Mediagazer: Zagat was “Crowd Sourcing” Citizen Journalism Way Before it Was Cool (Andy Plesser/Beet.TV)

3:25 PM ET, April 21, 2010

Top News:

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:

Mike Allen, the Man the White House Wakes Up To — Before he goes to sleep, between 11 and midnight, Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, typically checks in by e-mail with the same reporter: Mike Allen of Politico, who is also the first reporter Pfeiffer corresponds with after he wakes up at 4:20.

Discussion: CJR, Gawker, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, The Wire, The Awl, Washington Post, Romenesko, Vanity Fair, Wonkette, Matthew Yglesias, Mediaite, On Media's Blog, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, FishbowlDC and Gothamist

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Politico announces hires from NYO, NYP, Newsweek, other news outlets — We have lots of exciting staff moves, so let's get straight to the news: — Hillary Frey, formerly of the New York Observer, is our new media and style editor. Hillary can flat-out write — and her mission is simple …

Discussion: Strupp, Wonkette and The Wire

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism:

Guardian's Emily Bell named director of Tow Center for Digital Journalism — Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism today announces that Emily Bell, Director of Digital Content for Britain's Guardian News and Media, has been named the Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism.

Discussion: Romenesko, paidContent, Guardian and Epicenter

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Risky Business: Omidyar's Hawaiian News Startup Civil Beat Comes With Steep Price Tag — It sounds as idyllic as the scenery: an online civic square launching May 4 where Hawaiians can, as founder Pierre Omdiyar explains, “learn about and better understand our home, the challenges we face …

Discussion: Romenesko, Star Bulletin, civilbeat.com, Fitz & Jen, Groundswell, LocalNewser, Black Web 2.0 and Biz Bites

Pierre Omidyar / civilbeat.com:
Welcome to Honolulu Civil Beat

Discussion: Business Week

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

8M iPhone Gawker(s) — The next-generation iPhone that fell into the hands of an editor at Gawker Media's tech Web site Gizmodo has been returned to Apple, likely putting to rest questions about whether Gawker might be on the hook for being in possession of stolen property.

Discussion: BNET

Greg Sandoval / Media Maverick:
Did lost iPhone lead to blog bidding war?

Discussion: Gawker and Gizmodo

Jeff Bercovici / DailyFinance:
Why Apple Should Sue Gawker Over ‘Lost’ iPhone Story

Discussion: Inquirer, The Atlantic Online, Slate, The Awl, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Technovia, NowPublic.com, Charles Apple, Gizmodo, Doc Searls Weblog, PC Magazine, The Moderate Voice, Edible Apple, PC World, Oddly Together, The Wire and CJR

Joel Johnson / Gizmodo:
Apple Didn't Leak the iPhone—and Why That Matters

Media Week:

Reuters to overhaul website and hints at charging for content — LONDON - Reuters is set to relaunch its UK website, reuters.co.uk, this week and has hinted at the possibility of charging for elements of its content. — Reuters: overhauls website — The revamp of its website comes as Reuters …

Discussion: Editors Weblog and paidContent

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

MSNBC Pulls the Plug on Donny Deutsch's Weeklong Anchoring Stint — A week-long anchoring stint on MSNBC by Donny Deutsch ended abruptly on Wednesday, and four people briefed on the decision said the cancellation stemmed from an unflattering mention of that channel's No. 1 anchor, Keith Olbermann, a day earlier.

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite, MediaWire Daily, The Wire, New York Observer and Gawker

Craig Newmark / The Huffington Post:

Trust, Factchecking, and the News Media Landscape To Come — What's Your Reaction: … Okay, you hear me talking “trust is the new black” and that power and influence will shift dramatically to the people and groups with the best reputations and largest networks.

Discussion: The Wire and NewsLab

Alexandra Fenwick / CJR:
Checking In On “This Week's” Fact Checking

Discussion: Media on HuffingtonPost.com and WebNewser

MediaPost:

Bank of America Sponsors History's ‘America’ — Cable network History is getting some unusual advertising/programming help for its massive 12-hour series “America: The Story of Us” from Bank of America. — Bank of America is not only the presenting sponsor of the series — it will produce …

Discussion: Multichannel and Broadcasting & Cable

Choire / The Awl:

Gabriel Snyder Now Executive Editor of ‘Newsweek’ Digital — Oh, it's a tricky job—and one recently vacated. The former editor of Gawker, however, is yet just the latest victim of the hiring thaw in Manhattan media!

Robert Niles / Online Journalism Review:

Student journalists need to learn SEO more than they need AP style — By Robert Niles: Last week, journalists reacting to the Associated Press's announcement that it would replace “Web site” with “website” in the AP Stylebook pushed the phrase “AP Stylebook” onto Twitter's trending topics list.

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Zagat was “Crowd Sourcing” Citizen Journalism Way Before it Was Cool — Over 30 years ago, Nina and Tim Zagat, two Yale Law School-trained Wall Street lawyers, figured that while critics have important things to say about food and wine, it would be a good plan to source the opinions …

Discussion: Gawker and WebNewser

Carl DiOrio / Hollywood Reporter:

‘Sex and the City 2’ tickets already a hot item — Sales ‘brisk’ even though sequel doesn't open for six weeks — Talk about hot to trot: Tickets to presumed summer sizzler “Sex and the City 2” began selling just over six weeks before the start of Warner Bros.' May 27 opener.

Discussion: /Film, New York Magazine, Gothamist and Gawker

Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:

TV Stations Record Rev Gains In Web Sites, Digital Efforts — TV stations' Web businesses fared better than newspapers' declining digital efforts in 2009, but TV is still behind in overall advertising share of media dollars. — According to new data from the Television Bureau of Advertising …

NetNewsCheck Latest:
Local TV Grew Web Sales Faster Than Papers

Discussion: rbr.com and Broadcasting & Cable

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

Late Nights at Disney Over Miramax: At $625M, Deal Close to Done — The Weinstein brothers' five-day negotiating window to try and seal the deal to buy the Miramax library from Disney expires on Wednesday, and it's not done yet. That said, the architecture of a final agreement has come into place …

Discussion: Blogs and Stories

John Koblin / New York Observer:

On Newsday's Sports Page, It's All Good — Newsday has a new policy for its sports page. The paper's editors have told their writers there has to be a new, softer tone. They don't want loaded words. They don't want name-calling. They don't want stories to be unnecessarily harsh.

Discussion: The Awl and Romenesko

Sam Bayard / Citizen Media Law Project:

Breaking News: Dow Jones Files “Hot News” Case Against Briefing.com — A Dow Jones press release on BusinessWire announces that the financial media giant filed a lawsuit today against Briefing.com, alleging that the subscription-based financial site misappropriated its headlines and articles.

Discussion: Business Wire and Fitz & Jen