Mediagazer: Amazon Is Ripe For Disruption (Suw Charman-Anderson/Forbes)

11:50 AM ET, December 22, 2012

Top News:

Suw Charman-Anderson / Forbes:

Amazon Is Ripe For Disruption — Amazon, the great disintermediator that put a spanner — in fact, a set of 25 spanners in a handy case, yours for just $9.99 — in the businesses of many a retailer, is going to face exactly the same fate if it doesn't start to address its weaknesses soon, particularly in the area of publishing.

Discussion: @janefriedman and @tcarmody

Drew Olanoff / TechCrunch:

Medium Becomes A More Full-Featured Writing Platform, Adds Stats And Explains Lack Of Commenting — We've told you a bit about the latest writing and blogging platform from Ev Williams' new product, Medium, and the team has been incrementally adding things, and talent, to the service to make it a full-featured interactive service.

Discussion: @ksablan

Poynter:

Factcheck: NRA blames media for gun violence — At a Friday “press conference” (no questions were allowed), National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre provided the gun lobby's explanation for the shooting deaths of 28 people a week ago today in Newtown, Conn. Among LaPierre's culprits: the media.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, broadstuff, The Atlantic Wire, BuzzFeed, Guardian, American Journalism Review, CNN, Forbes, Slate, The Raw Story and Erik Wemple

Erik Wemple:
NRA boss blames media

Sam Hananel / Associated Press:

Appeals court sides with newspaper in labor fight — WASHINGTON—A federal appeals court on Tuesday sided with the publisher of the Santa Barbara News-Press in a long-running labor dispute between the newspaper and reporters who were fired after they complained about its editorial practices.

Discussion: LA Observed and Politico

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon launches Kindle Singles in the UK — When Amazon launched Kindle Singles in the United States in January 2011, the format was new: Ideas “expressed at their natural length,” in a format longer than a magazine article but shorter than a book, and sold for a couple dollars apiece.

Discussion: Thomson IR, TechCrunch and PublishersWeekly.com

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The Wall Street Journal Signs Up for Apple's Subscription Service — It took a while, but they're in: The Wall Street Journal is now selling digital subscriptions via Apple's “Newsstand” service. — That means Dow Jones' business newspaper has joined thousands of other magazines and newspapers …

Discussion: App Advice, MacRumors, Talking Biz News, CNET, The Next Web, Electronista, TUAW, NetNewsCheck Latest and FishbowlNY

Pamela McClintock / Hollywood Reporter:

Hollywood's January Violence Spree: Half of Films Show Guns Amid NRA Criticism — The entertainment industry is bracing for an outcry about violence in movies following the Newtown, Conn., school shooting; the NRA is already blaming film, TV and video games for portraying life as a “joke.”

Discussion: bizjournals

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times: Getting dialogue started on violence not easy, ex-CBS exec says

Bruce Porter / CJR:

‘Lost and found’ follow-up — Editors' note: It has come to our attention that Marcy, the subject of Bruce Porter's article, “Lost and found,” in the November/December issue, was unhappy about having her saga retold in CJR, and claims that it repeated a number of factual errors from Porter's original Newsweek piece on Marcy in 1967.

The New York Observer:

Spin Stops Print Edition — Just in time for the holidays, Spin's printing presses have officially stopped spinning. The music magazine, which started way back in 1985, announced today that print edition is officially no more. — After the magazine was acquired by Buzzmedia in July …

Discussion: The Daily Swarm, New York Magazine, Gizmodo, A.V. Club, The Atlantic Wire, USA Today, FishbowlNY, Adweek and Mashable!

Jim Romenesko:

New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson: “My strategy is to protect our newsgathering muscles' — New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson told her staff at Thursday's “Grill Jill” session: — * “The size of our newsroom staff is about 1150 people, roughly the same size it was 10 years ago.

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

New York Times Corrects Cory Booker Article, But Stands By Story — NEW YORK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker took aim Monday at a recent front page New York Times article on his tenure as mayor, telling The Huffington Post that he'd “never seen an article so factually wrong and so willfully willing …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Newsweek's farewell (print) issue: Jon Meacham, Mark Whitaker, Eleanor Clift, Evan Thomas, Michael Isikoff — Newsweek has lined up an all-star roster for its last-ever print edition before switching to a digital-only format under the name Newsweek Global. — The double issue that goes …

Discussion: New York Post