Mediagazer: Amazon joins crowded field with Japan Kindle release (James Topham/Reuters)

3:15 PM ET, October 24, 2012

Top News:

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

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: The Wrap, Reuters, New York Magazine, Media Decoder, Guardian, @rajunarisetti, Deadline.com, Poynter, FishbowlNY and The Public Editor's Journal

Kate Holton / Reuters:

Thompson says he has NYT's support after BBC scandal — (Reuters) - Incoming New York Times chief Mark Thompson said on Wednesday his U.S. employer had given him full support since a sexual abuse scandal erupted at Britain's BBC where he had been in charge until last month.

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

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: CJR, Forbes and Vanity Fair

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

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.

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: Politico and ABCNEWS

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

Discussion: USA Today, Des Moines Register, The Caucus and @davidfolkenflik

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:

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

Discussion: Guardian and New York Magazine

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

GNM taps Rightster to launch Guardian Select Video, a syndication portal to monetize digital video — Guardian News & Media (GNM), the publisher behind Guardian.co.uk, Guardiannews.com and the Guardian and Observer newspapers, has now announced the launch of Guardian Select Video, in partnership with Rightster.

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph: Guardian moves towards compulsory job cuts

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.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Netflix Says Amazon Is Gaining and HBO Is Coming

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, Quartz, CNET, TechCrunch, Media Decoder, SeekingAlpha.com, Forbes, WebProNews, GigaOM and TechCrunch

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Bowker: Number of self-published books up 287% since 2006 — In a new report on self-publishing, Bowker — the company that handles ISBNs (book identifier codes) and other bibliographic info for books published in the U.S. — says that the number of print and ebooks self-published annually …

Discussion: Bowker, PublishersWeekly.com, GalleyCat and Publishers Lunch

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

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, 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: ReadWrite

James Topham / Reuters:

Amazon joins crowded field with Japan Kindle release — (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc will make Japanese language Kindle e-readers and tablets available next month, as the U.S. online seller joins a slew of e-book makers in trying to win market share in the world's second-biggest publishing market.

Discussion: PC Magazine, Computerworld, Good E-Reader, The Verge and TechCrunch

Wall Street Journal:

Barnes & Noble Warns of Data Breach — Barnes & Noble Inc. said customers of 63 stores in nine states may have had their credit-card information stolen. — In a statement issued Tuesday evening, the nation's largest bookstore chain said that in September it detected a problem …

Discussion: Barnes & Noble, Inc., New York Times and Gizmodo

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Exclusive: Fast and Furious whistleblower sues Time Inc. for libel — John Dodson, the special agent who blew the whistle on the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal, is suing Time for libel, POLITICO has learned. — The lawsuit comes in response to a Fortune magazine article published …