Mediagazer: The Drudge hype falls flat (Dylan Byers/Politico)

3:25 PM ET, October 3, 2012

Top News:

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Financial Times sale could raise £1bn — Pearson could offload the Financial Times for as much as £1bn in a “trophy hunt” by potential buyers, after the head of the company's education division was announced as the new chief executive, replacing Dame Marjorie Scardino.

Discussion: @hblodget and @emilybell

Guardian:

Pearson chief executive Marjorie Scardino to step down — Dame Marjorie Scardino, one of the UK's highest-profile female corporate leaders, is to step down as chief executive of Financial Times and Penguin owner Pearson at the end of 2012, and will be replaced by the head of its international education division, John Fallon.

Discussion: paidContent, AdAge and Media Week

Kate Holton / Reuters:

Pearson CEO Scardino's departure could lead to FT sale — LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino will step down after 16 years, potentially clearing the way for her successor at the global educational and media group to sell the Financial Times newspaper.

Discussion: @eileentso

Caitlin Johnston / Poynter:

What BuzzFeed's evolution says about the future of longform journalism — It's not often that a job posting creates such a tizzy. But BuzzFeed's search for a longform editor signifies more than just a new hire. — The announcement, which spawned headlines such as “BuzzFeed (yes, BuzzFeed) …

Discussion: Techdirt

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Google rebooting content micropayments initiative under Wallet — After retiring its experimental OnePass news payments system this spring, Google is now going ahead with a fuller version of its content micropayments platform under the Google Wallet moniker.

Dylan Byers / Politico:

The Drudge hype falls flat — DENVER, Colo. — One night before the first presidential debate, conservatives Matt Drudge, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson hyped footage of a five-year-old speech by then-Sen. Barack Obama, widely covered at the time, in which the presidential candidate suggested …

Discussion: Guardian, Politico, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, @mlcalderone, Politicker, Election 2012 and Business Insider

Joe Eskenazi / SFWeekly:

Top 5 Ways Bleacher Report Rules the World! — LAST YEAR, sportswriter King Kaufman stepped up to the lectern at a symposium held on the Google campus. In a 14-year haul at Salon.com, Kaufman earned a reputation as one of the best and most cerebral sports journalists on the Internet.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Deadspin

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Former BBC Radio 1 boss ‘knew about Jimmy Savile sex abuse claims in 1970s’ — The former head of Radio 1 knew in the early 1970s about accusations of sexual abuse involving Sir Jimmy Savile, an ex-press officer for the station has claimed. Rodney Collins said on Wednesday that an ex-Radio 1 controller …

Discussion: PressGazette, Telegraph, Digital Spy, BBC and BBC

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Fact-checking will play prominent role in tonight's debate — Along with many other news organizations, The New York Times is marshaling a small army of red pencilers for Wednesday night's debate. Public Editor Margaret Sullivan writes about the preparations:

Discussion: mediabistro.com, The Public Editor's Journal, CJR, Washington Post, The Hill and Free Press

Associated Press:

Israel's Haaretz Newspaper Strikes Over Layoffs — JERUSALEM (AP) — Workers at Israel's respected Haaretz newspaper have begun a strike to protest layoffs. The workers said Wednesday that they would not update the Haaretz website until midnight and will not publish the next day's paper.

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch faces shareholder revolt at News Corp annual meeting — Shareholders have stepped up their campaign to remove Rupert Murdoch as chairman of News Corporation ahead of the media company's annual meeting this month. Hermes, a British fund manager that controls £24.8bn assets …

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

TV studios too strong for Apple disruption — Syndication biz projected to reach $20 billion — The economics of Hollywood's TV studios have been strengthened so much by new windows that even Apple won't be able to disrupt their business, according to a new research report.