Mediagazer: 'We're helping to rebuild a profession': Hyperlocal network founder … (Laura Oliver/Journalism.co.uk)

Brian Steinberg / AdAge:

To Get LeBron, ESPN Cedes Control Over Ads, News — James Tells Sports Network Which Reporter Can Ask Him to Reveal ‘The Decision’ — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Did ESPN just get “mediajacked”? — Normally, an event as important and interesting as basketball wunderkind LeBron James announcing …

Discussion: SportsMoney, Romenesko, The Wrap and Strupp

‘The Decision,’ Brought to You By ... Madison Avenue will show up on Thursday night when the basketball star LeBron James reveals on ESPN his decision about where he will play next season and beyond. — The hourlong live special, scheduled for 9 p.m., will be sponsored, ESPN said on Wednesday …

Discussion: The Wrap, MediaPost, Company Town, rbr.com, Broadcasting & Cable and ESPN

Russ Smith / splicetoday.com:

Pass the Gravy, Mom — The Wall Street Journal's signature “a-hed” front-story is thriving, despite predictions that Rupert Murdoch would ditch it. — Two years ago, in a long feature story for The Atlantic about Rupert Murdoch and his takeover of The Wall Street Journal …

Discussion: Romenesko

Discussion: Romenesko, BrauBlog and Gannett Blog

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Huffington Post Buys Pollster — The Huffington Post is venturing into the wonky but increasingly popular territory of opinion poll analysis, purchasing Pollster.com, a widely respected aggregator of poll data that has been a major draw for the website of the National Journal.

Discussion: Romenesko, New York Magazine, paidContent, Pollster.com All Content and Gawker

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

We Need More Opinion In News, Not Less — I'm dismayed to see journalists continue to be punished, even fired, for expressing their opinions on the things they cover. Yesterday CNN terminated Octavia Nasr over a tweet praising a late Hezbollah leader. Last month Helen Thomas was forced to resign over statements about Israel.

Discussion: Romenesko and the nytpicker

Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:

CNN's Octavia Nasr Leaving Network After Controversial Hezbollah Tweet — In the latest case of new media (or oversharing) gone wrong, CNN's Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs Octavia Nasr is leaving the company following the controversy caused by her tweet in praise of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Rob Lowe may join bid for Miramax — The Miramax story took another strange turn yesterday when actor Rob Lowe emerged as a potential player in a bid to acquire the film studio from Walt Disney Co. — Lowe has ties to Tom Barrack's Colony Capital, which five days ago threw its hat …

Discussion: DailyFinance and New York Times

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Digits:

Sun Valley Update: Is the Internet TV Market Up for Grabs? — Despite serious interest from Apple and Google, the market of Internet-connected televisions is still up for grabs, said former chief executive of Sling Media Blake Krikorian in an interview Wednesday.

Discussion: The Korea Herald, Clout St, All Things Digital and MediaFile

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is It Time to Stop Blogging and Start an Email Newsletter? — When entrepreneur Jason Calacanis shut down his blog in 2008 and replaced it with a subscription-only email newsletter, his move seemed to be more of a personal response to abusive reader comments rather than a leading indicator of a trend …

Nick Bilton / Bits:

Don't Look for a TV in Television's Future — I have seen the future of television, and it doesn't involve a television. — Growing up in England, I remember intently following the World Cup soccer matches; we called it football of course. Back then, my viewing and engagement options were slim.

Vadim Lavrusik / Mashable!:

More Content Creators Cashing in on Blip.tv — Blip.tv is sending out more checks to its content providers than ever. The New York-based independent web shows platform has increased the number of payouts to its content creators by 77% between Q1 to Q2 of this year, Co-founder Dina Kaplan told Mashable in a recent interview.

Discussion: the blip.tv blog

Laura Oliver / Journalism.co.uk:

'We're helping to rebuild a profession': Hyperlocal network founder aims for 3,000 sites — Last week the New York Times withdrew from its hyperlocal news experiment in New Jersey. The title handed over the audience for its New Jersey branch of the Local to established …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

The Barnes & Noble Review:

Clay Shirky — (With additional questions from James Mustich, Editor-in-Chief of the Barnes & Noble Review). — According to media columnist Michael Wolff, the name Clay Shirky is “now uttered in technology circles with the kind of reverence with which left-wingers used to say, ‘Herbert Marcuse’.”

