Mediagazer: Amazon eyes original comedy series ‘Browsers’ (Variety)

9:50 AM ET, November 6, 2012

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Dueling Bitterness On Cable News — As the cable news channels count down the hours before the first polls close on Tuesday, an entire election cycle will have passed since President Obama last sat down with Fox News. The network's standing request to interview the president is now almost two years old.

Discussion: Chickaboomer, Inside Cable News and The Caucus

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:

Major TV News Networks Agree To Shield Early Exit Poll Data On Election Day — LOS ANGELES, Nov 5 (Reuters) - U.S. television networks face a new challenge in covering this year's excruciatingly close presidential election: prevent closely guarded exit poll results from leaking onto Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Facing an Election Night Clamor — This has been the year of the big media gaffe. — NBC News edited a 911 tape of George Zimmerman in a way that implied race as a factor in the Trayvon Martin shooting. CNN and Fox News falsely reported that the Supreme Court had struck down the individual mandate …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine, TVNewser, SocialTimes, Chickaboomer, Prof Chris Daly's Blog, BuzzFeed, Poynter and AllThingsD

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

New York Times will drop its paywall for the third time — The New York Times will drop its paywall for the third time since it was introduced in March 2011, allowing free access this week for Election Day coverage. — The paper first dropped its paywall in August 2011 as New York prepared for Hurricane Irene.

Discussion: New York Magazine and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg: Murdoch's Anti-Obama Twitter Drive: Christie, Petraeus and More

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

AOL Beats the Street, but Domestic Ads Droop Again — If you bet on AOL at the beginning of 2012, you ended up picking one of the hottest stocks in tech. Shares are up 135 percent this year. — Now we'll see if Tim Armstrong can keep it going with his third-quarter results.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Poynter and The Next Web

Jeff Roberts / @jeffjohnroberts:

http://Patch.com to be profitable by Q4 2013 — AOL execs on earnings call

Edmund Lee / @edmundlee:

>@nytimes' Gen Manager Scott Heekin-Canedy is stepping down from company. He'll get severance equal to his base salary of $587,000

Discussion: @edmundlee, @pkafka and @edmundlee

Katherine Fung / Huffington Post:

Tentative New York Times Contract Will Preserve Pension Plan, Health Care For Guild Members — The tentative deal between New York Times employees and management will satisfy many of the union's biggest demands, according to the Newspaper Guild of New York.

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Marissa Mayer Will “Talk About Where She Is Taking Yahoo” in First Media Interview Since Becoming CEO — Marissa Mayer — the typically press-loving Silicon Valley exec who has avoided much media interaction since she took over as CEO of Yahoo — will be doing her first sit-down interview …

Jamie Condliffe / Gizmodo:
Samsung Teams Up With Yahoo For Interactive TV Service

Discussion: Engadget

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

As Instagram Debuts Web Profiles, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Facebook — Welcome to the new era of Instagram. Brought to you by Facebook. — Instagram launched Web profiles on Monday morning, the first true attempt from the photo-sharing service to provide users with a more complete version …

Discussion: NYT Bits, BuzzFeed, the Econsultancy blog, Forbes, memeburn, Softpedia News, PC Magazine, Business Insider, CNET, Betabeat, MediaPost and Lost Remote

Eliza Kern / GigaOM:
Instagram CEO: Sandy was probably Instagram's biggest moment

Discussion: Forbes, Softpedia News, CNET, The Verge, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch and Poynter

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Former BBC Boss Expresses ‘Shock and Sadness’ About Abuse Scandal — LONDON - Former BBC director general Mark Thompson late Monday reiterated that during his tenure he was not aware of any wrongdoing by former Top of the Pops host Jimmy Savile at the U.K. public broadcaster.

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
NYT leads coverage on incoming CEO

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian and New York Magazine

Don Jeffrey / Bloomberg:

Pandora Media Sues Ascap Seeking Lower Songwriter Fees — Pandora Media Inc. (P), the biggest Internet radio service, sued the organization representing songwriters and composers to seek lower license fees for playing their songs. — Pandora, which is also lobbying the U.S. Congress …

Discussion: The Verge

Variety:

Amazon eyes original comedy series ‘Browsers’ — Netco close to greenlight for project originally developed at CBS — In a sign that Amazon is getting serious about fielding original programming, the Internet giant is said to be close to greenlighting a musical comedy series dubbed “Browsers.”

Discussion: CNET, The Verge, Gizmodo and The Next Web