Mediagazer: A Bid to Thwart Los Angeles Times Sale to Kochs (New York Times)

3:35 PM ET, May 9, 2013

Top News:

Top Editors Abruptly Leave Village Voice — Will Bourne, who became editor in chief of The Village Voice in November, and Jessica Lustig, the deputy editor since January, are leaving the weekly publication. — They met with the staff at 11 p.m. on Thursday and said that Christine Brennan …

Discussion: Gawker, Poynter, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, @simondumenco and New York Magazine

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘New York Post’ offers buyouts; seeks 10-percent staff reduction in attempt to avoid layoffs — The New York Post is offering voluntary buyouts to newsroom employees, editor-in-chief Col Allan informed the staff today in a memo obtained by Capital. — The paper is aiming to reduce …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

TechCrunch:

Microsoft Mulling Nook Media LLC Purchase For $1 Billion — Microsoft is offering to pay $1 billion to buy the digital assets of Nook Media LLC, the digital book and college book joint venture with Barnes & Noble and other investors, according to internal documents we've obtained.

Discussion: Forbes, Businessweek, Digital Book World, ReadWrite, DealBook, Consumerist, AppNewser, CNNMoney.com, WebProNews, Softpedia News, SlashGear, Betabeat, ValueWalk, Mashable, Quartz, Engadget, Pocket-lint, 24/7 Wall St., ZDNet, Bookseller news, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Electronista, GeekWire, Kindle Review, CNET, The Verge and BGR

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

In Nook, Microsoft sees a chance to compete against Amazon and Apple — Microsoft already has a stake in Nook Media, and now it is reportedly seeking to buy out the entire company. In Nook, Microsoft sees a shot at competing against Amazon and Apple — in a way it might not be able to do from scratch.

Discussion: Forbes, ZDNet and Softpedia News

Leslie Kaufman / New York Times:

Politico to Test a Pay Wall With Some Readers of Its Site — Politico, the media organization that covers Washington in minute detail, said Thursday that it would start experimenting with a pay wall on its Web site. — “Starting this week, we are going to test a metered system for subscriptions …

Dylan Byers / Politico:
POLITICO to test metered subscription system

Discussion: Erik Wemple, paidContent, Nieman Journalism Lab, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Wonkette and @matthewwells

New York Times:

A Bid to Thwart Los Angeles Times Sale to Kochs — LOS ANGELES — An effort by two conservative billionaires to take over The Los Angeles Times and seven other newspapers is setting off a firestorm of opposition here. Public employee unions, the leaders of the State Legislature …

Leslie Kaufman / New York Times:

Hearst Hires Digital Chief To Oversee Web Brands — Hearst Magazines, the publisher of such venerable titles as Esquire and Cosmopolitan, said on Wednesday that it was creating a new position, president of digital media. — The job will go to Troy Young, 45, who will be responsible for content …

Discussion: Media Week, The New York Observer, FishbowlNY and eMedia Vitals

The Huffington Post:

Richard Engel Returns To Syria For First Time Since Kidnapping — NEW YORK — NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is back quickly and safely from his first trip to Syria since he and his team were kidnapped and held captive there last December.

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

McCain is prepping legislation to overhaul pay-TV business — Sen. John McCain wants to overhaul the TV industry. — The maverick wants to cook the TV industry's golden goose. — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is preparing to introduce legislation perhaps as early as Thursday …

Discussion: Hillicon Valley, AllThingsD, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck.com, Christian News …, Bloomberg BNA and Adweek

Adweek:

Digital Sales Chief Out at Turner: Walker Jacobs departs after six years — Walker Jacobs is out at Turner. — The veteran digital executive, who most recently held the title of evp of Turner Digital, resigned today, according to sources. Jacobs had been with the company since 2007.

Don Jeffrey / Bloomberg:

Google Says Authors Can't Sue Over Digital Books as Group — Google Inc. (GOOG) asked an appeals court to deny class status to a group of authors who claim in a $3 billion lawsuit that the company's project to digitally copy millions of books from libraries violates their copyrights.

Discussion: Plagiarism Today

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

The Loop: After 20 years on the web, veteran Apple reporter Jim Dalrymple bets on an iPad magazine — This isn't the first time that Jim Dalrymple has made a bet on the future of publishing. “In 1994, I started publishing on the web, and that was one of the first big modern-day shifts that we saw,” he says.

Discussion: The Loop, MacRumors, om.co, GeekWire and TUAW, Thanks:@max8378

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

News Corp. Beats Profit Estimates on Higher Licensing Revenue — News Corp. (NWSA), the Rupert Murdoch-led media company that's set to split in two, beat fiscal third-quarter profit estimates on higher licensing fees for television shows such as “American Idol” and “New Girl.”

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @journalismbuzz, Fox Business and Reuters