from a money bleeder into a moneymaker …

Brooks Barnes / Media Decoder:

Disney Unexpectedly Reveals Movie Write-Down and Sluggish Ad Revenue — James A. Rasulo, Disney's chief financial officer, unexpectedly revealed two important tidbits at a gathering of Wall Street analysts on Thursday: The company will take a $50 million write-down at its movie studio …

Discussion: The Wrap, Cable Television News, Reuters, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal