Mediagazer: BP oil spill contract and letter cloud media access (unc.news21.com)

11:35 AM ET, May 31, 2010

Top News:

Media claim access to spill site has been limited — NEW ORLEANS — Media organizations say they are being allowed only limited access to areas impacted by the Gulf oil spill through restrictions on plane and boat traffic that are making it difficult to document the worst spill in U.S. history.

unc.news21.com:

BP oil spill contract and letter cloud media access — First, BP had workers sign a contract banning them from speaking to media. Then, almost three weeks later, the company took back the clause pertaining to the media in a letter to oil spill workers. — BP has made claims …

Discussion: New Orleans Times-Picayune

Eric Pfanner / New York Times:

London Newspapers Challenge Web's Gratis Orthodoxy — PARIS — A strange thing happened when I checked out the new Web sites from The Times and Sunday Times of London: I read some of the stories. Not just the headlines, but entire articles — even a review of “Sex and the City 2,” a film I hope I never have to watch.

Peter Preston / Guardian:
Rupert Murdoch's paywall at the Times may not be a disaster

Discussion: BabyBarista and Novel Copy

Kevin J. O'Brien / New York Times:

Mobile TV's Last Frontier: U.S. and Europe — BERLIN — When South Korea plays Greece on June 12 in its World Cup soccer opener in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, life will not necessarily grind to a halt back in Seoul. — Many fans will instead follow a live broadcast of the match on their mobile phones.

Steve Outing:

Reader comments: It's time to make 'em civil — Have you been watching the Honolulu Civil Beat news experiment? That's the Hawaii news website edited by John Temple (former editor of the defunct Rocky Mountain News) and financed by Pierre Omidyar (founder of eBay).

Ivor Shapiro / J-Source:

Stackhouse: Globe and Mail will relaunch as daily magazine — Daily “news” papers are doomed by broken economic and reporting models, John Stackhouse told a forum at the Canadian Association of Journalists conference May 29. But the EIC of The Globe and Mail said he draws hope …

Discussion: Canadian Magazines

Teddy Wayne / New York Times:

Online Buzz Doesn't Equate to Ratings — As might be expected for a series working toward its recent much-promoted finale, “Lost” generated the most engagement through social media of any show from February through April, according to Networked Insights, a social media analytics company.

Charles Bierbauer / WIS-TV:

USC journalism dean talks ethics, credibility of blogs … COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - The claims this week from political blogger Will Folks that he had an “inappropriate physical relationship” with Rep. Nikki Haley raised the question of ethics and credibility for blogs.

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

NSFW: Never Mind The Bollocks - Why Carol Bartz Can't Say What Yahoo Is Now — It's Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, and while my American friends are out in the sun, celebrating some holiday or other - is this one Memorial Day or Labor Day or Arbor Day? - I'm confined to my hotel room …

David Carr / New York Times:

The Media Equation: Bids for Newsweek Due This Week — This Wednesday at close of business, the first nonbinding letters of interest are due for Newsweek. — If I were at the Washington Post Company, which is selling the weekly after owning it for almost 50 years, I wouldn't be waiting at the mailbox.

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Detroit newspapers to restore daily home delivery in some areas — In March of 2009, the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press reduced home delivery to the three days most popular with advertisers — Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. In a just-announced program, the papers will sell Monday …

Discussion: Detroit Free Press and Gannett Blog

Verlyn Klinkenborg / New York Times:

Further Thoughts of a Novice E-Reader — I have been reading a lot on my iPad recently, and I have some complaints — not about the iPad but about the state of digital reading generally. Reading is a subtle thing, and its subtleties are artifacts of a venerable medium: words printed in ink on paper.

Discussion: Daring Fireball

AdAge:

Why You'll Pay More to See Popular Science on IPad — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Consumers who think iPad magazines editions should cost no more than print editions and perhaps should cost less — given all the money publishers save on paper, printing and distribution — are going to be disappointed.

Randall Stross / New York Times:

YouTube Wants You to Sit and Stay Awhile — TWO weeks ago, YouTube celebrated when the number of videos viewed daily on its site reached two billion, a milestone. — But it also used the occasion to express its envy of television's continuing hold on viewers: “Although the average user spends 15 minutes …