Mediagazer: Erecting a paywall? Make sure everything behind it is better than before (John Robinson/Media, disrupted)

3:45 PM ET, December 6, 2012

Top News:

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Newsweek Layoffs Expected Today, Tina Brown Confirms [UPDATED] — Newsweek's print edition is ending in a matter of weeks, and the anticipated staff changes have already begun. Layoffs are expected to be announced this afternoon, a tipster tells us. Meanwhile, we hear that a few editors are proactively jumping ship.

Discussion: Adweek, New York Magazine, Capital New York, The Wrap, NetNewsCheck Latest, SPJ and @katedailey

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

As Newsbeast layoffs begin, some are quitting on their own — Earlier this morning, Tina Brown announced the names of three editors who will top the masthead of the Newsweek-Daily Beast company after it replaces Newsweek's print edition with the digital-only title Newsweek Global in another few weeks.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Layoff season is under way as Newsweek begins notifying staff today — Newsweek is about to begin laying off staff, a move expected since the publisher scheduled its print magazine to shutter at the end of the year. — A memo from Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown and CEO Baba Shetty informs staff …

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:

Tina Brown promotes three at Newsweek Daily Beast Company — Tina Brown on Thursday announced three promotions at the Newsweek Daily Beast Company, Capital New York reported. — Newsweek executive editor Justine Rosenthal will become editorial director of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company …

James Robinson / @jamesro47:

Managing editor of Guardian/Obs has just emailed staff to say papers seeking SIXTY EIGHT compulsory redundancies.

Discussion: @iankatz1000 and @jamesro47

James Robinson / @jamesro47:
obliged to point out Guardian email stresses redundancies necessary only if £7m savings can't be found by other means, including volunteers

Discussion: Telegraph

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Jimmy Savile scandal: Pollard inquiry to report in week of 17 December — Former Sky boss Nick Pollard has investigated the BBC's handling of its aborted Newsnight documentary — The Pollard inquiry into BBC executives' handling of the axed BBC Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile is to be published in the week of 17 December.

Michael Holden / Reuters:
Top UK publicist arrested in BBC sex abuse inquiry

Discussion: Guardian, Guido Fawkes, @timescrime, BBC, The Independent, Sky News, PressGazette, Guido Fawkes, @richpeppiatt, Telegraph, Channel 4 and Associated Press

Charlie Warzel / Adweek:

Huffington Post Media Group Names Jimmy Maymann CEO — AOL continued its moving and shaking today with the news that former AOL svp of International Jimmy Maymann will move into a new role as CEO of the Huffington Post Media Group. — As CEO, Maymann will focus on the development and growth …

Discussion: The Wrap, Media Decoder, AllThingsD, Politico, paidContent, FishbowlNY and LA Observed

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Victim's family 'couldn't sleep' after seeing ‘traumatic’ NY Post subway photo — The family of Ki-Suck Han, the man immortalized in a front-page New York Post photo of his impending death on a subway track, spoke publicly on Wednesday about the impact of the image. — The New York Times reports:

Discussion: New York Times, Softpedia News, TIME, PetaPixel and Jack Shafer

Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:

Tim Cook hints that Apple plans to redefine the television set — Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has poured gasoline on the growing fire of speculation that his company plans to build a full-fledged television set in the near future, with comments disparaging current television sets as outdated pieces of technology.

Discussion: Business Week, Guardian, CNET, New York Magazine, VentureBeat, The Verge, FishbowlNY and Globe and Mail

Dan Stockman / Poynter:

Suicide by source: What do you do when a story is followed by the worst possible outcome? — The Google Alert plopped into my email inbox at 5:44 p.m., and it was a doozy for so late in the day - a local funeral home appeared to be preparing services for Stephen E. Clapp.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Tampa Bay Times and Saint Petersblog

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
Suicide Is Not the Media's Fault

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Daily Download, Saint Petersblog and Mediaite

John Nichols / The Nation:

FCC Must Not Give Rupert Murdoch More Control Over US Media — We now know that top players with Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel plotted with General David Petraeus about the prospect of using the cable network as a platform for launching a “Petraeus for President” campaign.

Discussion: Free Press Blog and New York Magazine

Brian Lowry / Chicago Tribune: Media-ownership rules need new look

John Koblin / Deadspin:

Why Is An ESPN Vice President Spreading Rumors That I'm Straight? — “I don't know your personal life,” ESPN vice president and executive editor John Walsh told me, on the phone. “I wouldn't comment on anyone's personal life.” — Earlier today, on Twitter, two different journalism students …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
John Walsh asserts a love triangle in Deadspin coverage of ESPN

Discussion: Daily Download

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Nominated For Grammy Award — The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences revealed on Wednesday evening that MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has been nominated for a Grammy Award. — For her audiobook recording of Drift: The Unmooring Of American Military Power …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TVNewser and Chickaboomer

John Robinson / Media, disrupted:

Erecting a paywall? Make sure everything behind it is better than before — The newspaper paywall debate continues, apparently unabated. (I'm in Steve Buttry's, Mathew Ingram's and Howard Owens' camp, by the way.) Now, as more papers are considering erecting paywalls — including in N.C. …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, GigaOM and CJR