Mediagazer: Roger Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman strikes back: The book is fact-checked (Dylan Byers/Politico)

6:20 PM ET, January 8, 2014

Top News:

Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:

NYT redesign: an end to page breaks in articles and a focus on tablets and subscribers — ‘New York Times’ Website Redesign Goes Back to the Future — The New York Times has rolled out its largest website redesign in seven years, but readers familiar with the newspaper might feel like it's a step back in time

Discussion: Open, Fast Company, Slate, @ianadelman, @ianadelman, @jbenton, @nathan_ford, Poynter, @dangillmor and SND

Brian Stelter / CNN Money:

New York Times redesign points to future of online publishing — The last time The New York Times embarked on a wholesale redesign of its Web site, in 2006, the iPhone wasn't on the market. Tablets like the iPad were still years away. — So the new design that The Times is unveiling Wednesday …

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal: Times Designers Are Monitoring Reaction to the Redesign, With Adjustments Possible

Lucia Moses / Adweek:
With Redesign, NYTimes.com Unveils Native Ad Platform

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Capital New York, Business Insider, New York Times, The Huffington Post, @bgrueskin, The New York Observer, The Dish and Refinery29

Joe Strupp / Media Matters:

Exclusive: Washington Post Reader Representative Departs, Replacement Unclear — Less than a year after taking the newly created post of reader representative at The Washington Post, Doug Feaver has left the paper, Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt confirmed Wednesday.

Discussion: @dangillmor and Poynter

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Washington Post Seeking Ezra Klein's Replacement — The Washington Post has approached The Atlantic's Derek Thompson to be the next editor of Wonkblog, according to a source familiar with the matter. — Thompson has not yet accepted the job, but The Post's recruitment of a replacement suggests …

New York Times:

New bio of Fox News Chief Roger Ailes details power struggles, desire for political influence — Biography Casts Critical Light on Fox News Chief — Roger Ailes was so eager to influence national politics that in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, he told fellow Fox News executives point-blank …

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Roger Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman strikes back: The book is fact-checked — Gabriel Sherman, the author of a highly anticipated biography of Roger Ailes, is hitting back at the Fox News chief's assertion that Sherman and his publisher did not fact-check the book prior to its publication.

Discussion: TVNewser, Erik Wemple, Mediaite and @joehagansays

Beth Healy / Boston Globe:

Globe publisher Christopher Mayer to step down — Boston Globe publisher Christopher Mayer said Wednesday that he plans to step down after nearly 30 years at the newspaper and four years at its helm, as part of a business transition under new owner John Henry.

Discussion: Media Nation

Beth Healy / The Boston Globe:

John Henry vows to make Globe ‘aggressively relevant’ — Boston Globe owner John Henry pledged to help make the newspaper and its websites “aggressively relevant” and successful in the coming years during a speech to a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast Wednesday.

Discussion: @mviser and @romenesko

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Sales of Online Movies Jumps; DVDs Continue to Decline — Delaying Availability of DVDs, Rentals Nudged Consumers … After years of trying to convince consumers to buy movies online, Hollywood found a solution in 2013: Make it the only option. — Digital movie purchases surged 47% …

Discussion: @benfritz

Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

AMA: How a Weird Internet Thing Became a Mainstream Delight — Reddit's question-and-answer format imports the aspirational norms of honesty and authenticity from pseudonymous Internet forums into mainstream interviews. — Barack Obama, Jerry Seinfeld, a line cook at Applebee's, and a guy with two penises walk into a bar.

Thanks:@steverubel

Ken Kurson / The New York Observer:

Two-Year-Old Observer Story About Soccer Mom Madam Incorrectly Named Post Editor — On March 29, 2012, the Observer ran a story that suggested the New York Post's editor in chief, Col Allan, was among the “powerful men found in transcripts of the surveillance audio from the five-year-long investigation” of Ms. Gristina.

Discussion: Capital New York and Capital New York

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Gabriel Snyder leaves The Wire, Andrew Golis takes over — Gabriel Snyder is leaving his job as editor-in-chief of The Wire, and Andrew Golis has been named “general manager” of the high-octane aggregation website published by Atlantic Media. Golis will conduct a search for a new editor-in-chief for the site.

Discussion: FOLIO, The New York Observer, FishbowlNY, @jessicavalenti, @gabrielsnyder, @rzgreenfield, @connorsimpson and @agolis

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Bob Costas Says NBC's Olympics Broadcast Won't Ignore Russia's Anti-Gay Laws — NEW YORK — Bob Costas, the face of NBC's primetime Sochi Olympics coverage, recently made headlines by telling the Associated Press that he was more interested in interviewing President Vladimir Putin …

Discussion: Mediaite

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Sony Doesn't Have the Deals It Needs for Web TV — But That's Not Its Real Problem — Last year, Intel said it was going to deliver pay TV over the Web by the end of 2013. That didn't work out. — Now Sony says it will deliver pay TV over the Web sometime in 2014. Can it deliver? — Maybe!

Discussion: FierceOnlineVideo News and @jessicalessin