Mediagazer: Ignore user: New web tool lets readers block other kinds of tools … (Michael Roberts/The Latest Word)

5:55 PM ET, April 18, 2010

Top News:

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Volcano-Stranded Travelers Turn to Social Media — The Icelandic volcano eruption that stranded hundreds of thousands of travellers in Europe and elsewhere on Friday showed no signs of letting up on the weekend, continuing to belch a plume of ash that covered much of the European continent.

Discussion: Joho the Blog, BuzzMachine, New York Observer, The Imagination Age, Telegraph and chrisbrogan.com

Michael Roberts / The Latest Word:

Ignore user: New web tool lets readers block other kinds of tools — annoying commenters — The more often a given commentator visits a newspaper website, the more likely he is to decide that some of the other commentators bug the hell out of him. — But now, readers …

Roger Ebert / Roger Ebert's Journal:

Video games can never be art — Having once made the statement above, I have declined all opportunities to enlarge upon it or defend it. That seemed to be a fool's errand, especially given the volume of messages I receive urging me to play this game or that and recant the error of my ways.

Discussion: Geekosystem and EdCone.com

New York Post:

CNBC ‘Power’ shuffle — Change is afoot at CNBC. We hear the cable network is cutting its two-hour “Power Lunch” show in half and will devote the leftover hour to a new show, “Strategy Session,” hosted by David Faber, and an expanded version of “Fast Money Halftime Report,” from 15 minutes to 30.

Discussion: Inside Cable News

Laura Sydell / NPR:

Is Apple Acting Like An Old-Time, Broadcast Network? — Back in the day when broadcast networks ruled, they cast a wary eye on anything too political or provocative. — When Joan Baez went on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968, CBS censored the dedication to her husband who was in jail for resisting the draft.

Andrea Pitzer / Nieman Storyboard:

Travis Fox on NPR/Frontline collaboration: “I feel like it's a great model for the future” — We're longtime fans of the work of video producer Travis Fox, creator of engaging Web projects combining video and interactive elements. With so many journalists pondering narrative in the digital era …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Clark Hoyt / The Public Editor's Journal:

Anonymous Sources Postscript — Unfortunately, there were more examples of anonymous sources that drew reader complaints than I could include in this week's public editor column. — Here are two more: — James Johnson of Silver Spring, Md., was upset by an article late last month …

Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:

CNBC Guest Calls Jim Cramer “Public Relations Officer” For Goldman Sachs — The Goldman Sachs fraud lawsuit news today has the business news networks becoming must-see TV - and not just for the occasional curse word that slips out on-air. — Today during Jim Cramer's segment on CNBC's Street Signs …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Rafat Ali / paidContent:

If SNL Were To Do A Sketch About BusinessWeek Redesign... ...With an earnest young editor, too polished for his own good. Except this isn't a sketch, it is real. BusinessWeek under Bloomberg, brilliantly dubbed Bloomberg BusinessWeek, is relaunching the magazine on Apr 23rd …

Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:

No Free Lunch for Ning Users; Still Plenty of Bargains Elsewhere — The social networking platform Ning announced today that it was making some substantial changes to the company. The news, coming just one month after Jason Rosenthal replaced Gina Bianchini as CEO, was sour for both employees and for many users of the service.

Lauren Indvik / Mashable!:

Social Media Use on the Rise in TV Newsrooms [STATS] — A new study of television, radio and online media by RTDNA and Hofstra University reveals that use of social media in TV newsrooms is on the rise. 77% of TV newsrooms now use Twitter, with 36% of newsrooms claiming they use the microblogging service “constantly.”

Mark Fitzgerald / Editor and Publisher:

More Upbeat News: Moody's Removes Negative Outlook on Newspapers — CHICAGO Moody's Investors Service — the big credit agency firm that over the past 18 months cut its ratings of nearly all newspaper publisher to junk levels — said Friday it had changed its sector outlook for U.S. newspapers to stable, from negative.