Mediagazer: Just-launched iNeedaGreatStory.com claims it 'makes life easier … (Jim Romenesko/Romenesko)

4:00 PM ET, July 27, 2010

Top News:

John Cook / Yahoo! News:

Leaked files indicate U.S. pays Afghan media to run friendly stories — Buried among the 92,000 classified documents released Sunday by WikiLeaks is some intriguing evidence that the U.S. military in Afghanistan has adopted a PR strategy that got it into trouble in Iraq: paying local media outlets to run friendly stories.

Discussion: Romenesko and Mother Jones

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
WikiLeaks Rolled Dice to Raise Its Profile

Discussion: Guardian, Media Decoder, Digits, techPresident, Computerworld, Daily Kos, Reuters, J-Source, CNET News, The Politico, Christian Science Monitor, Beet.TV and The Huffington Post

C.W. Anderson / Nieman Journalism Lab:
When do 92,000 documents trump an off-the-record dinner?

Discussion: Washington Post, Press Gazette, The Nation, Mother Jones, New York Times, NPR, Hot Air and Editors Weblog

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
No one who's been paying attention should be surprised by the …

Discussion: At War, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, The Huffington Post, New York Times, Fast Company, George Brock, Danger Room, CJR, Open Culture, ProPublica, Law Blog, The Nation, Politics Daily, The Caucus and Gawker

Joel Meares / CJR:
WaPo, Time, and Others Play Catch-up on WikiLeaks

Discussion: Time, Los Angeles Times and Swampland

Justin Osofsky / Facebook Developers:

Working with Media Organizations to Build Social News — Small blogs to major media organizations focus on producing great content and surfacing it to the right people. Facebook Platform offers the ability to supplement this content by making the experience more social …

Discussion: The Next Web, The Wire, The Wrap, Fast Company, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, Online Journalism Blog, Romenesko, Mashable!, Editors Weblog and WebNewser

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Facebook launches a “Facebook + Media” page

Discussion: Hacks and Hackers …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

FT ceo Ridding on why paywalls are commercially and morally necessary — The Financial Times has enjoyed another profitable six months, with total content revenues from print and online up 14% year on year. — Online sales showed record growth, meaning that FT.com subscription revenue …

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Dominic Ponsford / Editor's Blog:
The paywall debate: At the Financial Times there is no debate, it works

Discussion: Press Gazette

Daniel Frankel / The Wrap:

The Twitter Effect Isn't What Hollywood Thought — The Twitter Effect. — The term entered the lexicon last summer after Universal's Sacha Baron Cohen comedy “Bruno” tumbled more than 36 percent in its first 24 hours in theaters. — One year later, the social media trend …

China Real Time Report:

GQ China Pulls July Issue … The Chinese edition of GQ quietly recalled its July issue the day after it hit the newsstands to remove an unflattering feature on rich Chinese young people, but no one can say why. — On Friday, a news article discussing the recall was quickly taken …

Discussion: Gawker, International Media, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine and The Wire

Patricia Sellers / Fortune:

Steve Jobs' mark on ABC's Lost — How the Apple CEO may have changed the course of the hit ABC show with one comment back in 2005. — by Patricia Sellers, editor-at-large — from left to right Carlton Cuse, Barry Jossen, Damon Lindelof, and Anne Sweeney

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Redstone gifted rocker with his own stock — THR EXCLUSIVE: Mogul gave shares to Barbarellas singer — NEW YORK — Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone gave the lead singer of a girls' band some of his own company stock as a personal gift, according to a copy of the regulatory filing obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

Discussion: MediaPost

David Roeder / Chicago Sun Times:

Examiner finds fraud evidence in Tribune sale — An examiner probing Sam Zell's buyout of the Tribune Co. in late 2007 has found evidence of “dishonesty” in the deal's latter stages, a conclusion that could throw the company's 20-month-old bankruptcy case into turmoil.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Romenesko, New York Observer and National Media

Amy Wicks / WWD Media Headlines:

Deborah Needleman New Editor in Chief of WSJ Magazine — Deborah Needleman has been named editor in chief of WSJ. and editor of a new weekly Saturday lifestyle section in development, slated for fall. During the past few months, Needleman has served as a consultant for the new weekend section.

