Mediagazer: ‘The Daily Beast’ Lays Off Two Dozen Staffers (Paul Bond/Hollywood Reporter)

9:35 AM ET, October 9, 2013

Top News:

Rachel Bartlett / Journalism.co.uk:

Lionel Barber: FT.com to focus on ‘smart aggregation of content’ — In a memo to staff, published by the Financial Times today, editor Lionel Barber outlined ‘the next steps’ in its approach to digital-first' — The editor of the Financial Times has shared “the next steps” …

Discussion: Telegraph, @mathewi and Financial Times

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Financial Times to move to single global print edition — The Financial Times is to institute path-breaking changes to the production of its printed newspaper that appear to be the penultimate step towards becoming a digital-only publication. — A lengthy memo sent yesterday afternoon …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @dicktofel, @b50, @blakehounshell and @yavuzbaydar

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

UK press on collision course with Parliament over regulation plan which would ‘fatally undermine freedom of expression’ — The newspaper and magazine industry is on a collision course with the Government after condemning proposals on press regulation which could “fatally undermine freedom of expression”.

Discussion: @domponsford, BBC and The Huffington Post

Guardian:

Lord Justice Leveson faces standoff with MPs over press regulation — Judge's refusal to enter debate in Lords evidence sets him up for potential clash with Commons select committee on Wednesday — Lord Justice Leveson is facing a standoff with MPs after he repeatedly refused to be drawn …

Discussion: Press Gazette and @joshhalliday

Fraser Nelson / Spectator:
Sorry, Maria Miller. We still won't sign

Discussion: Press Gazette, @paullewismoney, @misterjorgensen, @alexmassie, @douglascarswell, @leshinton, @drwollastonmp and @make_trouble

Hugh Grant / Guardian:
Ignore the press barons: a royal charter is not ‘state regulation’

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @hackedoffhugh and Media Law Prof Blog

Nick Bilton / New York Times:

All Is Fair in Love and Twitter — Right in the center of South Park, a large, grassy oval near San Francisco's financial district, there is a rinky-dink playground with slides, ladders and firefighter poles, all dented and dinged, connected by gritty brown pylons.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Business Insider, GigaOM, @sarahgrieco, @1bobcohn, @nichcarlson, @ksadjadpour, @abstractsunday and @nycjim

Ellen McGirt / Fast Company:
Twitter Defines Itself By What Facebook Isn't

Discussion: @barrycunningham, @brian_frank and @emmashotthispic

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Journalists of the Jersey Shore: How a novice reporter built a news network from scratch — The first post went up sometime just before 2:34 p.m. on September 12. — Post by Jersey Shore Hurricane News. — Just a few minutes later, the first of 375 comments went up on the next post …

Discussion: @rdmersey and @jbenton

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The Week Gets Its Third Publisher in Three Years — The Week, the offline/online news aggregator, has a new publisher. — Tim Koorbusch, who had been running U.S. sales for Say Media for the last year, has replaced Michael Wolfe, who joined the company at the beginning of 2012.

Discussion: Publishing Executive …

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

President Obama Shuns TV Reporters During Shutdown Press Conference — President Barack Obama blamed Republicans in Congress for putting the country on the brink of financial disaster in a Tuesday press conference about the government shutdown that clocked more than an hour …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, Erik Wemple and Politico

Politico:
No healthcare questions at Obama presser

Discussion: TVNewser, @tommyxtopher, @ethanklapper, @tommyxtopher, @tommyxtopher, @ethanklapper, @tvnewser, @ethanklapper, @ethanklapper, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, @whpresscorps and @allahpundit

Nick Hopkins / Guardian:

MI5 chief's criticism of Snowden and the Guardian is hardly unexpected — Sir Andrew Parker's position is understandable given what he does, but it isn't the only view - even within intelligence circles — Sir Andrew Parker made an important speech on Tuesday night.

Discussion: Telegraph, Press Gazette, UPI, International Business Times, Sky News, Fox News, Daily Mail, @ggreenwald, The Week UK, ITV News, Channel 4, @arusbridger, Techdirt, The Independent and BBC

Alastair Reid / Journalism.co.uk:

Newsgames: Future media or a trivial pursuit? — Interactives have become a regular feature of any large news organisation's digital output, but some outlets, particularly smaller ones, are taking this further, into games — Copyright: By Martin Lopatka on Flickr. Some rights reserved

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Sports Illustrated Is Testing a New Type of Paywall — Sports Illustrated is testing a paywall that lets readers access its print articles early if they watch a 30-second video ad first. — The provider is Selectable Media, which has been testing consumers' willingness to watch video ads for free WiFi, music and games.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @larsalbright, Top Digital Journal News and Kirk LaPointe's …

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Video Networks Alloy Digital, Break Media to Merge Into Defy Media — Combined Company Projected to Rake in $100 Million in Revenue — In the latest sign of consolidation in online video, two major online video networks and production companies, Alloy Digital and Break Media will merge to form Defy Media …

Discussion: New York Times, VentureBeat, New York Business Journal and AllThingsD