Mediagazer: The News Merchant — Interested in booking Joran van der … (Sheelah Kolhatkar/The Atlantic Online)

6:15 PM ET, August 11, 2010

Top News:

Sheelah Kolhatkar / The Atlantic Online:

The News Merchant — Interested in booking Joran van der Sloot's ex-girlfriend for the morning news? Want an exclusive? Got a little cash to spend? Larry Garrison's the person to call, though most news networks won't admit they call him. The inside story of how tabloid TV news is made …

Discussion: New York Observer, CJR, Inside Cable News and TVNewser

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

You've got friends — Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong are quietly discussing a strategic alliance aimed at boosting their online ad businesses, The Post has learned. — The two companies have been talking for several months about a partnership …

Discussion: GigaOM, MediaPost, New York Observer, Reuters and CMO.com

Mike Steib / Inside AdWords:

DIRECTV partners with Google TV Ads — Cross-posted from the Google TV Ads Blog — Today, we're announcing a strategic partnership with DIRECTV through which Google TV Ads will offer inventory on a broad selection of television networks available on DIRECTV.

Discussion: MediaPost, rbr.com, paidContent, TechCrunch, PC Magazine, Seeking Alpha, Fortune and 901am, more at Techmeme »

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Confirmed: HOPA Dry Erase Girl Is A Hoax, Identity Revealed — “Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office (33 Photos)” is indeed a hoax, say its creators John and Leo Resig. — I'd love to pull out some well-worn meta-media analysis about how memes are increasingly …

Discussion: NevilleHobson.com, Jezebel, The New Republic, The First Post, The Consumerist, theCHIVE, Gizmodo and PE Hub Blog, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Meet the Prankster Brothers Behind “Jenny,” …

Discussion: New York Observer, Tuned In, Boing Boing, TechCrunch, The Atlantic Online, Jezebel, Geek.com, Fast Company, Silicon Alley Insider, New York Magazine, Dealbreaker, Mashable!, Switched, Citizen Mom, Technically Incorrect, The Consumerist, Blog.games.com and All Facebook

Ryan Tate / Gawker:
The Quitting Tale That Suckered the Whole Internet

Discussion: the Econsultancy blog and New York Magazine

Mike Taylor / FishbowlNY:

Playboy Hits the iPad, Sans Nudity — Playboy, the magazine famous for its photos of naked women, has launched an app for the iPad, with the same Apple-imposed iTunes restrictions (no nudity!) that govern its iPhone app. — minOnline reports: … “Gatefolds of skin”? Sounds worse than it is.

Discussion: paidContent, minonline.com, eMedia Vitals, The Wrap and New York Magazine

Jeff Rivera / mediabistro.com:
So What Do You Do, Hugh Hefner, Founder of Playboy Enterprises?

Discussion: UnBeige and mediabistro.com

Dave Itzkoff / New York Times:

Johnny Carson's Online Presence Gets a Boost — In one of his last “Tonight Show” monologues, in 1992, Johnny Carson informed his audience that a virus had struck the program's computers, wiping out “29 years of our writers' material.” — “Three of the best jokes you've ever heard in your life,” he said.

Discussion: Variety, The Atlantic Online, The Huffington Post, TVWeek.com, New York Magazine, Movieline and TV Tattle

Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:
Here's Johnny, digitized: A searchable database created for Carson's ‘Tonight Show’

Discussion: WebNewser

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Still Going! As Promised, Viacom Appeals YouTube Copyright Ruling — In June, Google won a huge legal victory in its three-year YouTube copyright fight with Viacom. But that was a battle, not the entire war. As promised, Viacom has appealed the federal court ruling, via a filing today.

Discussion: Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, Multichannel, The Wrap and Company Town, more at Techmeme »

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Newsweek's editor exodus — Pressure is mounting to find a new editor-in-chief of Newsweek, as the staff defections continue in the wake of the sale two weeks ago to stereo mogul Sidney Harman. — Jon Meacham, the current editor-in-chief, is telling staffers he hopes to pack it in by Labor Day.

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:

Exclusive: Upcoming Apple TV loses 1080p playback, gains apps... and will be renamed iTV — You might remember that we broke news of an updated Apple TV headed to market just a few months ago. If your brain isn't working right, let us jog it: a trusted Engadget source asserted that the gang …

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Gadget Lab, Switched, CrunchGear, VentureBeat and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Two Days After Steve Slater's Slide Ride, JetBlue Comes Back to the Web — Be honest — if you ran JetBlue, you'd want to stay quiet, too. Right? — But the airline, which gets lots of credit for engaging its customers on the Web, on Facebook and on Twitter, had to speak up eventually …

Discussion: City Room, NY Daily News, WebNewser, Gawker, Law Blog, Chickaboomer, Dealbreaker, The Daily Beast, The Awl and newsfeed.time.com, more at Techmeme »

AdAge:
How Steve Slater Is Stifling JetBlue's Social-Media Strategy

Discussion: Speakeasy, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, The Wrap, TechCrunch, Above the Law, BoomTown and TMZ.com, more at Techmeme »

Guardian:

Channel Five ‘bloodbath’ as Desmond culls seven directors — • Desmond plans to invest £1.5bn over five years — • Up to 80 jobs to go in £20m cost-cutting drive — • Five may return to Project Canvas — Channel Five is to lose seven of its nine executive board directors …

Discussion: Variety, The First Post and Media Week

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Peter Lattman Is Leaving The Wall Street Journal For The New York Times — The Wall Street Journal is about to lose another one of its star reporters. — Peter Lattman, who covered law before switching to the private equity beat, is headed to the New York Times, Business Insider has learned.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Company Town, Runnin' Scared, mediabistro.com, New York Observer and Talking Biz News

Adrianne Jeffries / ReadWriteWeb:

Tribune Co. Hopes Anchorless TV Newscast Will Be Just Like Surfing the Web — From the department of You Just Don't Get It, Do You: Tribune Co. is planning to blow the traditional TV newscast apart in an attempt to imitate the experience of Web browsing on TV.

Discussion: Lost Remote and Making Sense of Media