Discussion: Romenesko, New York Observer, BusinessJournalism.org …, The Wrap, Media Decoder, The Wire and The Huffington Post

Joe Mandese / MediaPost:

Clients Weigh In On Nielsen Plan To Give Less ‘Weight’ To Internet Households — Nielsen will huddle with clients this morning to discuss a controversial plan to begin mathematically adjusting its TV ratings estimates this fall based on several new factors, including the number of households …

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Discovery Promotes Digital Media Head Campbell — Discovery Communications (NSDQ: DISCA) is giving corporate development exec Bruce Campbell some additional responsibilities as chief development officer and general counsel. At the same time, Campbell will be handing over his duties …

Discussion: Variety, Discovery Communications …, Guardian and MediaPost

Damien Hoffman / Wall St. Cheat Sheet:

A True American Success Story - with David Asman at Fox Business Network — This is Part 1 of a 2 part interview ... David Asman has lived an adventurous life on his road to classic American success. From a school teacher in Chicago to the host of a world wide show on Fox Business Network, David has worked hard for his rewards.

Discussion: Inside Cable News and Talking Biz News

Daniel Lyons / Newsweek:

Read On — Why the iPad hasn't killed the Kindle. — Amazon's Kindle e-reader is a terrific device, but a lot of people, myself included, figured that once Apple's iPad came out, the poor little Kindle would be toast. The first thing I did at the iPad introduction event was snap …

Discussion: Poynter Online and msnbc.com

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

If Your Music Business Model Is To Make Money On Live Shows, Make Those Live Shows Experiences To Remember — In talking about various business models for musicians these days, we've never suggested that concerts are the only (or even the best) way to make money. However, they certainly are one way that can work.

Richard / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Recording Industry Giant Tries to Undermine ‘Safe Harbor’ Rules for Online Video Sites — San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of nonprofit groups have asked a federal appeals court to protect the “safe harbor” rules for online video service providers …

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:

BlogBeat: The New Yorker Is Working on a Profile of Nick Denton — After a long hiatus, the column that cost this company a cool mil in advertising has returned! BlogBeat is back, and this week, we're coming out swinging. The New Yorker's working on a forthcoming profile …

Lawrence Meyer / Watchdog Blog:

The Newsroom on Steroids — Let's state the obvious at the outset: The Internet is a miraculous medium that makes it possible for people to communicate with each other from almost anywhere in the world, and it makes it possible for news organizations to report the latest news virtually …

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Just-launched iNeedaGreatStory.com claims it ‘makes life easier for editors everywhere’ — iNeedaGreatStory.com makes editors' lives easier — CHICAGO Introducing iNeedaGreatStory.com, a new resource for anyone in need of well-reported, well-told, well-illustrated content for websites and publications at an affordable price.

Jason Fell / Folio:

Newsweek, TheStreet Enter Content Sharing Partnership — Financial news site's content to be featured in Newsweek and on Newsweek.com. — While the magazine's top management continues to hammer out a deal that will place it with a new owner, Newsweek has entered into a content sharing partnership …

Discussion: Talking Biz News and Business Wire

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Partisan Tools At Journo-List And Trig — Remember all those liberals and lefties huffily denouncing this blog's attempts to make sense of Sarah Palin's bizarre stories about the pregnancy and birth of her alleged fifth child? I was nuts, crazy, vile, disgusting, etc etc to indulge in what Dave Weigel …

Discussion: Mediaite and National Review

Jonah Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:

The new journalism — Less gatekeeping, thanks to the Internet and Fox News, may be scary to liberals, but it's progress over the Cronkite era. — “The high standards and wise judgments of people like Walter Cronkite once acted as a national immune system, zapping scandal mongers and quashing wild rumors …

David Cohn / MediaShift Idea Lab:

Spot.Us Goes National, Gets Clay Shirky as Sponsor — Anyone that has followed Spot.Us from the beginning knows we've tried to remain iterative and agile. In the earlier stages of Spot.Us I thought this was one of the larger lessons for journalism-entrepreneurs.

Discussion: RJI