Mediagazer: Jim Lehrer target of Twitter criticism while moderating his 12th presidential debate (Julie Moos/Poynter)

3:15 PM ET, October 4, 2012

Top News:

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Jim Lehrer target of Twitter criticism while moderating his 12th presidential debate — Heading into Wednesday night's debate, PBS Executive Editor Jim Lehrer was expected to moderate his 12th presidential debate with a firm hand. But that is not how debate watchers saw him:

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, Forbes, Gawker, Twitter Blog, FishbowlDC and O'Reilly Radar

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Not Waiting for Pundits' Take, Web Audience Scores the Candidates in an Instant — Presidential debates are customarily scored and picked apart the instant the moderator says “good night” at 10:30 p.m. But the Web is speeding up time. When the first of this season's debates started on Wednesday in Denver …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Politico, The Atlantic Wire, CNET, Media Decoder, The Caucus, ABCNEWS and GigaOM

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

Romney To Lehrer: ‘I Love Big Bird’ But I Would Cut Federal Subsidies For PBS — “I love Big Bird.” — That's how Mitt Romney couched the blow to PBS reporter and tonight's presidential debate moderator Jim Lehrer when the GOP candidate said that he would like to end federal subsidies to the Public Broadcasting Service.

Discussion: Splice Today, Broadcasting & Cable, Gawker, The Wrap, @sesamestreet, Capital New York, B&C, Forbes, The Next Web, The Daily Beast, Globe and Mail, PC Magazine, The Week, The New Yorker Blog, Guardian, TVNewser and Hillicon Valley

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

NBC Sued Over Trayvon Tape — Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman is suing NBC over the network's botched editing of his 911 tape, Page Six can exclusively reveal. We hear Zimmerman's attorneys are about to file a complaint against NBC and its top executives, naming news president Steve Capus …

Discussion: TVNewser, newsfeed.time.com, Mediaite, Poynter and The Daily Caller

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

George Zimmerman ‘Considering’ Suing NBC News Over Edited Trayvon Martin 911 Tape (Update) — Trayvon Martin's shooter, George Zimmerman, is “considering” suing NBC News over a misleading edit of Zimmerman's call to 911 before the shooting, his counsel said in a statement to TheWrap.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and mediabistro.com

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

B&N and Microsoft finalize partnership, creating Nook Media — Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have finalized the strategic partnership that they first announced in April. The new subsidiary, called Nook Media, comprises Barnes & Noble's Nook and college businesses.

Discussion: TechCrunch, ZDNet, PC Magazine, CNET and Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Jim Romenesko:

WSJ memo: We're creating a single newsroom that does away with duplication — I'm told that this note from Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson — sent out shortly after noon today — is being described in the newsroom as “the layoffs memo.” In it, Thomson writes: … THE MEMO:

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Google and publishers settle book scanning lawsuit — Google has reached a deal to end its long-running court fight with major publishings houses over the company's controversial decision to scan the world's library books. — In a joint statement released this morning …

Discussion: Google, TechCrunch, CNET, Softpedia News, Techdirt, GalleyCat, PC Magazine, AllThingsD and Mashable!

Jim Romenesko:

More than 50% of Times-Picayune subscribers say they'll buy Baton Rouge Advocate's New Orleans edition — A survey by the LSU Public Policy Research Lab found that 51.4% of current Times-Picayune subscribers plan to buy the Baton Rouge Advocate's New Orleans edition, and 28.2% …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Times-Picayune editors: ‘The transition has been difficult for us’

Discussion: businessreport.com and Updates

Erik Maza / WWD:

Deborah Needleman Settling In at T — DEBORAH'S TEAM: It's Deborah Needleman's first week at The New York Times. She's spent it partly in Paris, for the collections, and mostly avoiding questions about T. A spokeswoman for the Times said Tuesday, “It's her second day and she's focused on getting herself settled here.

Discussion: Fashionista

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:

The Rapturous Reception of Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan — One month into her tenure as ombudsman of the New York Times, former Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan has gained something of an Internet fan club. Whereas her predecessor Arthur “Truth Vigilante” Brisbane …

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

Kindle Paperwhite sold out until November — Amazon's new front-lit e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite (our review here), only started shipping on Monday to those who'd pre-ordered it, but it's already sold out. If you order a Kindle Paperwhite today, it won't ship for four to six weeks.

Discussion: Pocket-lint, Me and My Kindle, New York Times, Business Insider, AllThingsD and TechCrunch

Brent Lang / The Wrap:

Movie Buzz More Likely to Spread by Word-of-Mouth Than Social Networks — In an increasingly interconnected world, people still favor good old fashioned word-of-mouth to Twitter and Facebook to share their thoughts about upcoming movies, according to a new study on social media buzz by Ipsos MediaCT's Motion Picture Group.