Mediagazer: Twitter Gives Saudi Arabia a Revolution of Its Own (Robert F. Worth/New York Times)

9:15 AM ET, October 22, 2012

Top News:

Newsnight editor steps aside as BBC faces ‘worst crisis for 50 years’ over Savile documentary — Newsnight editor Peter Rippon has stepped aside “with immediate effect” while the BBC reviews its response to the Jimmy Savile sex scandal, the corporation said today.

Discussion: Guardian, BBC, The Independent, @themediatweets, @lucymanning, @lucymanning, @tomjharper, @tomjharper, @grainnemaguire and fleet street fox

Telegraph:

Jimmy Savile: BBC scrapped investigation after Newsnight came ‘under pressure’ from senior managers — The BBC scrapped its investigation into whether Jimmy Savile was a paedophile after Newsnight came “under pressure” from senior managers, a documentary will claim on Monday evening.

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk and @christopherhope

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon apparently discontinues Kindle Touch in favor of Paperwhite — It appears that Amazon is no longer selling the Kindle Touch, the touchscreen e-reader that preceded the front-lit Kindle Paperwhite. Amazon also seems to have discontinued the large-screen Kindle DX last week.

Guardian:

Amazon makes UK publishers pay 20% VAT on ebook sales — Amazon is forcing British publishers to cover the cost of a 20% VAT charge on ebook sales - even though the true VAT cost to the online retailer is only a fraction of that amount under its generous Luxembourg-based tax regime.

Discussion: This is Money

Jim Romenesko:

New York Times staffers mull byline strike — A Sunday dispatch from the Newspaper Guild of New York says hundreds of New York Times staffers have in recent days “quietly signed pledges to withhold their bylines, photo credits, and producing credits” and “have also pledged to work strictly to the terms of the contract.”

Discussion: New York Magazine

Reuters:

Analysis: Yahoo CEO's comeback plan hones in on technology, not media — (Reuters) - Marissa Mayer, who earned a reputation for decisive action and intensity during her 13-year stint at Google Inc, has spent her first months as Yahoo Inc CEO quietly moving the Internet pioneer back to its roots in technology.

Discussion: Softpedia News, AdExchanger, The Next Web, Quartz and VentureBeat

Noreen Malone / The New Republic:

The Critic Wall Street Loves to Lunch With — Felix Salmon's foppish war on the banks. — THERE AREN'T MANY people who can get the Treasury secretary on the phone—and fewer still who can get away with yelling at him on the call. His wife, sure. Probably the president.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Weather Channel's Parent Company Is Renamed — In a move it compared to Apple Computer's shedding of the word computer, the Weather Channel Companies has dropped “channel” from its name. — It's not ridding itself of the actual Weather Channel, a staple of cable lineups across the country.

Discussion: Beet.TV

Robert F. Worth / New York Times:

Twitter Gives Saudi Arabia a Revolution of Its Own — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia did not have an Arab Spring. But it has had a revolution of sorts. — Open criticism of this country's royal family, once unheard-of, has become commonplace in recent months.

Todd Cunningham / The Wrap:

Dish Networks Pays $700M, Settles Dispute with AMC and Cablevison — Cablevision and AMC Networks announced Sunday that they have settle their legal dispute with Dish Networks over Voom HD, an indirect subsidiary of AMC Networks. — The companies have also agreed on a long-term agreement …

Discussion: Media Decoder, ZDNet, Cable Television News, The Verge, Business Insider, CNET, Engadget, Corporate Intelligence and Home Media Magazine

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Connecting the Dots in Libya — WHEN I wrote on my blog recently about The Times's decision not to give front-page coverage to a Congressional hearing on the consulate attack in Libya, hundreds of e-mails and comments poured in. — While it is hard to summarize that much correspondence …

Discussion: @mlcalderone and @jayrosen_nyu

Matthew Belloni / The Hollywood Reporter:

Ex-L.A. Times Editors Join BuzzFeed in Push to Cover Hollywood (Exclusive) — Richard Rushfield will head a new Los Angeles bureau for the social news site as Kate Aurthur joins to cover television, film and celebrities. Social news website BuzzFeed is going Hollywood …

Discussion: LA Observed

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Rupert Murdoch, other potential buyers eye L.A. Times — News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch is said to be in early talks to buy the L.A. Times and the Chicago Tribune from Tribune Co. — News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch intends to stay in the business that forms the bedrock of his empire …

Discussion: @edmundlee, New York Magazine, @edmundlee and Reuters