Mediagazer: A Magazine Tests Neuromarketing (Joseph Plambeck/New York Times)

9:50 AM ET, August 9, 2010

Top News:

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Renewed Interest in Financing Original Web Shows — LOS ANGELES — When Illeana Douglas, long active in independent film, wanted to make a show about a Hollywood actress who becomes a cog in a blue-collar wheel, she turned to the Web and to an unusual ally, Ikea.

Discussion: Mashable!, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

The Economist Markets to the Sophisticated — Its fire-engine-red logo peeks out of fashionable handbags and from the back pockets of designer jeans. Bankers read it in first-class seats. Hipsters read it on the subway on their way to work. — It's The Economist.

Discussion: Romenesko

Mike Shields / Mediaweek:

Fox News' Digital Divide — Dominant cable news net's site lags rival CNN.com. Why? — In the cable TV news world, Fox News Channel is a force to be reckoned with. So why does the network continually get its digital clock cleaned—by CNN, of all rivals?

Discussion: Inside Cable News

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Allbritton On TBD.com: 'You've Got To Have Some Staying Power' — When Robert Allbritton put the money and power of Allbritton Communications behind a new DC political news site in 2007, no one knew what to expect. Sure, he had talent in Washington Post vets John Harris and Jim VandeHei …

Discussion: Romenesko, E-Media Tidbits, Zombie Journalism, The Solomon Scandals and Poynter Online

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
TBD.com making its move into the crowded market of local news

Discussion: paidContent, tbd.com, State of the Fourth Estate and The Solomon Scandals

Joseph Plambeck / New York Times:

A Magazine Tests Neuromarketing — Magazines have long used focus groups to tailor their package. New Scientist took another route for its latest issue, testing whether neuromarketing, which examines the brain's response to products and brands, could help make the magazine more appealing.

Discussion: MediaMemo

Glenn Fleishman / Network World:

Interview: Author Susan Orlean on her life with the iPad — Orlean has been tearing up the techie side of things — Susan Orlean has become a geek, something that simultaneously amuses and mildly horrifies her. Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992 …

Discussion: New York Observer

Robert Andrews / paidContent:UK:

Digital Imitation Is A Form Of Flattery For Old-Guard Publishers — It was pop-culture philosopher Marshall McLuhan who wrote: “All media come in pairs, with one acting as the ‘content’ of the other.” — That assertion is true once again, now that a range of developers is pushing …

Martin Belam / currybetdotnet:

5 ways that The Guardian puts external links onto web pages — Last week, Patrick Smith sparked off a lot debate with a blog post entitled “Link to the past: why do some news sites STILL not link out in 2010?”. In it, he mentioned The Guardian website as being one of the best examples of linking out.

Chris Wheal:

Death reporting — Thank you to everyone who has chipped in about the death knock debate, privately by email and publicly through comments on my blog and others. I think there is scope for at least a leaflet to help families in similar situations and possibly a different way of behaving by the press.

Discussion: Guardian, Editor's Blog, Press Gazette and Jon Slattery

Peter Kirwan / Guardian:

Google and Apple prepare for mobile advertising battle — Google and Apple are gearing up to launch ads on their apps, a strategy which is set to change the advertising landscape for ever — British mobile users will soon find themselves embroiled in the epic confrontation taking shape between Apple …

Chris Elliott / Guardian:

Open door ... on publishing the Afghan war logs — The readers' editor on... the moral and legal implications of publishing the war logs — It is an age-old journalistic dilemma: the reporter discovers information that he or she believes is in the public interest to disclose …

INMA:

From print to digital audience engagement: why we can't sleep at night — In the halcyon days when consumers lacked news options and the advertiser's money paid for creativity without limits, we printed until the presses couldn't take it anymore, assumed a lot of eyeballs stumbled across our prose …