Mediagazer: Russian News Agency Shuttered Due to Swears (Benjamin Bidder/Spiegel Online)

12:30 PM ET, November 1, 2013

Top News:

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Andy Coulson was warned that buying palace phone book was illegal, jury told — Phone-hacking trial hears that News of the World reporter told editor ‘criminal charges’ could result from payment to police — Andy Coulson was warned in an email from a reporter on the News of the World that he could face …

Dominic Casciani / BBC:

Phone-hacking trial: Andy Coulson told editor ‘do his phone’ — Mr Goodman and Mr Coulson face two counts in relation to paying for royal directories. Prosecution will elaborate after a break. #hacking — Dominic Casciani @BBCDomC … Dominic Casciani @BBCDomC

Discussion: Guardian, Reuters, Reuters, @bbcnews and Guardian

Dylan Byers / Politico:

President Obama, off the record — President Barack Obama is often accused of being insular. He's not a schmoozer. He doesn't like meeting with lawmakers, and he doesn't particularly care for talking to reporters, either. — But get him in an off-the-record setting with a small group …

Discussion: Hit & Run, @kirstenpowers10, @thomas_drake1 and @jgreendc

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Johnston Press to launch 'people's paper', with 75% of content from public — Regional publisher denies ‘Bourne Experiment’ is about cutting costs, and hopes it proves new model for small weekly papers — Regional publisher Johnston Press is to attempt a radical reinvention of one of its titles …

Discussion: @charliebeckett and @ashleyhi

Tom Slee / The New Inquiry:

Pierre Omidyar's journalistic venture is another of his efforts to fuse philanthropy with profit — so far, not so good — Pierre Omidyar's journalistic venture is another of his efforts to fuse philanthropy with profit — so far, not so good — There is no doubt that the new journalism …

Discussion: @zunguzungu and @adrianchen

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Kindle First lets Prime members read one upcoming Amazon-published ebook in advance each month, for free — Amazon announced a new perk for Prime members on Friday: A program called “Kindle First” will let them read one upcoming Amazon Publishing ebook, from a choice of four …

Discussion: GalleyCat, MarketWatch, The Verge, The Next Web and GeekWire

Benjamin Bidder / Spiegel Online:

Russian News Agency Shuttered Due to Swears — Russia's media watchdog agency has forced the closure of the Rosbalt news organization because of two YouTube videos containing swear words. Russian journalists are furious, calling it the latest attack on freedom of the press.

Sam Kirkland / Poynter:

Why USA Today's huge growth in digital circulation isn't what it seems — The Alliance for Audited Media released a new round of circulation figures today — a twice-yearly occasion for newspapers to write about themselves. In true Halloween spirit, a few of them published press releases disguised …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, Associated Press, Chicago Sun Times, Denver Post, Media & Entertainment and Poynter

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:
Struggling industry throttles newspaper metrics

Discussion: @newsosaur, BtoB Magazine, Alliance for Audited Media and The Wrap

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Machinima, the YouTube Giant Looking for New Money, Is Also Looking for a New CEO — Machinima, the giant YouTube network that caters to gamers, is looking for a new chief executive — at the same time it is trying to close a big funding round. — Allen DeBevoise, the company's co-founder …

Washington Post Company:

The Washington Post Company Reports Third Quarter Earnings — The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) today reported income from continuing operations attributable to common shares of $56.0 million ($7.53 per share) for the third quarter of 2013, compared to $56.3 million ($7.58 per share) for the third quarter of 2012.

Discussion: Talking New Media

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Vocativ Brings The Tools Of The Spy World Into The Newsroom — If you were to eavesdrop on social-media conversations all over the world involving the term “NSA” and run a sentiment analysis on the results, you'd probably find that the wire-tapping spy agency is none too popular with just about anyone these days.

Discussion: @michaelroston and @emilybell

PJ Vogt / On The Media:

Mother Jones co-editor Clara Jeffrey talks about the subreddit ban of her magazine — WHAT IT'S LIKE WHEN REDDITORS BAN YOUR WEBSITE — /R/ politics is one of Reddit's most popular subreddits, with over three million accounts subscribed. On Monday, its moderators added a bunch of websites to their banned list.

Discussion: Mother Jones, @onthemedia, @mmasnick and @dannysullivan

Andrea Peterson / The Switch:

Comcast is donating heavily to defeat the mayor who is bringing gigabit fiber to Seattle — One of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn's big policy initiatives has been expanding the quality and quantity of high-speed Internet access throughout the city. A public-private partnership plans …

Discussion: @freepress, TechCrunch, @jome20, @zeynep and GeekWire

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Time Warner Left Bruised in Fee Battle With CBS — Time Warner Cable on Thursday reported the steepest quarterly loss of television subscribers in its history, which it attributed at least in part to the monthlong battle it had with the CBS Corporation in August. — The CBS blackout ended in early September.