Top News:
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Google's Chief Economist: “Newspapers Have Never Made Much Money From News” — Earlier today, Google chief economist Hal Varian gave a presentation to an FTC workshop on the changing economics of the newspaper industry. We all know that newspaper ad revenues have been falling off a cliff for years.
RELATED:
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Hal Varian is Right: Newspapers Need to Engage — As part of the Federal Trade Commission's ongoing hearings into the future of journalism, Google's chief economist Hal Varian gave a presentation on newspapers and their financial problems that is well worth taking some time to read (or view).
Gillian Reagan / Silicon Alley Insider:
Google's Insider View On Why Newspapers Are Screwed (GOOG) — “The fact of the matter is that newspapers have never made much money from news,” wrote Google's chief economist Hal Varian on the Google Public Policy blog. — Print newspapers traditionally “made money from the special interest sections …
Hal Varian / Google Public Policy Blog:
Newspaper economics: online and offline — It is widely recognized that the news industry is facing financial difficulties, but there is little agreement about the source of those difficulties or what can be done about them. The debate about the role of the web has been particularly heated …
Discussion:
Nieman Journalism Lab, Between the Lines, Romenesko, paidContent, The Atlantic Online, WHAT'S NEXT and Kirk LaPointe's …
TMZ.com:
Corey Haim Found Dead — Actor Corey Haim died this morning of an apparent overdose, according to LAPD. He was 38. — Police tell us they were called to St. Joseph's hospital in Burbank, CA shortly before 4AM PT to investigate. — Haim shot to fame in the 80s …
Discussion:
Gawker, New York Post, /Film, The Awl, NY Daily News, Mediaite, KABC-TV, MTV Movies Blog, Newsbroke and PopEater
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Los Angeles Times:
LAPD: 80s Teen Idol Corey Haim Dead at 38 — LOS ANGELES — Actor Corey Haim has died at the age of 38, the Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed to KTLA. — Haim died at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday of an apparent accidental overdose, according to the LAPD's North Hollywood Division.
James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:
Bay Area News Project has high hopes, few employees — A wealthy philanthropist has kicked in $5 million in seed money. A top management consultant has come up with a business plan. A renowned university will lend not only its students but research help.
Discussion:
Romenesko
Jeff Bercovici / DailyFinance:
BusinessWeek Prepares for Round Two of Layoffs — The other shoe is about to drop at BusinessWeek — or Bloomberg BusinessWeek, as it's been officially known since the financial news giant bought it last October. — Shortly after taking over the 80-year-old magazine, Bloomberg pruned its staff by a reported 30%.
Robert Feder / blogs.vocalo.org:
Memo puts WGN news staffers at a loss for words — Sure, you'd think the chief executive officer of a company struggling to emerge from bankruptcy and desperate to salvage an $8 billion buyout-gone-bad would have better things to do than pester his underlings with crazy proclamations.
Discussion:
Gawker
Elizabeth Jensen / Media Decoder:
Meacham of Newsweek in Talks for Weekly PBS Show — The Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of Newsweek, Jon Meacham, is negotiating to add a television job to his schedule. He is in final talks to be the co-host of a new PBS Friday night public affairs series called “Need to Know,” …
Discussion:
Romenesko, CJR, The Huffington Post, The Wire, Michael Calderone's Blog, FishBowlNY and FAIR
Joe Clark / A List Apart:
Web Standards for E-books — The internet did not replace television, which did not replace cinema, which did not replace books. E-books aren't going to replace books either. E-books are books, merely with a different form. — The electronic book is the latest example of how HTML continues …
Discussion:
TeleRead
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Girl With a One Track Mind smarts over ‘hooker’ headline — “Girl with a One Track Mind” blogger and author Zoe Margolis has said she is taking legal action against the Independent on Sunday after she was referred to as a “hooker” in a headline. — Margolis wrote an article for the Independent …
Andy Alexander / Ombudsman Blog:
Readers react to photo of two men kissing — Powerful photographs can have lasting impact, and a Post photo of two men kissing is an image that many readers can neither forget nor accept. — The photo, which ran on the newspaper's front page and online last week, captured Jeremy Ames …
Financial Times:
Bill threatens UK's reputation — From Mr Tom Alexander and others. — Sir, We regret that the House of Lords adopted amendment 120A to the digital economy bill ("Bill will censor internet, providers claim", March 6). This amendment not only significantly changes the injunctions procedure …
Sarah Rabil / Bloomberg:
Viacom Says ‘Daily Show’ May Return to Hulu if Model Changes — Viacom Inc. Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman said “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” may return to Hulu.com if the video site's business model changes. — “On the current economic model for Hulu there's …
Discussion:
Silicon Alley Insider
John Hudson / The Atlantic Wire:
My Traffic's Bigger Than Yours — It's no secret. Conservative media mogul Andrew Breitbart and libertarian commentator Conor Friedersdorf like to fight. Whether it's about journalistic ethics or left-wing media bias, the two spar relentlessly, passionately and intelligently.
Michael Schneider / Variety:
Clock winds down for ‘24’ — Fox appears close to ending series run — “24's” time is almost up. — 20th Century Fox TV and Fox appear ready to end the long-running hit after this season, the show's eighth. — Studio and network execs declined comment — but it's believed …
Pareene / Gawker:
Only Some Conspiracy Theories Welcome at Huffington Post — The Huffington Post removed a 9/11 “Truther” post from former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. According to their editor's note, “The Huffington Post's editorial policy, laid out in our blogger guidelines, prohibits the promotion …
Guardian:
Max Clifford drops News of the World phone hacking action in 1m deal — Tabloid accused of buying silence after persuading celebrity PR agent to drop case over interception of voicemail messages — The News of the World was tonight accused of buying silence in the phone-hacking scandal …
Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
NYT Ad Totally Swallows Trash-Talking Blog — Just last month, Gothamist boss Jake Dobkin was slamming the New York Times as uncompetitive, unoriginal, and lazy. Today, the NYT has plastered Gothamist with the most in-your-face wallpaper ad buy we've ever seen. Huh. Let's recall that rant!
Susan Carpenter / Los Angeles Times:
Young adult lit comes of age — Authors may gear their novels toward the junior and senior high crowd, but adults are snapping up the books, often about misfit teens or fantasy worlds. — It used to be that the only adults who read young adult literature were those who had a vested interest …
Discussion:
Bookninja
Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Covering the Street Protests in Tehran: How Reuters Curates UGC via Twitter — LONDON — In Iran, with significant limits on what it can cover from its bureau in Tehran, Reuters is following a cadre of citizen journalists on Twitter who provide camera-phone videos of street protests …
Laurie Sullivan / MediaPost:
Ad Publishing Tool Bridges Traditional And Online Media — Startup Analog Analytics emerges from stealth mode Tuesday to launch a software platform that gives local publishers the tools to offer interactive coupons and gift certificates in any media, from traditional to online.