Mediagazer: BBC under pressure to say when DG knew about Jimmy Savile investigation (Josh Halliday/Guardian)

2:40 PM ET, October 12, 2012

Top News:

BBC:

Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite sales make Amazon no profit — Amazon boss Jeff Bezos discusses the Kindle Fire HD — Amazon has confirmed it will not make a profit from sales of its latest Kindle tablet and e-reader devices. — “We sell the hardware at our cost, so it is break-even on the hardware …

Discussion: AllThingsD, bizjournals, ZDNet, Bigmouthmedia Search …, CNET, Forbes, Telegraph, Mashable!, Pocket-lint, Engadget, PublishersWeekly.com, Bookseller news, Fast Company and BBC

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

In self-publishing push, Amazon expands Kindle Owners' Lending Library to Europe — Amazon is expanding the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which allows Prime members who own a Kindle device to borrow one ebook a month for free, to the United Kingdom, Germany and France later this month.

Discussion: Telegraph, CNET, Softpedia News and Engadget

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

A Web survey isn't a poll, CNBC — The network's tweet creates a misleading media narrative on the veep debate — Whoever was running the CNBC Twitter feed last night didn't know the difference between a scientific poll and a Web poll: … As I'm writing this, that misinformation has been retweeted 4,838 times, favorited 405.

Discussion: Mediaite, Forbes, The Daily Beast, CNBC, Washington Examiner and Guardian

Steve Buttry / The Buttry Diary:

Facebook news-feed changes mean newsrooms need new engagement strategies — Changes to the algorithm guiding the Facebook news feed make it more important than ever that newsrooms and journalists engage effectively on Facebook. — We don't fully know how the changes work or what we should do about the them.

Discussion: GigaOM

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

BookShout pulls users' Kindle, Nook books onto other platforms — BookShout, which is backed by book distribution company Ingram Content Group's CEO John R. Ingram and has gone through a number of iterations since its founding in 2010, is doing something that may make Amazon and Barnes & Noble mad …

Discussion: Forbes

Guardian:

Guardian chief outlines digital future — The chief executive of the Guardian Media Group, Andrew Miller, has outlined how his company must change to be sustainable — Print still accounts for 70% of the Guardian's revenues, according to its chief executive.

Discussion: paidContent

Felix Salmon:

Why Margaret Sullivan is right to be wrong — I was one of the “oxpeckers” quoted by Joe Coscarelli giving the new NYT public editor, Margaret Sullivan, a “rapturous reception” — not on the grounds that she was particularly spot-on in her judgments, but rather on the grounds …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
The one person ‘Times’ public editor didn't call about Andrew Goldman controversy: Andrew Goldman

Discussion: Poynter, The Frisky, The Atlantic Wire, Gawker, The New York Observer, Jezebel, Capital New York, Poynter and FishbowlNY

Niamh Ring / Bloomberg:

New York Times Gains on Stock Upgrade, Digital Progress — New York Times Co. (NYT), the newspaper publishing company, rose the most in two months after Barclays Plc upgraded the stock, citing increasing revenue from its digital paywall and a better cash position.

Discussion: Capital New York, paidContent and AllThingsD

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Times and Sunday Times make U-turn over bulk copies — Papers break ranks with industry by selling copies to partners such as airlines for a nominal sum that are then given away free — The Times and Sunday Times have boosted officially audited sales figures for September by distributing …

Discussion: Media Week and Media Week

New York Times:

Romney's Pledge Puts Focus on Public TV — It has been a strange week for public television executives. Meetings have been postponed. Trips have been canceled. And conversations have turned in urgency to, of all things, Big Bird. — The turn of events can be traced to Mitt Romney's pledge …

Discussion: Media Decoder and Mediaite

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

BBC under pressure to say when DG knew about Jimmy Savile investigation — George Entwistle asked by MP if he knew about Newsnight investigation before BBC1 broadcast tributes to presenter — The BBC is under mounting pressure to explain when the director general, George Entwistle …

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog

Alexander C. Kaufman / The Wrap:

Chicago Tribune Launches Ebook Initiative - but L.A. Times Opts Out — Tribune Company has kicked off an ebook initiative in partnership with Agate Publishing, collecting stories and photos from the Chicago Tribune and two other newspapers and selling them as digital long-form features.

Discussion: Digital Book World and MediaPost