Mediagazer: The New York Times' identity crisis (Michael Wolff/Guardian)

3:00 PM ET, September 3, 2013

Top News:

Jeffrey Bezos, Washington Post's next owner, aims for a new ‘golden era’ at the newspaper — Jeffrey P. Bezos, the next owner of The Washington Post, says he doesn't have all the answers for what's ailing the newspaper industry or for the financially challenged news organization he is preparing to buy.

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Amazon accidentally reveals new Kindle Paperwhite and September 30th release date — Ahead of any official announcement, Amazon briefly listed an updated, second-generation Kindle Paperwhite on its website this morning. As spotted by users at this Croatian forum, the product listing suggests …

Discussion: Amazon.com, TechCrunch, Engadget, Digital Spy, @jbenton, @tcarmody, Huffington Post UK, Gizmodo, Softpedia News and GeekWire

Don Reisinger / CNET:

Amazon offically announces all-new Kindle Paperwhite — The device leaked earlier today on a forum, and now, Amazon has confirmed its existence. — Amazon has officially announced its second-generation Paperwhite after the company mistakenly released details earlier today.

Discussion: GalleyCat, GigaOM and The Next Web

Reuters:

CBS win squeezes Time Warner Cable's margins - analysts — (Reuters) - CBS Corp won large increases in the fees it will receive from Time Warner Cable Inc in its agreement with the cable operator that ended a month-long blackout of CBS, Showtime and other channels in key cities, analysts said.

Discussion: CBS News, Poynter and Los Angeles Times

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
With Time Warner Cable Deal, CBS Seeks To Ensure Its Digital Future

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg, B&C, Variety, Guardian, @sherman4949, @samgustin, WebProNews, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Media & Entertainment, Radio & Television …, Broadcasting & Cable, The Verge and ReadWrite

Los Angeles Times:
Time Warner Cable and CBS reach distribution deal

Discussion: TVbytheNumbers, Forbes, @hiltzikm, @joshtpm, Variety, @jbflint, @cbssports, @carsondaly, @jbflint, @cnbc, TIME, Wall Street Journal, NPR, USA Today, Deadline.com, The New York Observer, The Atlantic Wire and @dodgerslakers

Nick Wingfield / NYT Bits:

Amazon Pairs Print and Digital Books With New Program — For most readers, print and electronic books are an either-or proposition. There just isn't a compelling reason to buy both editions of one book, at least not at full price. — Amazon is about to test how much appetite …

Discussion: Amazon.com, paidContent, Forbes, Forbes, TechCrunch, CNET, PublishersWeekly.com, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, ZDNet, Business Insider, @sfiegerman, @piercedavid, The Bookseller, GeekWire and @tim_stevens

Susan Hogan / Poynter:

College papers cutting back on print editions — At least three college newspapers announced this month that they're going to cut their print schedules — the University of Illinois' Daily Illini, the University of Missouri's The Maneater and San Diego State University's The Aztec.

Discussion: @matwilcox, @niemanlab and @politicaleditor

Christopher Heine / Adweek:

Yahoo Hires Former AOL Exec to Run Ad Business — Yahoo has officially tapped Ned Brody—who held a number of executive titles for AOL during the last decade—to run its ad sales for North America and South America. The announcement ends months of speculation that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer …

Discussion: AllThingsD, Yahoo!, FishbowlNY, Wall Street Journal and WebProNews

Patrick Smith / TheMediaBriefing:

Future hit by revenue slowdown and cost challenges as 55 jobs go — You know when people said the transition to a multichannel, digital-led publishing environment wouldn't be easy, they weren't joking. Underlining this point is Future, which has today informed 55 staff that their roles …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Egyptian court orders closure of al-Jazeera affiliate — Qatar-based broadcaster's local affiliate to be shut down, along with three other channels, Ahrar 25, Al-Yarmuk and Al-Quds — A court in Egypt has ordered the closure of al-Jazeera's local affiliate and three other channels.

Discussion: TVNewser, @tvnewslab and BBC

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

VEVO Hires Nielsen Digital Exec Jonathan Carson As Chief Revenue Officer — Ever since launch, music video distributor VEVO has been working to increase monetization of its digital properties, highlighting the pure volume of videos and high engagement that viewers have on its site …

Discussion: Financial Times and The Next Web

Press Gazette:

Channel 5's Geoff Hill is the new editor of ITV News — ITN has appointed Channel 5 News editor Geoff Hill as editor of ITV Network News. — Hill will take on responsibility for all ITV national news programming, ITV News London and ITN's Tonight programmes as well as the broadcaster's website and live streams.

Discussion: Guardian and ITV

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

The New York Times' identity crisis — A painful rift is developing between editors and executives over a new vision of the newspaper as a distributor of digital ‘product’ — The media business used to be organized around forms and genres. Books, newspapers, films. Fiction, non-fiction, news, drama.

Jasper Hamill / The Register:

Wikileaks' Cablegate server touted on eBay for $3k-plus by Swedes — Assange™ memorabilia ‘erased to NSA specs’ — Whistleblowing website Wikileaks has attacked a former ally after one of the servers used to host the infamous Cablegate material was put up for auction on eBay.

Discussion: Gizmodo, @regvulture and The Swedish Wire