Mediagazer: In ebook case, Apple wants a stay, and DOJ argues publishers are conspiring again (Laura Hazard Owen/GigaOM)

3:35 PM ET, August 9, 2013

Top News:

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

No layoffs at Patch today — AOL CEO Tim Armstrong told Patch editors Friday there would be no “impacts,” or layoffs announced today. The “impacts” will arrive on a rolling basis over the next week, he said. — Armstrong said in an earnings call earlier this week that AOL would sell …

Discussion: AdAge, Newsday, Pressfolios Blog and @loislane79

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Armstrong Confirms “Hundreds” Of Layoffs At Patch, 400 Sites Shuttered Or Partnered Off, And A New CEO — We reported yesterday that AOL's hyper-local news service would lose hundreds of employees today, and now we have confirmation from a well-placed Patcher privy to the call …

Discussion: Fast Company, FishbowlNY, Adweek, streetfightmag.com, LA Observed, ZDNet, New York Magazine, @talkingnewmedia, CNNMoney.com, @passantino and Kirk LaPointe's …

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Fires Employee for Taking His Picture

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Betabeat, Mashable and Business Insider

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:
AOL Won't Deny The Rumor That Patch's CEO Is Out After Just Two Months On The Job

Discussion: Forbes, TechCrunch, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, The New York Observer, FishbowlNY and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Reuters:

Murdoch Shakes Up News Corp.'s Australian Operation — CANBERRA — Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. appointed a new chief executive for its Australian operation Friday, a move that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd linked to mounting attacks on his government by Mr. Murdoch's local newspapers during a divisive election campaign.

Kim Stephens / Brisbane Times:
Brisbane cafe bans Murdoch press

Discussion: @vermeera, ninemsn and @funwithstuff

Neil Chenoweth / Australian Financial Review:
Murdoch's News Corp empire turns on itself

Discussion: Guardian, The Conversation and Guardian

Margaret Simons / Guardian:
Kim Williams departure a victory for Murdoch's Australian editors

Discussion: Guardian

Herald Sun:
Former HWT chairman Julian Clarke appointed News Corp Australia CEO as Kim Williams resigns

Discussion: Reuters, mUmBRELLA, Business Review Weekly, SINA English, Guardian, ABC, TheAustralian, Sydney Morning Herald, Business Spectator and @smh

The New Republic:

Newspapers Should Be More Like Amazon — By Julius Genachowski and Steven Waldman What Jeff Bezos can teach The Washington Post What's intriguing about Jeff Bezos, who purchased The Washington Post this week, is not that he's a digital guy or that he has a lot of money—though both certainly help …

Discussion: Businessweek, Garcia Media, @brianstelter, @stevenwaldman and @mathewi

Greg Sandoval / The Verge:

Consumer watchdog says Apple did ‘considerable harm’ with ebook pricing, supports DOJ ruling — Eddy Cue, the Apple exec accused of orchestrating the price fixing (right), leaves court. — The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) said in papers filed in federal court that Apple caused considerable …

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:
In ebook case, Apple wants a stay, and DOJ argues publishers are conspiring again

Discussion: AppleInsider, Engadget, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Electronista, iClarified, Hillicon Valley and ZDNet

Brian Beutler / Salon:

Glenn Greenwald offered Brazilian protection from U.S. — Greenwald tells Salon he intends to visit the U.S. soon — but says the risk of prosecution against him is real — A Brazilian official has taken the unusual step of publicly announcing that the Brazilian government …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Christy Choi / South China Morning Post:

Wikimedians should fix ‘broken journalism’, Jimmy Wales tells Hong Kong conference — Journalism is broken and Wikimedians should think about how to fix it, said Jimmy Wales at the opening of the 9th annual Wikimania conference in Hong Kong on Friday. — Harnessing the power of public discussion …

Discussion: Digits, Digits, @kirstystyles1, @jchristychoi and @fabriceflorin

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BBC calls in auditors to widen search for improper executive payoffs — BBC director general Tony Hall appoints KPMG to investigate potentially improper payoffs to senior BBC executives — Tony Hall, the BBC director general, has called in external auditors KPMG to widen the search …

Christopher Hope / Telegraph:
Met Police's fraud squad investigating BBC pay-offs scandal

Discussion: presstv.ir, BBC, Guardian, The Independent, @rajunarisetti and @vikramdodd

Associated Press:

Tumblr Founder to Get $81M to Remain at Yahoo — Yahoo's recently completed acquisition of Internet blogging service Tumblr includes an $81 million payment to Tumblr founder David Karp as long as he remains on the job for the next four years. — The retention payment disclosed …

Discussion: Softpedia News

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Tumblr Had $16.6 Million Left When Yahoo Bought It

Discussion: Quartz, Valleywag, Forbes, Betabeat, Business Insider, Softpedia News, Sky News, Reuters, Digits, The Next Web and GigaOM

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Amid Criticism, Support for Media's ‘Watchdog’ Role Stands Out — Overview — Public evaluations of news organizations' performance on key measures such as accuracy, fairness and independence remain mired near all-time lows. But there is a bright spot among these otherwise gloomy ratings …

Discussion: USA Today, Poynter, TVSpy, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Rupert Murdoch keeps succession plan a secret — At the end of an investor conference designed to shed light on the financial future of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, the 82-year-old media baron was asked how long he planned to stick around as chief executive officer.

Discussion: Variety

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Jack Dorsey on Twitter's turning point as a news entity: The day a plane landed in the Hudson — After seven years with Twitter as a part of the social-media ecosystem, we've become pretty accustomed by now to the idea that the service functions as a real-time news platform …

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

More than half of Britons access news online — Figures show 55% of adults use internet to read or download content from papers, broadcasters and online-only websites — Read the full ONS report — More than half of UK adults are accessing news content online, another milestone …

Discussion: ons.gov.uk and The Next Web

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Twitter #music app gets new ways to discover artists, scans iPhone library for personalized recommendations — Twitter updated its Twitter #music iPhone app today with several new ways to discover new artists in addition to personalized recommendations based on the content in your iPhone's music library.

Discussion: App Advice, The Verge, iClarified and The Next Web

Timothy B. Lee / The Switch:

Slashdot founder Rob Malda on why there won't be another Hacker News — When I was a computer science student in college, everyone I knew read Slashdot. Founded in 1997, the site was dedicated to “News for nerds. Stuff that matters.” It featured about a dozen short, user-submitted stories about the technology news of the day.

Discussion: Business Insider, @webgard and Guardian

Jonathan Weinberg / The Huffington Post:

Is The Sun Paywall a Triumph for Marketing Over Journalism? — Journalism, British Media, Rupert Murdoch, THE SUN NEWSPAPER, The Sun Paywall, UK Media, Marketing And Journalism, News Is Free, Paywalls, UK News — It's now been one week since The Sun put its website behind a paywall …