Mediagazer: Sysomos acquired — News has leaked out today that Toronto … (StartupNorth)

Decca Aitkenhead / Guardian:

Clay Shirky: ‘Times paywall will fail’ — The internet guru on the death of newspapers, why paywall will fail and how the internet has brought out our creativity - and generosity — If you are reading this article on a printed copy of the Guardian, what you have in your hand will …

Discussion: New York Observer and The Staggers

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

Trust endorses 25% budget cut to BBC online services — Trust insists that likely £30m reduction would be ‘carefully targeted’ to allow growth in less commercially viable areas — The BBC Trust today endorsed a 25% budget cut to the BBC's online services as part of wider cost savings across …

Discussion: paidContent, Press Gazette, Variety, BBC, The Register, Digital Spy, Electricpig and C21Media

Mark Fitzgerald / EditorandPublisher.com:

Fireworks at Journal Register Co: ‘Ben Franklin Project’ Successful at All 18 Dailies — CHICAGO — All 18 Journal Register Co. dailies published a print newspaper and Website content on Sunday July 4 using only free tools available on the Internet. — The Independence Day editions …

Discussion: Shaping the Future … and The Ben Franklin Project

Discussion: The Solomon Scandals and BuzzMachine

Gail Shister / TVNewser:

CNN's Reinvention: 'I just hope they don't go for some young, hip, king of snark' — Why did CNN hire disgraced ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and conservative columnist Kathleen Parker for its new 8 p.m. show? — “Apparently Madoff wasn't available,” deadpans CNN exile Aaron Brown (Class of '05), king of the caustic soundbite.

Discussion: Mediaite

StartupNorth:

Sysomos acquired — News has leaked out today that Toronto-based Sysomos, a social media monitoring firm, has been acquired by MarketWire. — As usual, the terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but we do know that, like BumpTop, Sysomos was funded out of the Growthworks Commercialization fund.

Discussion: paidContent

Kevin Allocca / TVNewser:

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer Describes Her Toughest Interviews — TVNewser sat down with MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer recently for a chat about the TV news biz as a part of mediabistro.com's Media Beat interview series. In this first part, we asked Brewer to tell us about some of the most difficult interviews she's conducted as an anchor.

Discussion: Inside Cable News and WebNewser

David Carr / New York Times:

Gaps in Watchdog Journalism Reflected in News From a Trial — Readers who came across a public radio blog documenting the five-week trial of a former Chicago police commander on charges of perjury and obstruction about cases involving torture under his command had to wonder where in the world WBEZ Chicago found so much expertise.

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Sunday Times ‘borrows’ free copy to put behind its paywall — Ever since Times Newspapers announced that it would erect an online paywall, its various apologists have argued that charging for access is necessary to pay for “quality journalism.” — So we heard a lot about the high cost …

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Media Week:

Ids set to close with loss of more than 100 jobs — EXCLUSIVE: Ids, Virgin Media's ad sales house, is set to close after 14 years of business following the loss of the UKTV account to Channel 4 today. — IDS to close with loss of more than 100 jobs, including MD Wildman

Discussion: paidContent:UK

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

On The Economist's Cover, Only a Part of the Picture — It was the ideal metaphor for a politically troubled president. — There was President Obama on the cover of the June 19 issue of The Economist, standing alone on a Louisiana beach, head down, looking forlornly at the ground.

Discussion: Magforum, TPM LiveWire, Charles Apple and Daily Kos

Jim / Gannett Blog:

Memo: GCI hunts for more reader e-mail addresses; advertisers to benefit from iPad-fueled campaign — [Campaign uses Deals sites, such as Rochester's, circled area] — Corporate is ratcheting up efforts to persuade more readers to turn over their e-mail addresses for use by advertisers in national …

Joseph Plambeck / Media Decoder:

A Cover Credit for Clothing — On the latest cover of Men's Health magazine, Kellan Lutz, a Calvin Klein model and actor in the “Twilight” movie series, stands shirtless in jeans while a big headline in the upper left-hand corner blares “Beach Muscle Now!” The tiny type in the opposite corner reads: “Kellan wears Calvin Klein Jeans.”

Discussion: Gawker and Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com