Mediagazer: Rupert Murdoch and his influence on Australian political life (David McKnight/Guardian)

8:45 AM ET, August 8, 2013

Top News:

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Dear Jeff Bezos, Here's What I Saw as an Analog Nobody in the Mailroom of the Washington Post — While it might seem an awful cliche, the fact of the matter is — if you go back to a time long before the commercial Internet existed, and well before you became so rich that you have $250 million …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, Hillicon Valley, @abeaujon, @tcarmody, @joannastern, @brianboyer, @chrislkeller, @jtemple, @codinghorror, @mat, @sdkstl, @mattbuchanan, Forbes, @ron_fournier, @kvox, @blakehounshell and Washington Post

Corey Pein:

We Already Know What Kind of Newspaper Owner Jeff Bezos Will Be — Remember when Amazon pulled the plug on Wikileaks? — There's already a great flood of commentary wondering whether Jeff Bezos, the new owner of the Washington Post, will be a good king or a bad king. — The tech crowd is predictably enthusiastic.

Discussion: Business Insider, @mathewi, FAIR Blog, @noirinhegarty, @kragen, @coreypein, TIME and The FJP

Bloomberg:
Bezos's E-Book Overhaul Provides Blueprint for Post

Discussion: Mashable, VentureBeat, Washington Post, The Huffington Post and Reuters

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Times Co. Chairman Declares Paper Not for Sale — After a week in which both the Boston Globe and The Washington Post were purchased by new owners, the publisher of The New York Times Company emphatically declared Wednesday night that his company was not for sale.

Discussion: Politico, Gawker, UPI, Reuters, Garcia Media, The Huffington Post, USA Today, @fmanjoo, Wall Street Journal, LA Observed, Mediaite, JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Wrap and Washington Post

Human Rights Watch:

Russia: Silencing Activists, Journalists ahead of Sochi Games — Six Months Before Olympics Launch, Fresh Concerns about Intimidation — (Moscow) - Local authorities have harassed numerous activists and journalists who criticized or expressed concerns about preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Lez Get Real, Big News Network.com and The Raw Story

Alastair Reid / Journalism.co.uk:

Why negative comments are like broken windows — A look at how and why the quality of content below the line can affect readers, editorial and a publication's brand — Copyright: By Luton Anderson on Flickr. Some rights reserved. — The topic of online abuse has been coming under scrutiny …

Discussion: @bobjwilliams

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

Amazon, Kobo and Sony petition FCC to exempt e-readers from accessibility laws — Amazon, Kobo and Sony are petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to permanently exempt e-readers from certain federal accessibility laws for the disabled, arguing that e-readers are barebones devices designed for a single purpose: reading text.

Discussion: @stkonrath, @metrodigi and @baldman

Christina Chaey / Fast Company:

The Twitterization Of Facebook Continues With Trending Topics — FACEBOOK'S NEW TRENDING TOPICS FEATURE ACTS A LOT LIKE TWITTER TRENDS. — Facebook is bringing some users a new Trending Topics feature later today, according to AllThingsD. Sound familiar?

Discussion: Digital Trends, The Verge, Pocket-lint, Softpedia News, Los Angeles Times, bizjournals and CNET

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

Patches — Tim Armstrong says he will close, sell, or find partners for 300 local Patch sites to reach profitability. — I have a fourth option, Tim: Invest. Set up independent entrepreneurs — your employees, my entrepreneurial graduates, unemployed newspaper folks — to take over the sites.

Discussion: AdExchanger and NetNewsCheck Latest

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
AOL Bets On Programmatic With Adap.TV, Pulls Back On Patch

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Poynter, AdExchanger, Business Insider, The Atlantic Wire, FishbowlNY, Street Fight, TechCrunch, CNET, VentureBeat and GigaOM

Erik Wemple:

James Risen asks Justice to drop subpoena — James Risen wants his subpoena scrapped. — Risen is the New York Times reporter at the heart of a juicy court case that sits astride important First Amendment and journalism issues. His 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA …

Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:

Google Play Music All Access comes to the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand — It's been a few months since Google launched its Play Music All Access service, the company's answer to Spotify, Xbox Music, or Rdio, and now it's making its way out to countries besides the US.

Discussion: Android Police, Fast Company, Telegraph, Inquirer, The Independent, SlashGear, Digital Trends, Know Your Mobile, Wired.co.uk, Guardian and The Next Web

David McKnight / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch and his influence on Australian political life — Over the course of the federal election, Australia will experience a real time experiment which will demonstrate the degree of influence exerted by Murdoch on Australian political life — In 2007, journalist Ken Auletta spent …

Discussion: The Conversation and mUmBRELLA

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

When UX Takes a Back Seat to Pageviews — The pressures of the current publishing world are making publishers compromise the standard user experience. A talented designer or user-experience expert would be aghast as some practices employed by marquee brands.

Discussion: @digiday and eMedia Vitals

Jim Romenesko:

Mark Russell out as editor of Tribune-owned Orlando Sentinel — Mark Russell, who was promoted to Orlando Sentinel editor in October of 2010, is being replaced by content director Avido Khahaifa. Here is publisher Howard Greenberg's memo: … * Russell is leaving as part of a restructuring, the paper says (orlandosentinel.com)

Discussion: Orlando Sentinel, @fsutoby, @johnrobinson, @nabjdigital and @deggans

Chad Bray / Wall Street Journal:

Publishers Object to E-Book Plan for Apple — Provisions of Proposal Would Punish Them, They Said — Five major U.S. publishers objected to the Justice Department's proposal to limit Apple's influence in the electronic books market, saying it would effectively alter their existing settlements with the U.S. government.