Mediagazer: Google rolls out digital textbooks, to buy and rent — but students should shop around (Laura Hazard Owen/GigaOM)

1:10 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: AllThingsD, Columbia Journalism Review, Business Insider, 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, Adweek, LA Observed, streetfightmag.com, FishbowlNY, CNNMoney.com, Bloomberg, @passantino, Kirk LaPointe's … and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Fires Employee for Taking Picture — Things are a little tense over at AOL, with hundreds of Patch staffers facing layoffs as the hyperlocal news service continues to slide. And it's not just them: during a meeting about the layoffs, AOL's chief allegedly canned an exec just for trying to take his picture.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and Business Insider

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.

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

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

Kim Stephens / Brisbane Times:
Brisbane cafe bans Murdoch press

Discussion: ninemsn, @vermeera 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

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

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:
What would it look like if the Times had to find a Bezos, too?

Discussion: streetfightmag.com, Forbes, Forbes, WWD Media Headlines, The Wrap, @jayrosen_nyu and @tmcgev

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 …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Tumblr Had $16.6 Million Left When Yahoo Bought It — In the wake of Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr, there was some chatter about how much runway David Karp would have had if he hadn't sold the company. — Now we know, sort of: Tumblr, which had raised $125 million since 2007, had $16.6 million in cash left when Yahoo bought it.

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

Associated Press:
Tumblr Founder to Get $81M to Remain at Yahoo

Discussion: Softpedia News

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

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 …

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

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: Poynter, TVSpy, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

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

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

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Rupert Murdoch keeps succession plan a secret — Rupert Murdoch on Thursday declined to say who might succeed him as chief of 21st Century Fox. Pictured: Murdoch arrives at the Allen & Co. annual conference on July 12, 2013, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images / July 12, 2013)

Discussion: Variety

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

NBC-GlobalPost an intriguing media partnership … An alliance with news website GlobalPost means more foreign coverage for NBC. — CONNECT — It could be the classic trade that helps both teams. And years ago, it would have been unthinkable. — News organizations joining forces was considered anathema.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Time Warner Cable Taking Bigger Hit Than CBS in PR War Over Blackout: Survey — Cable operator's consumer-perception score drops lower into negative territory while the Eye has neutral rating, according to YouGov — Consumers have increasingly negative views of both Time Warner Cable …

Discussion: The Wrap, The New Yorker Blog, CNET, Reuters, The Huffington Post, B&C, Radio & Television …, Broadcasting & Cable and New York Business Journal

Liana B. Baker / Reuters:
CBS, Time Warner Cable trade barbs on Day 7 of blackout

Discussion: Deadline.com, The New York Observer, Telegraph, @matthewkeyslive, The Desk and Vulture

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Fox's Chase Carey calls a la carte programming ‘a fantasy’ — 21st Century Fox Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey underscored the value of sports programming and downplayed calls to end the bundling of television channels. During Fox's Investor Day presentations Thursday …

Discussion: Reuters