Mediagazer: Fake Area Newspaper Gets Real Television Show (Dave Itzkoff/ArtsBeat)

9:00 AM ET, March 23, 2010

Top News:

Rafat Ali / paidContent:

Local Blog Network Gothamist Being Bought by Cablevision's Rainbow Media — Gothamist, the local city blog network that is best known for its New York City edition, is being acquired by Cablevision-owned Rainbow Media, paidContent has learned. The price is between $5 million to $6 million …

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, We Love DC, FishBowlNY, Techdirt, State of the Fourth Estate, NYConvergence, WebNewser, Gawker, Lost Remote, Media Decoder, The Wire, New York Magazine and DealBook

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:

BlogBeat: Gothamist Sells Out to Cablevision, James Dolan Presumably Excited to Ruin Another News Outlet — Gothamist — the New York City metro news blog and subsequent locally-based “Ist” properties — long a punchline among bloggers who poked at its overly excitable tones …

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider

Media Decoder:

Perseus Signs an EBooks Deal for the iPad — Apple's iBookstore on the forthcoming iPad is set to get larger. The company has just signed a deal with the largest distributor of independent publishers to sell electronic versions of it books on the new device.

Discussion: GalleyCat, TeleRead, Silicon Alley Insider, Publishers Weekly, The Huffington Post and Electronista

New York Times:
The iPad App Derby Gets Under Way

Discussion: GMSV, paidContent, Ars Technica, New Yorker, Engadget, bookforum.com, Silicon Alley Insider, Online, TeleRead, TechFlash, Gizmodo, VentureBeat and MediaMemo

The Official Google Blog:

A new approach to China: an update — On January 12, we announced on this blog that Google and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during our investigation into these attacks we had uncovered evidence …

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
Chinese Media On The Google Situation: Nothing To See Here, Move Along

Discussion: Guardian and All Things Digital

Dave Itzkoff / ArtsBeat:

Fake Area Newspaper Gets Real Television Show — The Onion, the satirical news organization that broke the fake story that the smoke monster from “Lost” would receive its own spin-off series and cheekily reported that television critics who praised “The Wire” had never seen the show, is itself headed to the small screen.

Discussion: The Wire, Romenesko, FishBowlNY, New York Magazine and Mashable!

Richard Perez-Pena / Media Decoder:

The Times Introduces a Daily Video Report — The New York Times on Monday began producing a daily video on its Web site, summarizing the big news stories of the day. — The program, called TimesCast, lasting a few minutes, will appear on the nytimes.com home page at 1 p.m. each day …

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Silicon Alley Insider, The Wrap, CyberJournalist.net and BusinessJournalism.org …

Dan Frommer / Silicon Alley Insider: TechCrunch Poaches Forbes Anchor To Launch Video Product

Jason Fry / Reinventing the Newsroom:

Facebook and the Future of Refrigerator Journalism — Last month I wrote about how finding information and choosing what to read makes the Web a more personal medium, an idea that came to me after reading a Q&A with Batavian publisher Howard Owens. In the comments, Roy Peter Clark raised a good point that's nagged at me ever since:

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Geoffrey A. Fowler / Digits:

Let the E-Reader Price War Begin? Sony Drops to $169 … Sony says it is cutting the price on its entry-level e-book reader, dubbed the Pocket Reader, to $169 — perhaps the first in a coming price war for the devices. — Sony's $30 discount only lasts through April 4 …

Discussion: Kindle Review, DailyFinance, TeleRead and All Things Digital

Mark McLaughlin / Media on HuffingtonPost.com:

Audiences Don't Pay for Content — The media industry needs to get healthy but we won't get there if we think about the Internet as the reason that consumers have stopped paying for content. Instead, we need to take a dispassionate view of mass media content and ask ourselves why the Internet …

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Show by Rosie Is Envisioned as Replacement for Oprah — LOS ANGELES — Rosie O'Donnell's forthcoming talk show will be squarely positioned as a suitable replacement for Oprah Winfrey, her producers said on Monday, adding a new twist in an effort by local stations to revamp their lineups in a post-Winfrey era.

Discussion: Media Decoder, TVbytheNumbers, MediaPost and B&C

New York Magazine:
The O in Network — Can Oprah the channel succeed without Oprah the talk-show star?

