Mediagazer: Penguin Random House Plans to Combine 2 Units (Alexandra Alter/New York Times)

5:50 PM ET, September 3, 2014

Top News:

US Says Sotloff Beheading Video Is Authentic — WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says it has determined that a video showing the brutal killing of freelance journalist Steven Sotloff is authentic. — Islamic State extremists released the video showing Sotloff's beheading on Tuesday.

Discussion: US Department of State, Los Angeles Times, Committee to Protect …, Guardian, Guardian, @nscpress, BBC, Amnesty International, Fox News and The Wire

Peter Beaumont / Guardian:

Murdered journalist Steven Sotloff had dual US-Israeli citizenship — Journalist kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic State militants managed to hide his second nationality during his captivity — Steven Sotloff, the kidnapped journalist beheaded by Islamic State, was a dual Israeli-US citizen …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Reuters, thejc.com, The Straits Times, Mashable, @jakesherman, NBC News, ejpress.org and International Business Times

Joel Simon / Columbia Journalism Review:
Is it time to end media blackouts?

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Beast and The Dish

Uri Friedman / The Atlantic Online:
The Stories Steven Sotloff Told

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

USA Today lays off between 60 and 70 staffers — USA Today laid off between 60 and 70 staffers Wednesday, with about half those cuts hitting its newsroom, a company source tells Poynter. — Gannett, which owns USA Today, announced in August it plans to spin off its publishing business.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, JIMROMENESKO.COM, The New York Observer, @ednagundersen, @abdub29, @bookbobminz, @abeaujon, Ashvegas, @murdochdavis, @steph_steinberg, @johnlpitts and bizjournals

Washington Post:

New Post publisher: Strong Washington ties and longtime interest in the news business — Washington Post owner Jeffrey P. Bezos is replacing publisher Katharine Weymouth with Frederick J. Ryan Jr., a former Reagan administration official who was part of the founding leadership team of Politico.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer, @kamenintheloop, @wexler, @ktumulty, Capital New York, @gabrielsherman, @jimpoco, @mateagold, @sinderbrand, @jamisonfoser, @chicoharlan, @mlcalderone and @themarkberman

Harry Jaffe / Washingtonian:
Bezos's replacement for Weymouth as publisher at the Post is an old-school organization man in a digital age.

Discussion: @washingtonian, @jayrosen_nyu and @stevebuttry

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
Katharine Weymouth's resignation completes the close of the Graham era at the Washington Post

Discussion: Prof Chris Daly's Blog, Washington Post, New York Times, Media Myth Alert, bookforum.com, The New York Observer, @poynter, @sulliview and @mrbutterworth

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

BuzzFeed Wants to Beef Up Its Business News — Everyone knows that BuzzFeed does lists and quizzes and videos you like to click on and share. Some people know that BuzzFeed also does reporting from far-flung places, and some delicate, thoughtful features. — But not many people know that BuzzFeed also does business reporting.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @joepompeo, @reformedbroker, @buzzfeedben, @moorehn, @peterlauria3, @hamburger and @sfiegerman

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

How the Fox v.TVEyes lawsuit might impact the future of news — More on How a Fox News Lawsuit Might Impact the Future of News — TVEyes asserts that it serves the public interest by facilitating criticism of Fox News — Is Fox News about to be decimated by a media-monitoring service?

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, @alexweprin and @adammswift

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

The Guardian taps former Google exec to strengthen tech industry ties — As tech plays an increasingly important role in the news business, U.K. media company the Guardian has decided to open up its first office on the west coast. — It makes sense that the company would want to strengthen …

Nancy Scola / Washington Post:

Comcast bets on hyper-local by reviving EveryBlock — The cable giant Comcast is reviving the once-future of local online news, announcing on its corporate blog that it has expanded its relaunch of the news and social site EveryBlock to include its home city of Philadelphia …

Discussion: corporate.comcast.com, @nancyscola, @digiphile and NetNewsCheck Latest

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Gracenote Acquires TV And Film Data Provider Baseline For $50 Million — It looks like new Gracenote CEO John Batter is already making a mark on the company he only officially joined yesterday. Today the company is announcing that it acquired Baseline, another provider of information …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, VentureBeat, PR Newswire and hypebot

Michael Daly / The Daily Beast:

From ISIS Videos to JLaw Nudes, When Is Looking Abetting Evil? — The Steven Sotloff execution video, like the James Foley video before it, was made for you to see. The stolen celebrity nude photos were never meant for you to see. So should you? — To look or not to look, that is the question of this digital age.

Discussion: @mathewi and TIME

Bill Carter / New York Times:

‘The Simpsons’ Marathon Lifts Ratings for Fledgling FXX Network — A quarter-century ago, the animated comedy “The Simpsons” put the fledgling Fox network on the map as the fourth broadcast network. Now, with a much-promoted marathon of all 552 episodes that ended Monday, “The Simpsons” …

Discussion: TVbytheNumbers and Inside TV

John McDermott / Digiday:

After public setbacks, the future of Gawker's Kinja platform unclear — Gawker's push to make Kinja the quintessential platform-publisher hybrid has taken a slight step backward: Playboy has stopped publishing its “safe for work” stories to its Kinja account PlayboySFW.

Discussion: @niemanlab

Alexandra Alter / New York Times:

Penguin Random House Plans to Combine 2 Units — In the latest reorganization at Penguin Random House since the two publishers merged last year, the company will combine two units in another effort to streamline its operations. — Markus Dohle, the chief executive of Penguin Random House …

Discussion: Deadline and Bookseller news

John Plunkett / Guardian:

Next BBC Trust chair needs to act as ‘firewall’, says Tessa Jowell — Former culture secretary says former FT chief Rona Fairhead should stop government's ‘periodic raids’ on licence fee — Tessa Jowell was one of the architects of the BBC Trust, replacing the corporation's board of governors as its regulatory body.

Discussion: Poynter

Lou Clancy / INMA:

Postmedia editors come together to develop one touch, one design, one newsroom — In the face of budget cuts, Postmedia's editors decided they were stronger together than apart. In response, they developed a cohesive strategy with leadership buy-in that strengthened all of the company's newsrooms.