Mediagazer: Amazon Struggles to Crack Publishing (Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg/Wall Street …)

9:45 AM ET, October 18, 2012

Top News:

A Turn of the Page for Newsweek — After 80 years in print, the newsmagazine adopts an all-digital format. — We are announcing this morning an important development at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013.

Associated Press:

Newsweek ending print edition, job cuts expected — NEW YORK (AP) — Newsweek plans to end its print publication after 80 years and will shift to an online-only format starting in early 2013. Job cuts are expected. — Newsweek's last U.S. print edition will be its Dec. 31 issue.

Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers:

From Tina: “There will be an all-staff town hall meeting at 11am on the editorial side..to answer your questions and address your concerns.”

Alistair Barr / Reuters:

Amazon makes big Kindle push in U.S. schools — (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc announced an initiative on Wednesday to get its Kindle e-readers and tablet computers into schools, entering a market that has been particularly successful for rival Apple Inc and its iPad device.

Discussion: Fast Company, Amazon.com, 9to5Mac, PublishersWeekly.com, WebProNews and Mercury News

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon Struggles to Crack Publishing — Amazon.com Inc. has had lots of success in book retailing. But cracking the publishing business hasn't been as easy. — Take one of Amazon's biggest titles for fall, actress and director Penny Marshall's memoir “My Mother Was Nuts.”

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

comScore: Amazon Kindle Fire users read more newspapers and magazines than Apple iPad users — Between June and August 2012, 37.1 percent of tablet owners read a newspaper on their device at least once a month, while 11.5 percent of tablet owners read them almost daily.

Discussion: comScore, Inc., iDownloadBlog.com, CNET and ZDNet

John Jannarone / Wall Street Journal:

News Corp. Spinoff Has Oz Flavor — In splitting News Corp . into two companies, Rupert Murdoch is creating something he hasn't had in years: an Australian media company. — By some measures, the publishing company to emerge from the division of News Corp. sometime next year will have its roots heavily Down Under.

Discussion: CNET and Reuters

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Murdoch (again) reportedly interested in L.A. Times

Discussion: LA Observed, New York Magazine and NetNewsCheck Latest

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Andrew Goldman Suspended From New York Times — Following last week's Twitter brouhaha, Andrew Goldman will not be writing for the Times Magazine for the next month. — “In light of his recent comments on Twitter, Andrew will not be contributing the Talk column to the Magazine for four weeks, beginning Oct. 28.

Discussion: Capital New York, Poynter, The Public Editor's Journal, Gawker, @johnjcook, FishbowlNY, @johnjcook, Jezebel and The Huffington Post

Al Jazeera English:

Twitter censors account for first time — Website blocks neo-Nazi group's account at request of German police, pitting censorship fears against hate speech laws. — Micro-blogging site Twitter said it had blocked a neo-Nazi group's account at the request of German police, in what it called a global first for the company.

Nieman Reports:

Mastering the art of disruptive innovation in journalism — Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation provides a framework to understand how businesses grow, become successful, and falter as nimble start-ups muscle in on their customers.

Discussion: Recovering Journalist and Digitopoly

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

BuzzFeed lawsuit over celeb snaps raises copyright questions — A photo agency is demanding $1.3 million from BuzzFeed after the viral news site published photos of singer Katy Perry and actress Kathy Griffin. The case comes at a time when online media is increasingly image-based …

Discussion: Runnin' Scared

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

Blogger turns to tips, briefly becomes “best-paid” journalist in his country — Last week, a friend of mine from Wellington, New Zealand, walked into what Americans would call a social security office, strolled up to a self-service kiosk, opened Microsoft Office, and accessed an enormous trove of private government data.

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

A Jeff Zucker-CNN combination is not as simple as it seems — There are pros and cons to hiring Jeff Zucker to run CNN. — Hardly a day goes by without speculation that former NBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker is the leading candidate to succeed Jim Walton as president …

Discussion: New York Magazine and TVNewser

Aly Weisman / Business Insider:
Jeff Zucker Likely Leaving ‘Katie’ As He Eyes CNN President Position

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite and Deadline.com

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

What The Guardian really thinks about newsprint — Depending on whom you choose to believe this month, The Guardian will either cease its print edition, make it free, should start charging online or must lobby for proceeds from an ISP tax. — None of those things is actually happening …

Discussion: Media Week, More About Advertising, robinsonlloydjames and Digital Spy