Discussion: The Wire and Company Town

Newsosaur / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

News site visitors look like early tech adopters — Far from being fuddy-duddy Luddites, newspaper website visitors actually appear to be early and passionate technology adopters. — The surprisingly high interest in high tech among online news consumers is revealed in a ground-breaking poll …

Discussion: New Media Hub and Online

Laura McGann / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Lauren Victoria Burke's WDCPIX: A photojournalist builds business by aiming at sites that can't afford wires — Lauren Victoria Burke's strategy for success in the world of political photography is simple: undercut the Associated Press. — Burke runs a one-woman photography wire service in Washington …

Discussion: BusinessJournalism.org …

Nielsen Wire:

Americans Using TV and Internet Together 35% More Than A Year Ago — Americans increased their overall media usage and media multitasking according to The Nielsen Company's latest Three Screen Report, which tracks consumption across TV, Internet and mobile phones.

Discussion: Media News, Reuters, MediaPost, Podcasting News, Gawker, Company Town, NewTeeVee, TVbytheNumbers, The Business Insider, Mashable! and The Live Feed | THR

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

Murdoch's Unhealthy Obsession — Taking on The New York Times isn't risk-free for the Journal — Richard Pérez-Peña has several interesting bits in his piece on the soon-to-commence Battle for New York between his own New York Times and Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal.

Discussion: City Room, Michael Calderone's Blog, Fitz & Jen and New York Observer

Media Buyer Planner:
WSJ's Attempt to ‘Kill’ New York Times Debuts April 12

Discussion: Media Decoder, Editors Weblog, The Wire, Gothamist and Media News International

Richard Sandomir / New York Times:

TV Sports: Woods's Interviewers Had Limited Time but Missed Chances — In five minutes on ESPN and six on the Golf Channel, Tiger Woods did not say much that was new Sunday night. — But that does not matter. Whatever Woods does now is more interesting than it was before his glorious golf career turned …

Discussion: Media Decoder, TVNewser, New York Magazine and Collective Talent

Jason Boog / GalleyCat:

Adult Hardcover Sales Down 8.1 Percent in January — In a release today, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) reported that overall book sales for January 2010 had dropped 0.7 percent to $814.9 million. Adult hardcover sales dropped 8.1 percent over that same period …

Discussion: Gawker

Knight Foundation:

Initiative Will Seek New National Model For Investigative Journalism — $400,000 grant from Knight Foundation will fund project at New England Center for Investigative Reporting — BOSTON — Boston University's New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NECIR) is launching a new initiative …

Discussion: KnightBlog

Leah Betancourt / E-Media Tidbits:

TweetDeck Newsroom Rollout Continues at Sky News — Sky News is taking significant steps to require that its newsroom is literate in social media. In January, the media company began installing the Twitter desktop application TweetDeck on newsroom computers.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, The Changing Newsroom, Guardian and Editors Weblog

Jane Martinson / Guardian:

Elisabeth Murdoch on Shine, family succession and ambition — Interview: Elisabeth Murdoch reveals her plans for her independent producer, Shine — Elisabeth Murdoch sits down, eyes the voice recorder, and says “I have to be careful”. The head of Shine, the UK's largest independent producer …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter

Brian Steinberg / AdAge:

Online TV-Watching Becomes Interactive Experience — NBC to Unveil Video Viewer Placed Amid Brand-Sponsored Web Content — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Is a computer terminal like a movie screen? Well, for the past few years, TV networks and other purveyors of TV programs online have tried …

Discussion: MediaPost and WebNewser

Steve Rosenbaum / The Wire:

Bob Garfield: Mad Prophet of Madison Avenue — Bob Garfield has spent most of his professional career in and among the makers of what is now mostly called “Old Media.” TV shows, magazines, television commercials, and advertising. — So when The Mad Prophet of Madison Avenue wandered …

Discussion: ChasNote and AdPulp

Steve Buttry / Pursuing the Complete Community …:

Wanted: Vision for community engagement — One of the exciting things about my new job is that we're going to try some things that haven't been done before. We're going to try some things that haven't been done before on the scale we're doing them. We're going to try different ways …

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Hugo Chavez, Tired Of Oppressing Bloggers, Becomes One — Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is ready to find out what all the hype surrounding this “internet” thing is all about. Chavez announced on his weekend variety show Aló Presidente yesterday that he is about to expand his media empire …

Discussion: Dow Jones Newswires, Guanabee, Associated Press and Gawker