Mediagazer: Binders full of Big Bird: The risk & benefits of reporting on memes (Amanda Hess/Poynter)

12:10 AM ET, October 25, 2012

Top News:

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:

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.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

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: The Awl, Vanity Fair and Forbes

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

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

Discussion: Guardian and The Huffington Post

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

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

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.

Thanks:@cwarzel

Cahal Milmo / The Independent:

CNN increasingly twitchy over Piers Morgan's tabloid past as phone hacking scandal spreads to Daily Mirror — Ever since he left The Daily Mirror under a cloud in 2004, Piers Morgan has gone to some lengths to put his newspaper days behind him. As if to emphasise his credentials …

Discussion: Business Insider and CNN

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Piers Morgan, the ex-editor who once enjoyed talking about hacking

Discussion: Mediaite

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

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

Amanda Hess / Poynter:

Binders full of Big Bird: The risk & benefits of reporting on memes — On the evening of Oct. 16, in the second presidential debate of 2012, Mitt Romney mentioned that as governor of Massachusetts, he had requested “binders full of women” to help recruit top female candidates to his cabinet.

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

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

Harrison Weber / The Next Web:

Wikipedia rolls out a completely redesigned mobile site, with an emphasis on type and readability — Wikipedia is now officially rolling out a redesigned mobile site to users globally this week, following testing on its experimental Beta site. — As Wikipedia explains …

Discussion: Wikimedia blog, PC Magazine, WebProNews and SocialTimes

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: Mother Jones 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, The Caucus and @davidfolkenflik

Rebecca Greenfield / The Atlantic Wire:

Reddit Thinks It Can Handle Its Creep Problem Better Than the Internet — After the last two weeks of Internet outrage, the creeps on Reddit are still posting inappropriate photos, including ones of minors, and the Reddit powers that be would like to take it from here. That, Reddit says, it would like to deal with itself.

Discussion: Jezebel

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Does online video need to be local? This startup thinks so. — Detroit-based Glocal came out of beta Wednesday with big ambitions: The website wants to be to local video what Hulu is to TV shows. “Online local video really doesn't have a space besides YouTube,” Glocal President Lincoln Cavalieri told …

Discussion: Mashable! and SocialTimes

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

Audioboo founder Mark Rock makes way for a new CEO, as the social audio platform passes 1 million ‘Boos’ — Social audio platform Audioboo has announced that former Reality Digital COO, Rob Proctor, is its new CEO, with incumbent and company founder Mark Rock now President.

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