Mediagazer: Penske Puts a Woman in Charge at Variety (Richard Horgan/FishbowlLA)

9:55 AM ET, October 19, 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.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, FishbowlDC, msnbc.com, Media News, Wall Street Journal, newsweek.tumblr.com, The Huffington Post, paidContent, Medacity, magCulture.com/blog, Gawker, WWD Media Headlines, BtoB Magazine, Digiday, Dead Tree Edition, Jon Slattery, TUAW, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, Economist, Business Insider, @gabrielsnyder, Reuters, Quartz, Capital New York, CNNMoney.com, @mlcalderone, @ledbetreuters, @jeffjarvis, @felixsalmon, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, @jbflint, Daily Download, @sdkstl, @ryanbeckwith, Media Nation, @joshgreenman, Forbes, @erichippeau, Folio, @editorialiste, @bronwen, Bloomberg, LA Observed, @edmundlee, @rajunarisetti, The Atlantic Wire, @obsoletedogma, MarketingVox News & Trends, @thedailybeast, Mashable!, CJR, New York Magazine, BuzzFeed, TVNewser, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Engadget, Poynter, Journalism.co.uk, Guardian, The Daily Caller, @jenny8lee, CNET, The Verge, Media Decoder, Capital New York, Digital Media Wire, Deadline.com, @dylanbyers, Vanity Fair, UPROXX, Canadian Magazines, Guardian, The Week, @thetinabeast, @johnbowman, TechCrunch, @meenasaurus, @sirharryevans, @ditzkoff, MediaPost, @jerometaylor, New York Post, Talking Points Memo, The Awl, @thatdanstewart, USA Today, Pocket-lint, Tampa Bay Times, GalleyCat, WebProNews, Gothamist, Agence France Presse, SocialTimes, Noted and AllThingsD

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Newsweek CEO: Dumping Print ‘Liberates Us’ — Plans to Charge $24.99 For an Annual Digital-Only Subscription — There's been a deathwatch for the print edition of Newsweek ever since IAC CEO Barry Diller hinted in July that print would go away or be scaled back in 2013.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Poynter, New York Post and Corporate Intelligence

Emma Bazilian / Adweek:

After Newsweek, Is Writing on Wall for Newsweeklies? — Newsweek, now facing a digital-only future, isn't the only newsweekly that's struggling in print. Fellow mass-audience title Time is down 19 percent in ad pages in the first half of the year, per Publishers Information Bureau.

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Turning the page on Tina Brown — When Newsweek relaunched in 2011, editor Tina Brown promised frugality and humility. — “I think that big, sort of theatrical relaunches tend to set you up for failure and hype,” Brown, the ex-Vanity Fair, ex-New Yorker, ex-Talk editor whose name …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, NPR, BostInno, FishbowlNY, The Atlantic Online and FishbowlDC

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Out Of The Ashes Of Dead Trees

Discussion: PBS, One Man & His Blog, Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day, Business Insider, Corporate Intelligence, Forbes and The Week

Felix Salmon:
Why keep Newsweek on life support?

Discussion: Capital New York, Poynter, The Huffington Post, Forbes, The Daily Caller, WWD Media Headlines and msnbc.com

Amita Sharma / KPBS San Diego:

U-T Owner Manchester Shows Interest In Tribune Company — Hotelier and U-T San Diego owner Doug Manchester wants to buy the Tribune Company, which owns the Los Angeles Times. — Since Manchester bought the U-T more than 10 months ago, he's launched a television channel and purchased The North County Times.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and FishbowlLA

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Tribune sets pay wall on some content at $14.99 per month — Online access to remain free for subscribers … The free ride is over for online users of the Chicago Tribune. Four months after launching a redesigned Web site requiring registration to view premium content, the newspaper is putting the …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Google News faces mass newspaper boycott in Brazil — This will sound familiar to anyone who has watched Google News' relations with news publishers over the years.. — The next country in which tension has erupted is one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

BBC:

Google threatens French media ban over proposed law — Google has threatened to exclude French media sites from search results if France goes ahead with plans to make search engines to pay for content. — In a letter sent to several ministerial offices, Google said such a law “would threaten its very existence”.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Techdirt, The Verge, CNET, FRANCE 24, TechCrunch, Telegraph and The Next Web

Jim Brunner / Seattle Times:

Seattle Times news staffers protest company's political-ad campaign — More than 100 Seattle Times news staffers - including reporters, photographers, columnists, artists, editors and online news producers - signed a letter Thursday protesting the Times Co's decision to sponsor newspaper ads …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Guardian, Slog, Poynter and The Seattle Times

Jim Romenesko: Seattle Times political ad campaign ‘absolutely takes the cake’

Richard Horgan / FishbowlLA:

Penske Puts a Woman in Charge at Variety — This is pretty sweet. After 15 years with Variety, Michelle Sobrino-Stearns can add a new title to go along with sales director, managing director of features, vice president and associate publisher: the trade publication's first-ever female publisher.

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Twitter, Reddit and the battle over freedom of speech — Where should freedom of speech begin and end when you are a web-based entity with a global audience? That's the question raised by a couple of recent events, including the furor over a Reddit moderator's creepy behavior …

Discussion: CNN, TechCrunch, The Verge and The FJP, Thanks:@mathewi

Al Jazeera English:
Twitter censors account for first time

Discussion: The Register, New York Times, Marketing Land, VentureBeat and The Atlantic Wire

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Tim Davie to head BBC Worldwide — Appointment of new chief executive marks end of John Smith's 23-year career with corporation — Tim Davie, the head of BBC's director of audio and music, has been appointed as the new chief executive of BBC Worldwide. — The appointment of Davie …

Discussion: Digital Spy and Radio Today with RCS

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

The Telegraph's much-delayed digital paywall appears to have taken another step back, following the departure of the senior executive responsible for the strategy. Steve McLaughlin, Telegraph Media Group's chief commercial officer, held responsibility for digital strategy and revenues …