Mediagazer: Memo to Press: Don't Mess with Brangelina! (Michael Rothfeld/Law Blog)

4:00 PM ET, July 22, 2010

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Times Co. Posts Operating Profit Gain — The New York Times Company reported on Thursday that its second-quarter profit declined 18 percent compared with results in the period a year earlier, when it recorded a tax benefit. On an operating basis, profit more than doubled.

Discussion: Romenesko, Guardian, The Awl, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap and New York Times Co. Blog

Zeke Turner / New York Observer:

After Second Quarter, New York Times Co. is ‘Well Positioned’ But Also Staring at Increasing Costs — The New York Times Company is “well-positioned to thrive,” according to CEO Janet Robinson, who announced the company's second-quarter earnings this morning. The best news is that there were no major catastrophes this quarter.

Discussion: The New York Times Company, The Wire, On Media's Blog and MediaMemo

David Kaplan / paidContent:

NYTCo's Robinson: Paywall Enters Development Phase, Pricing Coming Soon — The NYTimes.com metered paywall is currently entering its second phase, said New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) CEO Janet Robinson as she began the earnings call. “We have transitioned from the requirements phase …

Discussion: Romenesko and Reuters

MediaShift:

How Content Farms Train Their Writers to Write for the Web — Education content on MediaShift is sponsored by Carnegie-Knight News21, an alliance of 12 journalism schools in which top students tell complex stories in inventive ways. See tips for spurring innovation and digital learning at Learn.News21.com.

New York Times:

Faster Than a Speeding Blog — The Obama administration has been shamed by its rush to judgment after it forced the resignation of a black midlevel official in the Agriculture Department who was wrongly accused of racism by the right-wing blogosphere. Shirley Sherrod was sandbagged …

Discussion: CJR, Washington Post, New York Times, Show Tracker, Media Matters for America, News Prints and New York Times

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
Gibbs criticism of Sherrod media coverage puts cap on frantic 48 hours

Discussion: Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, Ethics and The Politico

Joe Strupp / Strupp:
Breitbart, Fox Criticized For Sherrod Tape Coverage

Discussion: Mediaite, blogs.tampabay.com, The New Yorker Blog, TPMMuckraker and The Daily Dish

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Martin Bashir Leaving ABC for MSNBC; GMA Weekend Anchor Bill Weir Moves to ‘Nightline’ — First on TVNewser: Big changes afoot in the TV news world. ABC News “Nightline” co-anchor Martin Bashir is leaving the network and joining NBC News. At the same time, ABC has announced Bill Weir …

Discussion: The Wire, Gawker, Tower Ticker, Moraes on TV, Multichannel, Broadcasting & Cable, New York Observer, Media Decoder, Mediaite, The Wrap, On Media's Blog and Variety

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

Literary Agent Plans E-Book Editions — The literary agent Andrew Wylie said on Wednesday that he would begin his own publishing venture, called Odyssey Editions, which will produce e-book editions of titles by some of his clients, including Saul Bellow, John Updike and Philip Roth.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, ResourceShelf, theBookseller.com, New York Observer, The Second Pass and Bookninja

David Kaplan / paidContent:

ABC News Puts A Different Spin On Its iPad App — While a lot of iPad apps are mostly larger versions of an existing iPhone app, ABC News has tried to do something a little different with its new free app, making the most of the screen with a spinning, expandable “news globe” that features the news items.

Discussion: Poynter Online, Editors Weblog and ABC News' Press Room

Gary Moskowitz / Time:

Are Hyperlocals Replacing Traditional Newspapers? — All politics may be local, but apparently not enough journalism is. As newspapers keep cutting back on staff and printing skimpier editions, journalists, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens have responded by creating websites to cover …

Discussion: Romenesko

Michael Rothfeld / Law Blog:

Memo to Press: Don't Mess with Brangelina! — English libel laws have taken quite a beating for many years for being so friendly to plaintiffs. — Along the way, they've bolstered the “libel tourism” industry by encouraging those who've been offended in print to sue in the United Kingdom …

Discussion: Guardian, BBC News, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times and Us Weekly

Paul Bradshaw / Online Journalism Blog:

The New Online Journalists #6: Conrad Quilty-Harper — As part of an ongoing series on recent graduates who have gone into online journalism, The Telegraph's new Data Mapping Reporter Conrad Quilty-Harper talks about what got him the job, what it involves, and what skills he feels online journalists need today.

Peter Robins / Guardian:

The Times paywall won't be built in a day — Rupert Murdoch's new fan club should not lose heart yet. Charging for content at the Times and the Sunday Times is a long-term project - at least, it ought to be — An awful lot of British journalists were hoping that the Times and Sunday Times's paywalls would be an overnight success.

Discussion: The Consumerist and Ethical Martini

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

New Graduate J-School Program Will Teach Students How To Actually Run A Business — Earlier this month, Stephen B. Shepard, dean of CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism, announced on the school's website that it would be introducing a new master's degree track.

Stijn Debrouwere / Online Journalism Blog:

The WWTDD Effect — Should we give readers what they want? — I'm reminded of my time at the student newspaper, a couple of years ago. In an attempt to get any sort of clue on what our readers wanted to read, and why students in some fields of study didn't care about the paper at all, we organized a survey.

David Kaplan / paidContent:

AOL Campaigns For Political Dollars With New Ad Hub — Since the Supreme Court struck down limits on corporate spending on political candidates ads, media companies have been salivating over the expected deluge related to this fall's midterm elections. Online advertising should be an even bigger factor …

Discussion: TechCrunch