Mediagazer: Freed Swedish journalists say faced mock execution in Ethiopia (Patrick Lannin/Reuters)

3:20 PM ET, September 14, 2012

Top News:

USA Today explains its ‘cool balls’ — Gannett chief marketing officer Maryam Banikarim sent a memo to employees this morning with USA Today artist/illustrator Sam Ward's explanation of his paper's new logo and “cool balls.” — He writes: — “Just what are our balls? Well, they are what we will make of them.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Garcia Media, New York Times, AdAge and Charles Apple

Julie Moos / Poynter:
USA Today's new design debuts in print today

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, Charles Apple, Gannett Blog, The New York Observer, @mattmansfield, USA Today, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Adweek

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Google's Islam-Baiting Video Censorship: A Well-Meaning Mistake — The line between responsibility and censorship can be hard to make out at times. Google just tripped over it. — The decision to block access on YouTube to an inflammatory movie trailer in countries where it has already …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

White House asked YouTube to review anti-Muslim film — The White House has asked YouTube to review an anti-Muslim film posted to the site that has been blamed for igniting the violent protests this week in the Middle East. — Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council …

Discussion: Mediaite, Mashable! and Los Angeles Times

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:

‘Village Voice’ editor Tony Ortega quits the paper; it's Maura Johnston's last day, too — Tony Ortega, editor of The Village Voice, just announced on the weekly's news blog Runnin' Scared that he's leaving the paper. — “Next week will be my last as editor of the Voice,” Ortega wrote.

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlNY, The Atlantic Wire, Gawker, Runnin' Scared, @weareyourfek, @weareyourfek, paidContent, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @michaelroston, @camilledodero, Media Decoder, @zinoman and @willsommer

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:
Runnin' Scared: Was Tony Ortega Pushed Out at the Village Voice?

Discussion: The Wrap and New York Magazine

Joseph Ax / Reuters:

Twitter surrenders Occupy protester's tweets — (Reuters) - Twitter handed over tweets from an Occupy Wall Street protester to a New York criminal judge on Friday after months of fighting a subpoena from prosecutors. — The company surrendered the micro-blogging posts …

Discussion: Forbes, PC Magazine, Engadget, Bloomberg, Hillicon Valley, Marketing Pilgrim, CNET and GigaOM

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

BuzzFeed Hires Web Video Pioneer Ze Frank — Here's a good chocolate/peanut butter combination: Buzzfeed, the click-factory that has figured out Facebook and Twitter, plus Ze Frank, the guy who figured out Web video back in its infancy. — Together they're going to try to figure out modern-day YouTube.

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:
BuzzFeed Makes Its First Acquisition To Tackle A Big Revenue Opportunity

Discussion: Fast Company, TechCrunch and Betabeat

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: Street Fight, NetNewsCheck Latest, The Huffington Post and Knight Digital Media Center

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Topless Kate photos: royals sue Closer — St James's Palace confirms Kate and William are launching proceedings against Silvio Berlusconi-owned magazine — The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have launched legal proceedings in France against the Silvio Berlusconi-owned celebrity magazine …

Discussion: Media Week and Media Law Prof Blog

Stuart Kemp / Hollywood Reporter:
Topless Pictures of Kate Middleton Published in French Magazine

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 …

Patrick Lannin / Reuters:

Freed Swedish journalists say faced mock execution in Ethiopia — (Reuters) - Two Swedish journalists pardoned by Ethiopia after spending 11 months in jail for aiding a rebel group said on Friday they had been subjected to a mock execution, and accused the country of using anti-terrorism laws to stifle journalism.

Discussion: Big News Network.com

Tim Carman / Washington Post:

Producer of ‘pink slime’ textured beef suing ABC and ABC News — Of all the media outlets that have taken shots at Beef Products and its “lean, finely textured beef,” the South Dakota-based company apparently feels slimed by only one: ABC and its ABC News division.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TVNewser, The Rural Blog and AdAge

Dean Starkman / CJR:

The hamster wheel vs. the quality imperative — The real problem with JRC/Advance free model and the unappreciated benefit of a paywall … The Journal Register Company has cast itself as an avatar of the future of news, making tough decisions now that other, less stout-hearted …

Discussion: It's All Journalism

Reuters:

NYTimes offers lump-sum pay or lower annuity option to ex-staff — (Reuters) - The New York Times Co said it informed some former employees that it will offer pensioners the option to receive a one-time lump sum payment or start a lower monthly annuity now, in a bid to reduce its pension liabilities.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Thomson IR, mediabistro.com, @edmundlee and @sdkstl

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Reader's Digest to Increase Publishing Frequency — Reader's Digest is upping its publishing frequency. Starting next year, there will be 12 issues of RD printed each year, up from 10 this year. Robert Guth, president and CEO of RDA, credited RD's growing digital business with the increase.

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 …

Discussion: Chicago Business