Mediagazer: Publishers Try a Different Kind of Pay Wall, Unlocked by Watching Web Video (Michael Sebastian/AdAge)

4:40 PM ET, July 11, 2013

Top News:

Brian Lowry / Variety:

Tribune Spinoff Sounds Death Knell for TV-Print Synergy — Tribune's grand plans surrounding Times Mirror merger never materialized — You can't hurry love. And you can't force synergy. — Tribune's long-awaited decision to spin off its newspaper holdings and bet squarely …

Discussion: Free Press, LA Observed and Broadcasting & Cable

New York Times:

To Cut Taxes, Tribune Is to Split Into Broadcasting and Publishing Units — The Tribune Company's decision to divide itself into separate broadcast and publishing companies may help avoid a big tax bill, but the split does not address the bigger problem facing newspaper executives: buyers just do not want to spend on print.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, tribune.com, Wall Street Journal, Hampton Roads Daily Press, Poynter, Digital Media Wire, LA Observed, Nieman Journalism Lab, Reuters and Politico

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The newsonomics of Tribune's detour

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:
Charles Koch: Tribune Newspaper Bid Is 'Not On The Front Burner, But It's Possible'

Discussion: Wichita Eagle, LA Observed and The Raw Story

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Pew: About a quarter of Americans say journalists contribute little to society — 27 percent of Americans say journalists contribute little or nothing to society's well being, according to a study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Discussion: Pew Forum on Religion … and TVSpy

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

E-Book Ruling Gives Amazon an Advantage — Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, loves disrupting markets. In that regard, he must be having a delightful summer. The book business, once so mired in the past it seemed part of the antiques trade, is up for grabs.

Siraj Datoo / Guardian:

BBC's Jeremy Bowen successfully treated after being shot in Egypt — Corporation's Middle East editor has operation to remove shotgun pellets that hit his head while he was covering protests — The BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, has had an operation to remove shotgun pellets in his head.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Wrap and TVNewser

Harry McCracken / TIME:

PCWorld Exits Print, and the Era of Computer Magazines Ends — The last of the big general-interest PC magazines is no longer a magazine. — By Harry McCracken @harrymccrackenJuly 11, 2013 — The news isn't shocking. In fact, it's sort of a shock it didn't happen several years ago.

Discussion: HotHardware.com News, ZDNet, Folio, Talking Biz News and eMedia Vitals

Jeff Jarvis / Guardian:

Who is a journalist? Manning trial poses question of vital public interest — In this age of radically open networks, journalism is no longer a profession. It is a service to inform society anyone can provide — When Bradley Manning's defense attorneys wanted someone to explain journalism …

Discussion: dissenter.firedoglake.com, Boing Boing and Prof Chris Daly's Blog

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Publishers Try a Different Kind of Pay Wall, Unlocked by Watching Web Video — Publishers including Maxim, Radar Online, Guitar World and USA Today Sports Media are experimenting with a pay wall that instead of charging readers requires them to watch an advertiser's video.

Discussion: @themediaisdying

Joe Pompeo / New York Magazine:

Al Jazeera America: A Unicorn is Born — Where the magic will happen: Al Jazeera America's newsroom. — The modern realities of the media business have so accustomed us to seeing journalistic entities disbanded, either abruptly or in slow motion, that there's an undeniable fascination …

Arif Durrani / Media Week:

Guardian set to report annual losses of around £35m — Guardian News and Media is set to report pre-tax losses in the region of £35 million for its year to 1 April 2013 next week, around a 20% drop from losses in 2012. — Last year, Guardian News & Media …

Discussion: Guardian

Lynda V. Mapes / The Seattle Times:

Top editor David Boardman leaving Seattle Times — Boardman, executive editor and senior vice president at The Times, is taking a new job as dean of the School of Media and Communication at Temple University in Philadelphia. — After 30 years — and four Pulitzer Prizes — David Boardman …

Discussion: Philly.com, Associated Press, Temple University News, Strange Bedfellows and Poynter

Ben Woods / The Next Web:

Meet Lumi, the no-effort content discovery engine from the founders of Last.fm — What do you do when you've built a product up from nothing to the point of being acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars by a massive American corporation? You take some time off.

Discussion: GigaOM, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Mashable, Guardian, Motherboard, @caseynewton, CNET, The Independent, Tech City News and Telegraph

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

Arun Rath named host of NPR's newly LA-based weekend show — Arun Rath has won the derby and will be the host when the NPR newsmagazine “Weekend All Things Considered” starts airing from Culver City in September. Rath is a senior reporter for “Frontline” on PBS and PRI's “The World” at WGBH in Boston.

Discussion: @davidfolkenflik