Mediagazer: Director Is Elected at Times Co. (New York Times)

1:25 PM ET, April 29, 2010

Top News:

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

U.S. Subpoenas Times Reporter Over Book on C.I.A. — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is seeking to compel a writer to testify about his confidential sources for a 2006 book about the Central Intelligence Agency, a rare step that was authorized by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Gawker, Hot Air and Romenesko

Tim Wu / Slate:

Don't Prosecute Gizmodo for the iPhone That Walked Into a Bar … - The Senate Tries To Get Goldman Sachs To Admit They're a Bunch of Jerks- Now Doulas Are Assisting During Abortions as Well as Childbirth- The Incredibly Unfair Trial of Muslim Activist Syed Fahad Hashmi- Troy Patterson: Is Happy Town the Next Lost?

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, Fast Company, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, Daring Fireball and All Things Digital

Gawker.TV:

Jon Stewart Slams Apple Over Its Handling of Gizmodo Case — Tonight on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart gave his take regarding Gizmodo's iPhone exclusive and the subsequent police raid on Jason Chen's home. Speaking directly to Apple and Steve Jobs, Stewart didn't hold back his criticism of them.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Mashable! and BoomTown

New York Times:

Director Is Elected at Times Co. — Carolyn Greenspon, a fifth-generation member of the family that controls The New York Times Company, was elected as a director. — Ms. Greenspon, 41, a psychotherapist, was approved by shareholders to serve on the board at the company's annual meeting on Tuesday.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and The Wire

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
Have Money? Arthur Sulzberger Wants A Deeper Relationship

Discussion: The Wire, Cision, Comments on and The New York Times Company

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Before The Paywall, Murdoch Stops Disclosing UK News Site Traffic — With nearly a month to go before News International raises its first paywall in June, both Times Online and Sun Online have stopped publishing their user numbers through the ABC in the UK.

Discussion: Guardian, FishbowlNY, mediabistro.com, Journalism.co.uk, Editors Weblog, Brand Republic and Techdirt

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

The Huffington Post Starts To Give Out Badges To Readers — The Huffington Post is taking on more of the trappings of a social network. Borrowing from Foursquare, today it will start giving out badges to loyal readers who comment like crazy and share HuffPost stories via Facebook and Twitter …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and GigaOM

Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:

Apple to Charge a Premium to Put Ads in Mobile Apps — Setting a high bar for its debut in the advertising business, Apple Inc. aims to charge close to $1 million for ads on its mobile devices this year and perhaps even more to be among the first, ad executives say.

Discussion: Mashable!, MacRumors, Silicon Alley Insider and All Things Digital

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

NYTer's tweet sparks ‘off the record’ definition debate — Nick Bilton (left) tweeted that a Facebook employee told him “off the record” that CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn't believe in privacy. The Times reporter contends “'off record' means there is no attribution to who it is but conversation …

Discussion: Epicenter, All Facebook and Fast Company

Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:

Linking Customer Loyalty With Social Networking — PEPSICO wants to sell its customers sodas whether they are near a grocery store, a restaurant or a gas station. With a new partnership that weaves its loyalty program into the location-based network Foursquare, PepsiCo gets a live notification …

Discussion: Conversion Rater and AdPulp

Philly.com:

Phila. Newspapers sold to lenders — NEW YORK - Brian P. Tierney, CEO of Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., announced Wednesday afternoon that the company that owns the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News has been sold to its senior lenders for $135 million.

Gillian Reagan / The Wire:
Bankrupt Philadelphia Newspapers Sell For $135 Million

Discussion: Romenesko and FishbowlNY

Shelley DuBois / Fortune:

Steve and Tim Forbes head upstairs, eye new COO — (Fortune) — After 19 years running Forbes magazine, CEO Steve Forbes and his brother, COO Tim Forbes, are planning a reshuffle in management. Headhunter Michele James, CEO and founder of James & Co, has contacted at least one bona fide candidate for the job of COO of Forbes.

Discussion: Romenesko, DailyFinance, The Wire and New York Observer

Jeremy Caplan / Digits:

The iPad and the Future of Text — Digital text is at a crossroads, and the iPad's momentum could nudge it in one of two directions. — Down one path lies a world in which words are increasingly digitized in iPad-like e-readers that function like locked glass boxes.

Discussion: TeleRead

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter Online:

How News Organizations Hope to Benefit from Facebook's New Features — Facebook's new plugins, which help integrate the social networking site with the rest of the Web, have presented news organizations with an opportunity to think more creatively about how they can use social media to meet their audiences' needs.

Discussion: TechCrunch, CyberJournalist.net, Digits and PR Newswire

Carol Midgley / Times of London:

Say what you like about journalists, we'd say it better — The spread of unsubstantiated celebrity rumours by “citizen reporters” shows how important it is to have professionals — I started getting the calls and texts last week from friends, associates and virtual strangers.

Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:

Soon-To-Be SNL Host Betty White Won't Do Nudity Or “Dope Jokes” — After a lengthy Facebook campaign, Betty White will host Saturday Night Live on May 8. — We asked the 88-year-old about the campaign on a conference call this afternoon in which she spoke about the pressure of SNL, “dope jokes” and nudity.

Discussion: ArtsBeat

Michael Cieply / Media Decoder:

More Members of Congress Oppose Trading of Movie Box-Office Futures — Political opposition to a pair of proposed exchanges that would trade futures contracts keyed to the movie box office grew on Wednesday, as 10 members of the House of Representatives sent the Commodity Futures Trading Commission …

Discussion: The Wire, The Wrap and Company Town

Motoko Rich / Media Decoder:

Scott Turow Elected President of the Authors Guild — The lawyer and the queen of teenage lit are in the house! — Scott Turow, the author of “Presumed Innocent” and the coming sequel, “Innocent,” has been elected president of the Authors Guild, a trade group that represents writers …

Cyn / All Things CNN:

Michael Ware leaves CNN — We won't be seeing any more of Michael on CNN... In addition to having taken a break recently in order to work on his book, it is no secret that he has been grappling with PTSD, brought on from the hellish years he worked in Baghdad.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Gawker, The Wire, TVNewser, Mediaite and New York Magazine

blogs.journalism.co.uk:

Coders meet journalists; journalists meet coders — Do journalists need to learn to code? Probably not, but those who can are likely to find themselves quickly snapped up by news organisations with interactive and data teams. — I have no grand hopes of learning to code properly …

Discussion: Journalistopia

Michael Rowland / ABC News:

News executive's drinking raised in ugly court battle — The unfair dismissal claim launched by sacked News Limited editor Bruce Guthrie was never going to be pretty, and events in Victoria's Supreme Court over the past few days have shown how ugly it is going to be.

Discussion: Crikey and Sydney Morning Herald

Bill Gurley / abovethecrowd.com:

When It Comes To Television Content, Affiliate Fees Make The World Go 'Round — Filed under: Internet,Web/Tech,online video,video | Tags: Affiliate Fees, Hollywood, Internet, online video, video … More often than not, we here in Silicon Valley are prone to idealism.

Discussion: Venture Capital Dispatch

Reuters:

Why reporters are down on Obama — One of the enduring storylines of Barack Obama's presidency, dating back to the earliest days of his candidacy, is that the press loves him. — “Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me,” Obama joked last year at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.