Mediagazer: Publishing industry reels after nine million fewer books are given as gifts in 2013 (Ian Burrell/The Independent)

10:55 PM ET, July 29, 2014

Top News:

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Despite Circulation Gains, Profit Falls 21% at New York Times Co. — Increased investments in digital products and a decline in print advertising weighed on The New York Times Company's second-quarter earnings, as profit slipped 21 percent. — The company on Tuesday reported $55.7 million …

Discussion: New York Times Company, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, CNNMoney.com, @hc, @bgrueskin, Talking New Media, WKRB News, Reuters, The New York Observer, Capital New York, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, Forbes, @romenesko and @breakingmoney

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

The NYT's new paywall products flounder — Early problems for the paper's new apps — The New York Times's expanded paywall offerings are off to a poor start, and its three-year run of higher circulation revenue may be at an end. — The Times's digital-subscription strategy …

Discussion: Poynter, @joepompeo, @ryanchittum and @dancow

Sam Kirkland / Poynter:
New York Times adds 32,000 digital-only subscribers as profit falls

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Capital New York, NetNewsCheck Latest, Media & Entertainment, AdExchanger, AdAge and The Huffington Post

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:

New York Times Reporter Lifted Text From Wikipedia, Too — Last week, BuzzFeed fired Viral Politics editor Benny Johnson for lifting phrases and sentences from other sources, chiefly Wikipedia—a phenomenon some attributed to Johnson's lack of training and the Internet's lack of rules.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Poynter, Politico, @eringriffith, Talking Points Memo, @tylergreendc, @nbj914, @dylanbyers, @mathewi and @mattdpearce

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Interview with anonymous tweeters who exposed BuzzFeed editor Benny Johnson's plagiarism

Discussion: Live Q&A's, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @mattklewis, @mathewi, @andrewkirell, @cuffymeh, @timkmak, @mlcalderone, @joshtpm and @tomkludt

Dylan Byers / Politico:
BuzzFeed, online curation, and plagiarism: juggling temptation and a maturing content model

Discussion: Newsweek, @dannysullivan, @webbspective, @sarahw, @mkonnikova, @mattdpearce and @seanhackbarth

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:
Why ad buyers shrug at BuzzFeed's plagiarism scandal

Discussion: New York Magazine, Plagiarism Today, Business Insider and Washington Post

Lynne Marek / Chicago Business:

Tribune Publishing CEO: We're buying newspapers — Tribune Publishing Co. CEO Jack Griffin isn't selling off newspapers. He wants to acquire more of them. — Despite all the speculation about a sale of Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and/or the other Tribune dailies …

Discussion: Poynter and Los Angeles Times

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Twitter soars 34% after hours as monthly active users grow 24% year-over-year to 271M — Twitter Picked Up 16M Active Users In Q2 — In its most recent quarter, Twitter didn't just report stronger-than-expected financials. It also showed continued user growth, which has been an ongoing concern for the company.

Discussion: Forbes, TechCrunch, Gigaom, Re/code, Electronista, ReadWrite, Globe and Mail, BBC, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, @pkafka, Bloomberg, Business Insider, @jguynn, @niemanlab, The Verge, AdAge, ZDNet, @jguynn and PandoDaily

Amazon.com:

Amazon proposes 35/35/30 split, says cheaper e-book prices offer more profit to all — Update re: Amazon/Hachette Business Interruption — This discussion has reached the maximum length permitted, and cannot accept new replies. Start a new discussion — See latest post

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, The Verge and Mashable

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

BMW Runs the First Ads on Medium, Twitter Founders' Blogging Platform — Automaker Sponsors Medium's New Design Publication — Short Form Video — When blogging platform Medium begins publishing Re:form on Tuesday, its latest “collection,” readers may notice something entirely new to the site: advertising.

Discussion: Gigaom, The Next Web, SocialTimes, Digiday, @caro, @katelaurielee and @sam_a_klein, Thanks:@msebastian

Eliza Brooke / Fashionista:

Can Indie Magazines Launched on Kickstarter Not Only Survive, But Thrive? — Any guy with a hankering for potato salad can get funded on Kickstarter. For these independent magazines, it's the daily grind of keeping a print publication afloat after the campaign is over that's the real challenge.

Discussion: @knguyen, @fashionista_com and @lapresmidi

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Newspaper industry lost another 1,300 full-time editorial professionals in 2013 — The American Society of News Editors annual newsroom census, released today, found a net loss of another 1,300 full-time professionals last year. — That was better than the 2,600 net job loss in 2012 …

Discussion: @jacquib, @kevinbogardus, @rickedmonds, @poynter, FishbowlNY and The Huffington Post

Washington Post:

Senior official calls for release of Post reporter in Iran — A senior Obama administration official on Tuesday called on Iran to release a Washington Post journalist and his wife, as well as two other Americans who were arrested in Tehran last week without explanation.

Discussion: Washington Post, Voice of America, Reuters, @postbaron, Associated Press and The Newspaper Guild

Ernesto Londoño / Washington Post:
State Department urges Iran to release Washington Post correspondent

Discussion: hrw.org/rss/news, US Department of State, @londonoe, @rezamarashi, @marcburleigh and Committee to Protect …

Ted Johnson / Variety:

FCC Chairman Threatens to Intervene to Resolve Dodgers TV Dispute — FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, in a strongly worded letter to Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus, said that the agency “will intervene as appropriate” to resolve the dispute that has kept the Dodgers unavailable to some 70% of viewers in the Los Angeles region.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Deadline.com, @repcardenas and Multichannel News

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

Publishing industry reels after nine million fewer books are given as gifts in 2013 — The number of books being given as gifts has fallen by nine million in a year, delivering a new financial blow to the publishing industry as UK consumers turn away from hard copies in favour of digital reads.

Discussion: bookforum.com

WikiLeaks:

Australia bans reporting of international bank corruption case on ‘national security’ grounds — Australia bans reporting of multi-nation corruption case involving Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam — WikiLeaks releases an unprecedented Australian censorship order concerning …