Mediagazer: Newsweek and the (relative) health of print mags (Ryan Chittum/CJR)

5:35 PM ET, October 24, 2012

Top News:

Barry Diller: ‘Newsweek’ cuts to be as ‘spare’ as possible — Barry Diller and Tina Brown: all bold plunges and ‘mistakes.’ — On this morning's IAC third-quarter earnings call, company chairman Barry Diller addressed last week's bombshell news that Newsweek will eliminate its print edition starting in 2013.

Discussion: Folio, The Wrap and NetNewsCheck Latest

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

Newsweek and the (relative) health of print mags — News that Newsweek is exiting print was hardly surprising coming two years after the Washington Post Company unloaded it for a dollar. — But these numbers struck me while reading this Financial Times story on the news:

Brent Lang / The Wrap:

IAC Quarterly Earnings Reveals Why Newsweek is Ending Print Run — IAC/InterActiveCorp, the media conglomerate behind web properties like Match.com and About.com, bested Wall Street's expectations Wednesday, as operating profits and revenue jumped during its most recent fiscal quarter.

Discussion: Forbes and Vanity Fair

Jim Romenesko:

New York Times union sends another letter to publisher Arthur Sulzberger — A letter that New York Times union members will be delivering tonight to publisher Arthur Sulzberger says “the company's negotiating goal of sub-inflation raises would perpetuate an era of shrinking compensation” and “would have a withering effect on morale.”

Jim Romenesko:

New York Times union members use Twitter to ‘engage the public’ in contract battle — The Newspaper Guild of New York is encouraging members at the New York Times to use Twitter today “to get our message out to the world.” — The union, which is in contract talks with Times management, tells members:

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
‘Times’ union stages ‘informational’ picket as incoming C.E.O. comes under scrutiny

Discussion: Guardian, The Huffington Post and New York Magazine

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Piers Morgan, the ex-editor who once enjoyed talking about hacking — In the light of the civil claims against Trinity Mirror over alleged phone hacking, it is pertinent to revisit the various boasts made by the former Daily Mirror editor, Piers Morgan, about his knowledge of voicemail interceptions.

Cahal Milmo / The Independent:
CNN increasingly twitchy over Piers Morgan's tabloid past as phone hacking scandal spreads to Daily Mirror

Discussion: Business Insider, Reuters and CNN

Press Gazette:
Independent: ‘Senior Mirror figure paid up to £175 for voicemail pin codes’

Discussion: The Independent, The Independent, @psmith and Guardian

New York Times:

Mark Thompson Says He Did Not Block BBC Savile Program — Mark Thompson, the former head of the British Broadcasting Corporation who has been drawn into the scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse against the former television personality Jimmy Savile, reiterated in an interview …

Discussion: Reuters, The Wrap, Bloomberg, NewsBusters.org blogs, @edmundlee, @rajunarisetti, Deadline.com, Poynter, Media Decoder, Guardian, New York Magazine and FishbowlNY

Kate Holton / Reuters: Thompson says he has NYT's support after BBC scandal

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Rupert Murdoch Offers Twitter Support To WSJ Customer Who Didn't Get Paper Delivered … It's a cliche to say that Twitter allows the everyman to connect with the movers and shakers of the media and entertainment industries. But it's so true! Today's case in point: the humble Edward Barr …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Capital New York, @antderosa, @nigelcameron and @yinkawrites

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

News.me shuts down iOS apps to focus on Digg, blames new Twitter requirements — News.me, the social news service built on top of Twitter (and Facebook), today announced it is killing its curation apps for iPhone and iPad. The company is blaming Twitter for the move and says it wants to focus on its Digg efforts instead.

Discussion: Fast Company, TechCrunch, News.me, GigaOM, ReadWrite and SocialTimes

Charlie Warzel / Adweek:

MIT Technology Review Relaunches ‘Digital-First’ — Some 20 weeks before Newsweek set the media into a frenzy with its announcement of a digital-first publishing strategy, Jason Pontin was already grappling with how to move his 113-year-old publication toward a digital future.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Thanks:@cwarzel

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Obama campaign and Des Moines Register: A form of quote approval — The media news burst of the morning springs from the Web site of the Des Moines Register. The Obama campaign, without comment, released a transcript of an extensive discussion that it held yesterday with Laura Hollingsworth …

Discussion: Mediaite and Politico

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
After editor blogs complaint, Obama releases transcript of off-the-record call with Des Moines Register

Discussion: Des Moines Register, USA Today, Wonkblog and @davidfolkenflik

Reuters:

Netflix shares drop after it cuts subscriber forecast — (Reuters) - Netflix Inc added fewer U.S. customers than Wall Street expected in the third quarter, forcing the company to roll back its year-end subscriber forecast and sending shares plunging 15 percent.

Discussion: AllThingsD

Reuters:

Ecuador concerned for health of Julian Assange — Ecuador is worried about the health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has asked Britain to guarantee him safe passage from its London embassy to hospital if he needs medical treatment, a senior Ecuadorean diplomat said in Moscow.

Discussion: Betabeat

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

Guardian moves towards compulsory job cuts — The publisher of The Guardian and The Observer has proposed making large-scale compulsory job cuts among its newspaper journalists. — The Guardian and Observer publisher has spent the last few years battling to stem losses of £44m a year.