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

2:45 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: Charles Apple, Tampa Bay Times, The New York Observer, Gannett Blog, @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

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

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, New York Magazine, Gawker, The Atlantic Wire, paidContent, Runnin' Scared, @weareyourfek, @weareyourfek, @michaelroston, @camilledodero, JIMROMENESKO.COM, 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 FishbowlNY

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, Bloomberg, Engadget, Hillicon Valley, Marketing Pilgrim, CNET and GigaOM

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: NetNewsCheck Latest, Street Fight, 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 …

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

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Glamour’ editor Emma Rosenblum moves to ‘Businessweek’ — Bloomberg Businessweek has a new editor for the features section at the back of the magazine. — Emma Rosenblum, an editor at Glamour, will oversee the closing section, called “Etc.,” which blends eccentric features about business trends …

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