Discussion: Snarkmarket

Bill Mitchell / Poynter Online:

Financing Final Farewells: Legacy.com and the Business of Death — Newspaper obits have come a long way since the Times of London started publishing its “Death's Doings” column in the mid-19th Century. But the ongoing pressure for newspapers to generate as much revenue as possible is generating …

Fern Siegel / MediaPost:

Lehrer To Expand Bravo Development Duties — >Bravo has upped Eli Lehrer to vice president, development. Lehrer, who had overseen development and production for the East Coast, continues to report to Andy Cohen, the senior vice president, original programming and development.

Discussion: Variety

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

Jay Rosen on Content Farms: Demand Media Not Evil, But Still Demonic — ALSO READ: Content Farms: Killing Journalism — While Making a Killing — I couldn't use all of his responses in the piece, but here they are in Q+A form: — You referred to Demand Media as “demonic.” Have you softened on this?

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Reinventing the Newsroom and Editors Weblog

Discussion: iMediaConnection Blog, MarketingVOX and The Social

Mia / YouTube Blog:

YouTube Leanback offers effortless viewing — A click here, a search there, a browse on this page — sometimes it can take more than a few flicks of the wrist and finger taps to get your daily dose of video. Luckily, YouTube Leanback wants you to conserve your energy for actually watching more videos.

Discussion: MediaMemo, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable!, Silicon Alley Insider, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, TechCrunch, Guardian, Telegraph, Fortune, NewTeeVee, The Next Web, Engadget and Relevant Results, more at Techmeme »

Zeke Turner / New York Observer:

Pow! This 3D Magazine Knocked My Lights Out! — There are things you want to see in 3D in a magazine like Time Out New York and things you don't. But before we can see anything, we have to assemble the glasses. The perforation is hard to manage, forget putting the three parts together.

Matthew Battles / Nieman Journalism Lab:

From prefab paint to the power of typewriters to the Internet: Distrust of the Shallows is nothing new — [Matthew Battles is one of my favorite thinkers about how we read, consume, and learn. He's reading and reacting to Clay Shirky's Cognitive Surplus and Nicholas Carr's The Shallows.

Discussion: Mind Hacks

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

The Facebook Movie Will Not Be Using Facebook to Market the Facebook Movie — You might think a huge target audience and golden marketing opportunity for a high-profile Hollywood movie on Facebook, titled “The Social Network,” would be the 500 million members of Facebook. — Maybe not so much.

Discussion: Bleeding Cool Comic Book and The Wire, more at Techmeme »

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Jenna Lee Moves to Fox News from Fox Business — Fox News Channel is transferring an anchor from the Fox Business Network over to the mothership. — Jenna Lee, who has been at Fox Business since its founding nearly three years ago, will begin co-hosting the lunchtime hours on Fox News next week, the network announced Wednesday.

Discussion: TVNewser, Business Wire, rbr.com, The Wire and The Huffington Post

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Newspaper chains slap Colorado political blog with cease-and-desist order — MediaNews Group, Freedom Communications, and Swift Communications accuse ColoradoPols.com of “flagrant and persistent theft of intellectual property.” The blog's proprietors respond: “Not only are we posting …

Discussion: Techdirt, ColoradoPols.com, TeleRead and Mediaite

Kevin Allocca / TVNewser:

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer Talks Online Feedback and Web Comments — In the final part of our interview with Contessa Brewer for mediabistro.com's Media Beat, the MSNBC anchor discusses social media and how Twitter and Facebook play a role in her day-to-day work as an anchor.

Discussion: WebNewser, Inside Cable News and mediabistro.com

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Making Fun of Prince Is Easy-Figuring Out How Talent Thrives in a Digital Age, Not So Much — So, yes, the quote from Prince about the Internet being “completely over” made him sound like a Luddite idiot. — And adding that computers and other digital gadgets “just fill your head with numbers …

Discussion: Fast Company and Techdirt

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Surprise! Newest AOL Executive Is Not a Google Vet. — Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »

Sara Ganim / Centre Daily Times:

Judge revises expungement order to exclude newspapers — Following a meeting with his fellow Centre County judges, the district attorney and defense attorney Joseph Amendola, Judge Thomas King Kistler this morning revised two expungement orders to eliminate the Centre Daily Times and the Daily Collegian.

Discussion: Romenesko and Media Law Prof Blog