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Chief Of ABC News Is Resigning (NYT)
David Westin, the longtime president of ABC News, has decided to resign his position on Tuesday. In an e-mail that Westin sent to the staff on Monday night, he pledged to stay in the position until the end of the year to give ABC time to find a replacement. The decision, one of the staff members said on Monday night, relates to a long-running conflict between Westin and the management of the network, including ABC's parent company, Disney, over the financial standing of the news division. TVNewser: Westin wrote in his memo to staff: "I am confident ABC News is better positioned for the future than it has been at any time since I came here in March of 1997. As rewarding as I've found my time here, there are some other things I want to do professionally -- things that I cannot explore while fulfilling my responsibilities here."
Washington Times Struggles Amid Divisions Of Family, Ideology, Finances (WaPo)
The Washington Times' future rests on a fragile deal. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, represented by a trio of recently fired Times executives, is negotiating to purchase the paper back from his son Preston Moon for $1, according to an internal Times memo. Former and current Times employees say that under the buyback proposal, Moon and his top aides would also assume the paper's $8 million to $10 million in liabilities and debt.
What Did Rupert Murdoch (And Son James) Know, And When Did They Know It? (Newser) The New York Times Sunday Magazine's story last week about how the Murdoch organization systematically hacked into the voicemail messages of just about anybody who is anybody in London -- a story that few UK news outlets, save for the Guardian, have touched, and that Scotland Yard has been loath to pursue -- is a rousing whodunit with many smoking guns. But it is as menacing to the Murdochs for what's not in it. Indeed, the story is even more powerful as a threat whose second part is yet to be written.
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DGA Files Complaint Against Fox News For Illegal Contribution To GOP Candidate (HuffPo)
Keeping up its war with Fox News, the Democratic Governors Association on Thursday filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission accusing Fox of making an illegal in-kind contribution to gubernatorial candidate John Kasich (R-OH). The complaint, clocking in at seven pages and signed by the DGA's Executive Director Nathan Daschle, makes some far-reaching charges.
All The Propaganda That's Fit To Print (Newsweek)
Xinhua may be the future of news for one big reason: cost. Most news organizations are in retreat, shuttering bureaus and laying off journalists. But the former "Red China News Agency" doesn't need to worry about the inconvenience of turning a profit. As a result, it might do for news what China's state-run factories have done for tawdry baubles and cheap clothes: take something that has become a commodity and foist it onto the world far more cheaply than anyone else can.
A New Digital Battlefield (WSJ)
TV shows are emerging as a new front in the war over digital media between Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc., amid their ongoing battles over electronic books and online music. Hours after Apple said Wednesday that it would begin renting some shows for 99 cents per episode, Amazon cut its price on a similar set of shows to 99 cents from $2.99. And unlike Apple, which rents the videos, Amazon lets its customers buy the shows.
