Mediagazer: On The Economist's Cover, Only a Part of the Picture (Jeremy W. Peters/Media Decoder)

3:45 PM ET, July 5, 2010

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

At Yahoo, Using Queries to Steer News Coverage — Welcome to the era of the algorithm as editor. — For as long as hot lead has been used to make metal type, the model for generating news has been top-down: editors determined what information was important and then shared it with the masses.

Discussion: Softpedia News, Go Rumors, New York Observer, Editors Weblog, Search Engine Land, Techie Buzz and The Wall Blog

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

David Carr / New York Times:

The Media Equation: For Blogger, ‘Outspoken’ Was a Selling Point, Till It Wasn't — Wanted: Political blogger covering the conservative movement. Must be provocative and write with a strong point of view although not in a way that would reveal bias or offend any of your potential subjects.

Discussion: Washington Post and New York Observer

Mark Fitzgerald / EditorandPublisher.com:

None Dare Call Them ‘Newspapers’: Canwest Chain to be ‘Postmedia Network Inc.’ — CHICAGO — Canwest Limited Partnership LLC never exactly screamed “newspaper company,” but when the sale closes of the publishing group that includes the National Post, Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun …

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Larry King Dreams a Little — After announcing the end of his 25-year-old talk show last Tuesday, Larry King waited all of half an hour before daydreaming about the next line on his résumé. — “I got to get other things to do,” Mr. King said as his guest on CNN, Bill Maher …

Discussion: CNN and Chickaboomer

John Markoff / New York Times:

Taking the Mystery Out of Web Anonymity — THE Obama Administration is trying to fix the Internet's dog problem. — The problem, as depicted in Peter Steiner's legendary 1993 New Yorker cartoon, is that on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog. And thus the enduring conundrum over who can be trusted in cyberspace.

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

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

Robert Andrews / paidContent:UK:

Guardian Media Group Makes Its Finance Chief CEO — Now that its long-time CEO Carolyn McCall has flown off to run budget airline easyJet, Guardian Media Group is giving its interim replacement Andrew Miller the job permanently, effective immediately. — Miller had been chief financial officer …

Discussion: Guardian, Press Gazette and Journalism.co.uk

Christopher Beam / New York Magazine:

A Reasonable Man — In a world of loud voices and extreme positions, David Brooks manages to be both irrelevant and absolutely essential. — D avid Brooks is angry—for David Brooks, at least. “This is a damn outrage, to be honest,” he tells David Gregory on Meet the Press.

Discussion: New York Observer

Curt Hopkins / ReadWriteWeb:

Major Newspaper Chain Goes Open Source — The argument over the utility of open source has one more voter in the yes camp. This time, it's the Journal Register Company, a U.S. newspaper chain with 170 publications. — Calling it the Ben Franklin Project, the company tried open source for a month.

Discussion: The Solomon Scandals, Journal Register Company and BuzzMachine

Margaret Simons / Crikey:

Fairfax at the crossroads — McCarthy v Matthews — Things are coming to a head, at last, in the ongoing confusion and flailing around at Fairfax Media. Whether this results in any brave new direction for the company remains to be seen. — For the last couple of months the Fairfax board …

The Huffington Post:

Howard Kurtz Takes On Politico's Patrick Gavin (VIDEO) — Washington Post writer and host of CNN's “Reliable Sources” Howard Kurtz takes on Politico's Patrick Gavin Sunday. — Kurtz responds to Gavin's column criticizing him for booking the same cast of characters on “Reliable Sources.”

Discussion: Gawker

Kevin / Strange Attractor:

Honesty in the age of the paywall — After months of discussion and speculation, The Times and The Sunday Times have disappeared behind a paywall or have asked their readers to pay for the journalism that they value, depending on which side of an almost religious divide you fall on.

Discussion: Dubai Business

Paul Thomasch / Reuters:

At Sun Valley, brighter moods may not mean big deals — (Reuters) - As Rupert Murdoch, Bob Iger and other media honchos assemble in Sun Valley next week for some fly-fishing or white water rafting, spirits should be brighter than a year ago: stock prices are up by about a third, after all.