Mediagazer: Amazon Continues Its Higher Ed Book Sales March At Purdue, Offers Staffed On-Campus Pickup (Darrell Etherington/TechCrunch)

7:00 AM ET, August 15, 2014

Top News:

Gary Strauss / USA Today:

Icahn takes 6.6 percent stake of Gannett, wants role in company's planned split — Carl Icahn places bet on Gannett — Activist investor Carl Icahn has taken 6.6% stake in Gannett, saying he wants a role in the company's planned split of its TV and newspaper divisions.

Discussion: Deadline, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg and Forbes

Will Oremus / Slate:

Peretti: deleted BuzzFeed posts were created before company chose to become journalistic — One Viral Media Company That Isn't Evil, Just Misunderstood — Thirty-Nine Listicles Whose Sourcing Is Shaky at Best. — One Writer Fired for Plagiarism. — Four Thousand Old Posts That Mysteriously Disappeared.

Discussion: New York Magazine, @mathewi, @clarajeffery, @peretti, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, @seanmcelwee, Gawker, @mlcalderone, @timfernholz, @peretti and @jackshafer

David Holmes / PandoDaily:

If Twitter implements a Facebook-style algorithm, you may not hear about the next Ferguson — Like many across the country, I've been closely following the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, allegedly at the hands of an white cop.

Discussion: Medium, @nrmehta, @sarahcuda, @jennatar, @steveo772, TechCrunch, @tonyromm and SocialTimes

David Uberti / Columbia Journalism Review:

Why Obama's statement on reporters' arrests in Ferguson is hypocritical — Obama defends reporters in Ferguson, but demands compliance from James Risen — In a news conference Thursday addressing the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown and resulting unrest in Ferguson, MO …

Discussion: Latest News & Headlines, Poynter, Mediaite, Guardian, Quartz, @heytammybruce, @tonygorder, @meghabuda, Global Voices, Reporter's Committee … and @freedomofpress

Brian Fung / Washington Post:
How the absence of tweets led journalists to figure out that two reporters had been arrested

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:

“Meet the Press:” Gregory out, Todd in — NBC will name Chuck Todd the new host of “Meet the Press” as early as Thursday afternoon, according to people with direct knowledge of the network's plans. — The sources confirmed widespread speculation that David Gregory, the moderator …

Ethan Zuckerman / The Atlantic Online:

Ad-supported web led to targeting and surveillance as a default; let's try again, with fees for service — The Internet's Original Sin — Ron Carlson's short story “What We Wanted To Do” takes the form of an apology from a villager who failed to protect his comrades from marauding Visigoths.

Discussion: Gigaom, Gizmodo, @sethmnookin, @theatlantic, @medriscoll, Engadget, @chx, @mgeist, @anildash, @skap5, @mccarthyryanj, @scottros, @adriennelaf, @acarvin, @dangillmor, @evgenymorozov, @mathewi, @pkedrosky, @emmaogreen and @medialab

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
Don't give up on the advertising model - make it better

Discussion: @zimbalist, @jeffjarvis and @jason_kint

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Amazon Continues Its Higher Ed Book Sales March At Purdue, Offers Staffed On-Campus Pickup — Amazon debuted a program that seemed both inevitable and unthinkable earlier this year, depending on your perspective, when it teamed with UC Davis for a unique school-specific storefront that provided …

Discussion: GalleyCat

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Lab:

Racist content forces Thought Catalog to put barriers between contributors and Twitter — There's no need to enumerate the breadth and variety of godawful content published by millennial angst engine Thought Catalog. The site's propensity for publishing garbage is so well known, they actually address it in the FAQs.

Discussion: Salon, @craigsj, @robinhardwick, @blacknerdjade, @bigcityjames, @rantingowl, @mf_greatest, @snipy, @aschweig, Gawker and Mediaite

Amanda Meade / Guardian:

Australian ABC faces more cuts amid major restructure, says Managing Director Mark Scott — ABC faces more cuts amid major restructure, says Mark Scott — Managing director says ‘significant decisions’ on funding priorities will follow once Canberra makes budget clear

Discussion: mUmBRELLA and ABC

Hollywood Reporter:

Xbox Shops Entertainment Studio to Warner Bros. — Microsoft's TV production arm might not be gone for good — Microsoft may have decided to shutter its nascent Xbox Entertainment Studios but it's not necessarily game over for the Santa Monica studio. — Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter …

Discussion: The Verge, Windows Phone Central and Polygon

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Bill Shine, Brian Jones to Take Expanded Roles at Fox Business — Fox Business Network is getting new day-to-day leadership. — Fox News Channel, Bill Shine, a Fox News veteran ho has been involved with the 21st Century Fox-owned outlet since its 1996 launch, will take a greater role …

Discussion: TVNewser and Wall Street Journal, Thanks:@bluechoochoo

Alejandro Davila Fragoso / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Press freedom groups file petition to halt legal action against N.Y. Times reporter — WASHINGTON — For six years James Risen, a reporter of The New York Times, has been battling prosecutors who want him to identify an anonymous source. And despite his setbacks, he's willing to keep fighting.

Discussion: Guardian, Politico, Voice of America and Latest News & Headlines

John Herrman / The Awl:

How the influential Drudge Report covered police shooting and ensuing unrest in Ferguson, Mo. — Ferguson, Missouri, According to Drudge — “Today Matt Drudge can influence the news like Walter Cronkite did,” Mark Halperin said in a 2006 interview promoting his new book, cowritten with John Harris, who had not yet founded Politico.

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Washington Post

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

Police: Tear Gas Not Fired at Al Jazeera News Crew Intentionally (Video) — Raw video shows an Al Jazeera America news crew covering the Ferguson, Mo., protests being hit with tear gas. After they fled, a SWAT team pulled up to dismantle their equipment. — The footage has become …