Mediagazer: NPR Appoints Executive from ‘Morning Edition’ to Oversee All News Coverage (Brian Stelter/Media Decoder)

11:35 AM ET, October 9, 2012

Top News:

At today's ‘New York Times’ staff walkout — Unionized New York Times staffers have been locked in a nasty contract battle with company management for the past 18 months now. — How much longer before the two sides reach an agreement? — “There's no reason it can't be settled by Friday …

Discussion: Media Decoder, The New York Observer and WWD Media Headlines

Jim Romenesko:

‘The anger is getting worse’ at New York Times — New York Times science correspondent Donald G. McNeil Jr. tells Romenesko readers that between 375 and 400 Times staffers participated in today's walkout. “Plus there were 23 out at the Washington bureau,” he writes.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Chickaboomer

Matt Wells / Guardian:

New York Times staff walk out in protest - and return 10 minutes later — About 375 workers walk out in dispute over pay - but only those staff whose schedule ‘permits 10- or 15-minute break’ — It was a very New York Times protest. Meticulously planned, well staffed, if somewhat meandering in the execution.

Discussion: Top Digital Journal News, Mediaite, Poynter, Gawker and The Raw Story

Jim Romenesko:
New York Times union memo: 'It's time to raise our voices'

Discussion: @nowthisnews, The Huffington Post, The Wrap, @rpogrebin, FishbowlNY, Gothamist, Capital New York, The New York Observer and New York Magazine

Ben Fritz / Los Angeles Times:

Variety bought by Deadline owner Penske Media, Third Point — The Hollywood trade paper Variety has been acquired by Penske Media Corp. and its financial backer, private equity firm Third Point, for about $25 million, in a power shift for the world of show business and a transformation of the industry's most famous news brand.

Discussion: Deadline.com, mediabistro.com, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @lucas_shaw, @pkafka, @kevgold, @alexweprin and @jbflint

Paul Bradshaw / Online Journalism Blog:

Stop attacking ‘web-first’ as if the world is going to stand still — This week feels very much like 2009. That year I published a post titled ‘How the web changed the economics of news’, a brief overview of some of the economic factors impacting on publishing which has recently experienced …

Discussion: @jeffjarvis, @jayrosen_nyu, @johncthompson and NetNewsCheck Latest

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Borrell predicts digital revenue will rise 30% next year at small, mid-size newspapers — Gordon Borrell, newspaper reporter turned digital advertising analyst, has been tough on his old profession through the years. After holding their own in the first wave of digital growth from 2002 to 2006 …

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

CNN's creation of film unit is step in right direction — CNN has acquired the documentary “Girl Rising.” (10x10) — At first glance, word that CNN plans to create a film unit to acquire and finance documentaries seems like more proof that the once-dominant cable news channel is struggling …

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:
CNN Announces CNN Films; First Documentary Features Streep, Hathaway (Video)

Discussion: bizjournals, Politico, Examiner, Broadcasting & Cable, CNN, TVNewser and New York Times

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

NPR Appoints Executive from ‘Morning Edition’ to Oversee All News Coverage — NPR on Tuesday promoted Madhulika Sikka, the executive producer of “Morning Edition” for the last six years, to a position overseeing all news coverage for the organization. — Ms. Sikka will be executive editor …

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Reader's Digest Is Alive And Growing In The Digital World — Hey, remember Reader's Digest? It's a magazine that I remember seeing on lots of shelves when I was growing up. Now Editor in Chief Liz Vaccariello tells me that the magazine has undergone a “digital transformation” …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

Fear of compulsory job losses at struggling Guardian group — The publisher of the Guardian and Observer newspapers looks set to make compulsory job cuts after too few staff came forward for its voluntary redundancy package. Guardian News & Media (GNM) has said it needs to cut up to 100 …

Discussion: Guardian

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Jimmy Savile: Lord Patten says behaviour can not be excused — The chairman of the BBC Trust said allegations of sexual abuse by Sir Jimmy Savile could not be excused as behaviour from a time when “attitudes were different”, and gave his backing to inquiries by police and the corporation.

Discussion: @lucymanning and @timescrime

Mark Oppenheimer:

Why a NYT journalist wrote a self-published e-book — This has been a big week. For the first time, I self-published. — Not just e-published, but self-published. The 12,000-word book I put up for sale on the web Wednesday — the first major profile of Dan Savage …

John Hudson / The Atlantic Wire:

ICE Says It Has Better Things to Do Than Go After Jose Antonio Vargas — In one of the clearest signs yet that Jose Antonio Vargas won't be deported from the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a statement on why it didn't take action against the journalist …

Discussion: Poynter and The Raw Story