Mediagazer: Former Forbes.com Publisher Jim Spanfeller Has VC Money; New Sites on the Way (Peter Kafka/MediaMemo)

3:20 PM ET, June 29, 2010

Top News:

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

NewsLabs folds just months after launch, regrets big promises to journalists — E-mails regarding the demise of NewsLabs — From: [Chief technology officer] Nathan Chong — As I'm sure you've noticed not much has been happening with the site recently. I'm very sorry to report that this is because NewsLabs is ending.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Hulu Unveils Subscription Service for $9.99 a Month — Putting to rest months of rumors, the online television Web site Hulu unveiled a subscription service on Tuesday, promising access to episodes of more shows to customers who pay $9.99 a month. — Recent episodes of shows on ABC, NBC …

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Former Forbes.com Publisher Jim Spanfeller Has VC Money; New Sites on the Way — Former Forbes.com publisher Jim Spanfeller has a new gig: A venture-backed Web publishing startup. — Spanfeller Media Group, which plans to launch a series of new sites, is close to finishing a funding round that I'm told will total around $2 million.

Discussion: Romenesko, Folio, paidContent and Media Buyer Planner

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

Jeff Bezos's mission: Compelling small publishers to think big — In the face of Kindle price cuts and wild iPad sales, Jeff Bezos is taking Amazon into new markets and onto every device he can. Will it be enough? — Jeff Bezos has been dismissed before.

Discussion: GalleyCat, TechCrunch, New York Observer, iPad Weekly, eMedia Vitals, Electronista and Kindle Review, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

There is no hot news. All news is hot news. — The most dangerous defensive tactic parried by legacy news organizations today is their attempt to claim ownership of “hot news” and prevent others from repeating what they gather at their expense for as long as they determine that news is still hot.

Discussion: Salon, DailyFinance, The Huffington Post, Danger Room, newsfeed.time.com, Gutenberg Revisited, The Daily Caller, /Message, bnet, The Wire, Guardian, The Wrap, Washington Wire, New York Times, TPMDC and Mediaite

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The two poles of journalism — With his Rolling Stone article …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Vanity Fair, The Nation, Wonkette, The Atlantic Wire and Divorced Manhattanite

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
Washington Post, ABC defend anonymous source's attack on sourcing …

Discussion: The Wrap, Pursuing the Complete …, The Huffington Post, The Plum Line and WWD

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
Rolling Stone and the Plight of the Not-Quite-Good-Enough Magazine

Discussion: B&C, Romenesko and CJR

Seth C. Lewis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Opening up journalism's boundaries to bring change back in: How Knight and its News Challenge have evolved — It was with considerable irony that I found myself last week missing much of the action surrounding the announcement of the latest winners of the Knight News Challenge …

Discussion: MediaShift

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

NBC sweatbox — It's going to be a long, hot summer at 30 Rock as NBC Universal senior staff sweat out who gets to stay with the company — and on what terms — as Comcast pushes for a possible fourth-quarter close on its purchase of NBC Universal. — While NBC Universal management …

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Newspapers Having Trouble Reporting On Their Own Paywalls — It appears that newspaper giant Gannett, owner of USA Today and a bunch of regional newspapers, is beginning to experiment with putting up some paywalls on many of its regional newspapers. Jeff Sonderman has been pointing out …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Fitz & Jen, eMedia Vitals and Common Sense Journalism

Bloomberg:

Apple's Jobs Due to Attend Sun Valley Media Executive Retreat — Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is due to attend the annual Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, giving him a chance to court executives he needs to add content to his company's products.

Discussion: Company Town and Silicon Alley Insider

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Asbury Park Press blog launches coffeehouse newsroom — Freehold InJersey & Asbury Park Press Launch Coffeeshop Newsroom — FREEHOLD, NJ — Freehold InJersey, a community news blog run by the Asbury Park Press and Gannett, has launched a coffeeshop newsroom in conjunction with Zebu Forno Cafe in Freehold, New Jersey.

Discussion: Freehold, Gannett Blog and the mojowire

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: Tyra Banks Picks Demand Media as America's Next Top Digital Business Model — Well-known modeling icon Tyra Banks has struck a partnership with Demand Media to create a new digital brand focused on fashion and beauty. — The deal between the Santa Monica, Calif.-based online content maker …

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Online Video News Consumption Doubles in 12 Months, comScore....The AP Nearing Half a Billion Views on YouTube — The consumption of online video news and information clips in the U.S. has doubled over the past 12 months, to 565 million video views in May, up from 277 million last May, according to comScore.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Hunter Walker / The Wrap:

Showtime Makes It Official: Nevins to Replace Greenblatt — Showtime has made it official: Imagine TV President David Nevins this summer will replace Robert Greenblatt as the network's president of entertainment. TheWrap first reported the move on Thursday.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and Company Town

Judith Townend / Journalism.co.uk:

Met Police apologises and pays damages to journalists over Greek Embassy protest incident — The Metropolitan Police has apologised and agreed to pay damages to two journalists, after an incident in which the force ‘failed to respect press freedom’. — In December 2008 …

Paul Lewis / Guardian: Journalists win payout after police prevent them filming London demo

Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:

From Washington Post To NBCU: Dave Weigel Joins MSNBC As Paid Contributor — Team Weigel rejoice - it didn't take Dave Weigel very long to land on his feet after he resigned last week from The Washington Post. — Tonight at the end of Countdown, Keith Olbermann introduced new “MSNBC contributor” Dave Weigel.

Discussion: The Wire, Wonkette, The Huffington Post and Chickaboomer

Greg Marx / CJR:

Look at Us! — Lessons from the response to the David Weigel flap — It's been three days since David Weigel, the reporter and blogger best known for his coverage of the conservative movement, resigned from The Washington Post after intemperate remarks he'd made on a private e-mail list about some of his subjects were made public.

Discussion: The Politico, The Daily Dish, Mother Jones and Media Decoder

Carolinebeaven / Online Journalism Blog:

Video interview: The Times: safeguarding journalism? — Currently running as a registration service, The Times plan to launch their paid-for site in the next few weeks. So far they are reluctant to release initial registration figures and the demographic audience they are attracting.

Stephen Shankland / CNET News:

Growing pains afflict HTML5 standardization — Listening to marketing messages from companies such as Apple and Google, one might think HTML5, the next-generation Web page standard, is ready to take the Net by storm. — But the words of those producing the specification show …

Discussion: Beet.TV and Rebooting The News

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Meet the guy who's written 500 articles for BleacherReport.com — all for free — “I'm sensitive to writers who say, ‘What are you doing giving your writing away for free?’” says Andrew Brining, who after failing the bar exam three times decided writing was more than a hobby.

Discussion: AdAge