Was a piece of long-form investigative journalism on the risks of acetaminophen by  ProPublica and This American Life,  touted by The Atlantic's Peter Osnos as groundbreaking and life-saving, actually a waste of time and money? That's what Kevin Charman-Anderson asserts in this post, noting "It took me 30 seconds to find the relevant info on WebMD, and another 30 seconds to quickly scan the Tylenol site," he writes. "How long did it take ProPublica and This American Life? TWO YEARS AND $750,000. As an editor, I keep saying to myself: Where’s the story here?"

HBO president and chief operating officer Eric Kessler is leaving the company after 27 years. Because of "executive streamlining," HBO will not replace the COO position, though presumably will be getting a new president, since Kessler will still be working during "a transition period" cited by CEO Richard Plepler in an internal memo, writes Tim Baysinger.

Reuters is making a 5% cut in editorial staff jobs, "broadly distributed across the globe and across all levels of the news agency, including managers," writes Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke. "Notifications will be done mostly this month, although some may take longer because of different union standards around the world."

Harper's Bazaar Runway Report, formerly a print publication sold on the newsstand for five years, is revamping into a  the mag's first click-to-buy electronic special interest publication (eSIP). The first issue, available for download with the October edition of Bazaar, will be sponsored by department store Lord & Taylor -- though it is not an advertorial but "custom publishing," according to publisher Carol Smith. "They [L&T] don’t see the content beforehand and they don’t have approval on it," Smith tells writer Sharon Edelson. "We keep our editorial integrity, but L&T is very involved in the direction of the report."

Google's Chromecast streaming media player can now play Hulu Plus content. That's the first  partner Google has added since its July launch, but more are reportedly coming -- maybe HBO Go and Pandora -- with no firm launch dates, just talk about general negotiations.

The relaunch of cult design pub Domino could help write "the playbook for how magazines should integrate e-commerce," as one analyst suggests in this New York Times piece that actually fills in all the details other pubs have been speculating about (forgive us if we seem to have posted too many items about this recently -- we were fans of the original book).Still, the new print version of Domino -- launched "merely [as] a branding tool" for its e-commerce site, as Beth Fuchs Brenner, its chief revenue officer, tells author Penelope Green, is "a bit of a letdown, …

NBC Digital reportedly laid off about 5% of its staffers, according to "insiders" cited by Paul Bond. "The layoffs are part of an effort by Rob Hayes, the recently named executive vp digital media, to 'refocus and restructure' the business, one source said."

The federal government shut down could have unfortunate consequences for the TV industry, putting such big-deal mergers as "Gannett's $1.5 billion purchase of Belo, Tribune’s $2.7 billion deal to buy Local TV, or Sinclair’s $985 million takeover of Allbritton Communications on hold," writes Keach Hagey. "The FCC announced Tuesday that it was suspending the informal 180-day time clock for reviewing transactions as a result of the shutdown."

Crain's industry trade BtoB will discontinue publishing as a separate entity and be folded into Advertising Age at the start of 2014. "Another associated title, Media Business, has been on hiatus during the summer and will presumably be shuttered permanently by this move," writes D.B. Hebbard.

Disney's contract with Dish TV is being extended past its Sept. 30 expiration date while the two companies discuss two points of contention: "Dish’s ad-skipping technology and terms for two new Disney cable channels, according to people familiar with the discussions," writes Bloomberg reporters. "The deal prevented a blackout of ESPN and the Disney Channel for Dish subscribers, including ABC viewers in markets where Disney owns the stations, such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago."