Mediagazer: Rachel Maddow Touts the ‘The Maddow Blog’ (Felix Gillette/New York Observer)

1:05 PM ET, May 7, 2010

Top News:

Slim has his pickings — MEXICAN billionaire Carlos Slim is wheeling and dealing his way through the media world. — According to people familiar with the matter, Slim is sinking more money into The New York Times Co., doubling his current 7 percent stake, while also visiting the offices of Newsweek …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, The Wire, Fitz & Jen, Vanity Fair and Romenesko

Reuters:

Mexican tycoon Slim not doubling NY Times stake -aide — * Washington Post looking to sell Newsweek — Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is not doubling his stake in New York Times Co (NYT.N) or looking to acquire Newsweek magazine or silver miner Fresnillo, one of his close aides told Reuters on Friday.

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Newsweek's hazy future

Discussion: Tuned In, Newser, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, Mediaite and New York Observer

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

On a Dramatic Afternoon for Dow, a Scramble to Cover the Story — Cable news anchors and financial Web sites struggled to keep up as the Dow fell nearly 1,000 points and then mostly rebounded in a matter of minutes Thursday afternoon. — As my colleague David Carr put it just now …

Discussion: The Wire, Felix Salmon, TechCrunch, Inside Cable News, TVNewser, VentureBeat and Talking Biz News

Joe Weisenthal / The Wire:
THE MOST EXCITING MOMENT IN CNBC HISTORY: Jim Cramer Saves The Market

Discussion: CNBC, Silicon Alley Insider, Wonkette, Hot Air and Newsbroke

Felix Gillette / New York Observer:

Rachel Maddow Touts the ‘The Maddow Blog’ — “I think a lot of times the blog is better than the show,” said Rachel Maddow. — It was Thursday afternoon, and Ms. Maddow was on the phone with Media Mob talking about her team's newly revamped platform, The Maddow Blog, which quietly launched a few months ago.

Discussion: The Wire, WebNewser and The Huffington Post

Jolie O'Dell / Mashable!:

Wikipedia Now Lets You Order Printed Books — Wikipedia's launching a new feature for English readers: The ability to create custom books from Wikipedia's huge bank of free content. Because of the way Wikipedia's images and copy are licensed, they're free for anyone to access, use and share in this way.

Discussion: Lost Remote

Emily Bryson York / AdAge:

McDonald's to Use Facebook's Upcoming Location Feature — Brands Eager to Build Apps Once Massive Social Network Launches Its Own Foursquare Competitor — CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Facebook is preparing to launch location-based status updates for its users.

Discussion: VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Digits, Fast Company, Lost Remote, MediaMemo, Mashable!, ReadWriteWeb, BRANDING UNBOUND, Screenwerk, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, GigaOM, Inside Facebook and the Econsultancy blog

Ryan Lawler / NewTeeVee:

Is Brightcove the Next Flash? — It was just a few years ago that Adobe's Flash revolutionized video publishing by enabling media companies to reach a vast number of consumers with a plugin that ensured a consistent rich media experience across multiple operating systems and browsers.

Jesse Fruhwirth / Salt Lake City Weekly …:

Chronicle staff investigated for “PENIS” gag — FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, in conjunction with the Student Press Law Center, have written a letter to university administration in support of the Chrony 9. “These actions are unacceptable,” they write.

Discussion: Romenesko, Mediaite, splc.org and Deseret News

Mary Elizabeth Williams / Salon:

The horror of NPR's copycat story — Did a “Morning Edition” segment lift its ideas from a satirical viral video? — On Wednesday, NPR's “Morning Edition” correspondent Beth Accomando did a humorous segment on a modern-day horror movie cliché called “The Cell Phone Always Dies First.”

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Today's Zaman Mobile Edition:

Al-Jazeera considering Turkish broadcast — Given the importance of Turkey for the Arab world, Al-Jazeera is giving serious thought to beginning Turkish-language broadcasts, Qatari Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Hamad Bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari has said.

Andrew Romano / Newsweek Blogs:

Why the Media Ignored the Nashville Flood — As you may have heard, torrential downpours in the southeast flooded the Tennessee capital of Nashville over the weekend, lifting the Cumberland River 13 feet above flood stage, causing an estimated $1 billion in damage, and killing more than 30 people.

Discussion: Mediaite, Romenesko, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, Big Journalism, Hot Air, Random Mumblings and CNN

Paul Bradshaw / Online Journalism Blog:

UK general election 2010 - online journalism is ordinary — Has online journalism become ordinary? Are the approaches starting to standardise? Little has stood out in the online journalism coverage of this election - the innovation of previous years has been replaced by consolidation.

Discussion: One Man & His Blog, Editors Weblog, Journalism.co.uk and Mirror.co.uk

Jason Chupick / PRNewser:

The FCC's Embedded Journalist Is Really a Spokesman — On Monday night the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) senior advisor to the chairman Steve Waldman tried out the agency's “Reboot” message on a tough crowd: regulation averse digerati from Silicon Alley.

Discussion: TVNewser, FishbowlNY and UnBeige

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

HBO on Your iPad? There Won't Be an App for That (For a While). — Wouldn't it be awesome if you could buy a subscription to HBO without having to pay for cable? You could just beam the shows straight to your laptop or iPad or whatever. — Not going to happen. At least not anytime soon, says Jeff Bewkes.

Discussion: Poynter Online, Electronista and Seeking Alpha

Paul J. Gough / Hollywood Reporter:

Networks banking on World Cup — Soccer tourney begins June 11 in South Africa — As the World Cup ads say, one game changes everything. — ESPN is counting on that maxim to justify its biggest marketing blitz to date for a single event, designed to position the sports nicher …

Michael Miner / Chicago Reader:

The Sun-Times Preserves its Photo Archive by Selling It — Is the Sun-Times selling off its heritage at garage sale prices? The other day eBay put up for auction an item from the paper's archives described as “Original Photo 1913 Thomas Edison Family NICE!!!” Bidding started at $10 and ended four days later at $27.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Romenesko and Fitz & Jen

Ian Shapira / Story Lab:

Should journalists out each other's sources? — On Wednesday morning, I read a piece on the Politico web site speculating about the identity of confidential sources who helped me break a story about negotiations to sell The Washington Times. Initially, the Politico headline …

Discussion: FishbowlDC

Maureen O'Connor / Gawker:

Guy Who Sent Us Washington Post's Malcolm X-Obama Mix-Up Denies Hoax — The Washington Post claims a much blogged-about photo caption blooper was a “hoax.” But the guy who sent the screencap to us stands by it: “I don't even have Photoshop on my computer! Also two co-workers saw my screen.”