Mediagazer: The Night Lady Gaga Blew Up the Internet with ‘Telephone’ (Natasha Vargas-Cooper/The Awl)

9:50 AM ET, March 14, 2010

Top News:

Fearing Drug Cartels, Reporters in Mexico Retreat — REYNOSA, Mexico — The big philosophical question in this gritty border town does not concern trees falling in the forest but bodies falling on the concrete: Does a shootout actually happen if the newspapers print nothing about it …

Jennifer Mendelsohn / New York Times:

Honey, Don't Bother Mommy. I'm Too Busy With My Blog and Building My Brand. — ON a brisk Saturday morning this month, a dedicated crew of about 90 women, most in their 30s or thereabouts, arrived at a waterfront hotel here, prepared for a daylong conference that offered to school …

Discussion: The Steve Rubel Stream and Edelman Digital

Randeep Ramesh / Guardian:

Google news tax could boost local papers, report says — Commission of inquiry calls for levies to promote new media, warning that too few interests control too many outlets — Google and other websites that carry news they do not produce should be taxed and the money generated used to prop …

Natasha Vargas-Cooper / The Awl:

The Night Lady Gaga Blew Up the Internet with ‘Telephone’ — Natasha: Can I ask you something? — Choire: Yes! — Natasha: Do you ‘get it’? — Natasha: Like Gaga overall. — Choire: I *largely* get it. I mean, obviously I groove on the, I guess, excitement level?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Speakeasy, Company Town, Welt Branding, The Atlantic Online, FishBowlLA, ScribeMedia.org, /Film and E! Online

Jon / CyberJournalist.net:

News is a social experience — The latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report, “Understanding the Participatory News Consumer,” examines how Americans are increasingly using their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess, and react to news. — The report says:

Michael Shaw / BAGnewsNotes:

Young National Guardsmen Inside their Armor — This is just one more photo that makes me wonder if anyone in Afghanistan ever checks out the Western newswires — especially the way the soldier lying on the floor of the mine-resistant vehicle, the photo cropped just below his crotch …

Drew Grant / Mediaite:

Fake News Reports Of Russian Invasion Send Georgians Panicking — In a War Of The Worlds-esque scenario (the Orson Welles adaptation, not the movie), residents of Georgia were thrown into a state of shock and panic when Imedi TV - a pro-government station - telecast an “imitation of events” …

Discussion: Reuters and The Spy Report

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Video: Texas Tribune's Evan Smith: ‘I Was A Hater, Then I Became A Zealot’ — One of the side benefits of coming to Austin for South By Southwest Interactive: spending some time at the Texas Tribune, the non-profit news site launched last November to cover statewide politics, public policy and government.

Brian X. Chen / Gadget Lab:

Apple's iPad Will Read Books Out Loud, Support Free E-Books — When it began taking pre-orders for the iPad this morning, Apple also published some new details about how the tablet device will function as an e-book reader. — It turns out the iPad will read books out loud to you with audio dictation …

Discussion: TeleRead, Gizmodo, eBookNewser, 901am, Fast Company, GalleyCat, VentureBeat and TheAppleBlog

Globe and Mail:

Torstar among final bidders for CanWest papers — Publisher, believed to be backed by Fairfax, will compete with other industry heavyweights in auction to be completed by April 30 — Lindsay Lohan and the E*Trade baby - Who would turn down a promotion? - What's an MER?

Ernst Poulsen / Online:

Danish Magazine Publishes Collaboratively Using Google Wave — One of the big questions in online journalism is how to engage users. A small Danish experiment on Google Wave may provide some hints. — In the last 10 years, we have learned that subtle changes in format on the Web …