Mediagazer: Russia apologizes to Norwegian journalists held on Olympic trip (Thomas Grove/Reuters)

1:40 PM ET, November 6, 2013

Top News:

Alistair Barr / USA Today:

Amazon cozies up to book stores to sell Kindle devices — Amazon executive says new Amazon Source program will help physical stores be more relevant to customers. But Amazon needs physical store partners too — CONNECT — Amazon.com is turning to some of its natural rivals …

Discussion: Amazon.com, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Publishers Weekly, AllThingsD, @tcarmody and The Next Web

Deadline.com:

Deadline.com And Nikki Finke Parting Ways — Despite attempts by all to have it go otherwise, Nikki Finke will no longer be leading Deadline Hollywood, and she will not be writing weekend box office or filing stories going forward. This is an emotional and painful parting of the ways for us.

Discussion: @nikkifinke, Gawker, Mediaite, New York Times, Business Insider, The Wrap, Variety, @nikkifinke, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, @carr2n, LA Observed, @benfritz, FishbowlNY, @samontv and @popcornhaas

Ben Fritz / Speakeasy:
As Nikki Finke Exits Deadline, Dispute Over Her Plan for A New Site Grows

Discussion: @ethanwsj and @benfritz

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Time Inc. Spinoff Timing Delayed — It looks like Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp will have some more time to prepare for the publisher's spinoff from Time Warner. The split is now expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2014, Time Warner chairman Jeff Bewkes said during an earnings conference call.

Discussion: AllThingsD and Business Wire

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg: Time Warner's Profit Tops Estimates as Network Revenue Gains

Jack Marshall / Digiday:

How BuzzFeed Gives Native Ads a Traffic Boost — The story of modern media is wrapped up in this situation: “Native advertising” sometimes needs its own advertising for people to see it. — The problem with advertiser content on BuzzFeed and other publisher sites is that users just aren't always eager to consume it.

Discussion: @jbenton, @antderosa and @digiday

Business Wire:

Blockbuster to End Domestic Retail, DVD By Mail Services — Blockbuster to close remaining U.S. company-owned stores, DVD By Mail services by early-January 2014 — COMPANIES: — ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—(BUSINESS WIRE)— DISH Network Corporation (DISH) today announced that its subsidiary …

Discussion: Betabeat, /Film, New York Times, Home Media Magazine, Gigaom, bizjournals and @adamthierer

Reuters:

Al Qaeda-Linked Militants Claim Murder Of French Journalists In Mali — Mauritanian news website Sahara Medias said on Wednesday it had received a claim from al Qaeda-linked militants for the killing at the weekend of two French journalists in northern Mali.

Reporters Without Borders: Mali - Dim prospects for media freedom in north after French journalists' murder

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Sunday People launches seven-day Buzzfeed-style website entirely funded by ‘native advertising’ — Trinity Mirror today launched a stand-alone seven-day website for the Sunday People which is entirely funded by ‘native advertising’. — This means that the site will carry no display advertising …

Discussion: The Drum

Sarah Marshall / Journalism.co.uk:

How geolocation is being used to promote magazine apps — Music Week is now free when downloaded from Abbey Road and The Gooner is free at the Emirates Stadium — Copyright: Image courtesy of Exact Editions — Exact Editions, which packages magazine apps for publishers …

Discussion: Exact Editions

Press Association:

Mirror fails in bid to throw out phone-hacking cases — The High Court has refused to throw out phone-hacking damages claims brought against Mirror Group Newspapers by ex-footballer Garry Flitcroft and Abbie Gibson, former nanny to David and Victoria Beckham.

Discussion: Guardian, Interactive Investor and Life Style Extra

Darren Boyle / Press Gazette: Mirror group newspapers ‘habitually used phone-hacking’ High Court documents released today claim

BBC:

Blogger raises funds to tweet from phone-hacking trial — A blogger who turned to crowdfunding website Indiegogo to raise money to tweet from the UK's phone-hacking trial has hit his target. — Peter Jukes has raised more than £4,000 to pay “his living expenses” for the trial's duration.

Discussion: @peterjukes and @peterjukes

Malin Rising / Associated Press:

Swedish cinemas take aim at gender bias with Bechdel test rating — Movies need to pass test that gauges the active presence of women on screen in bid to promote gender equality — You expect movie ratings to tell you whether a film contains nudity, sex, profanity or violence.

Discussion: The Verge, Guardian, The Atlantic Wire, Telegraph and @weldonwk

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

The NYT paywall plugs the hole — Charting the state of The New York Times — Felix asks what my graph of New York Times digital revenue would look like including print ads. — Here's the original chart, which shows the paywall doubling NYT digital revenue in just over two years:

Discussion: @niemanlab and @ryanchittum

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Shhh! Amazon Starts a Semi-Secret Digital Focus Group for Its Homegrown TV Shows and Movies. — Amazon, which is starting to make its own TV shows, has already made a splash by letting anyone on the Web watch its test programs and weigh in on them. — Now it's starting a more selective effort …

Discussion: The Next Web, Softpedia News and The Verge

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

TV Discovery Startup i.TV Acquires GetGlue In Second-Screen App Mashup — Provo, Utah-based video discovery startup i.TV has acquired GetGlue, we've learned, as consolidation in the market for second-screen or companion TV apps continues. The acquisition, which is expected to be announced soon …

Discussion: AdAge, Mashable, i.TV and Digital TV Europe

Thomas Grove / Reuters:

Russia apologizes to Norwegian journalists held on Olympic trip — (Reuters) - Russia apologized on Wednesday to two foreign journalists who were repeatedly questioned and detained by police during a trip to report on the 2014 Winter Olympics preparations in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Discussion: Forbes, Big News Network.com, @miriamelder and hrw.org/rss/news

Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:

Google Ordered by Court to Block 9 Images in Max Mosley Case — Google Inc. (GOOG) was ordered by a Paris court to filter nine images linked to Max Mosley in a lawsuit seeking to block search results referring to a “Nazi-themed” sex party and the former Formula One president.

Discussion: The Verge

Bill Carter / New York Times:

CBS News Defends Its ‘60 Minutes’ Benghazi Report — CBS News, under fire from critics who dispute details in a “60 Minutes” report on the Benghazi attacks last year that was broadcast on Oct. 27, aggressively defended the report's accuracy on Tuesday and the account of its main interview subject.

Discussion: TVNewser, @jesslevin, @beychok, @mlcalderone, @ericboehlert, @romenesko and Philly.com

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Michael Bloomberg's post-mayoral day-job will be at Bloomberg View — Michael Bloomberg is getting back into the media business. — The outgoing three-term mayor of New York is planning to return to his namesake Bloomberg L.P. in a role that will see him primarily involved in its online opinion offering …