Mediagazer: Google Hires BBC News Exec To Woo Publishers (Robert Andrews/paidContent)

1:30 PM ET, August 16, 2010

Top News:

Hulu Is Said to Be Ready for an I.P.O. — By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED — Hulu, the rapidly growing hub for online television and movies, aims to go public through an offering that could value the company at more than $2 billion, according to people briefed on the matter.

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Why iPad Magazines Won't Be a (Really) Big Business For a While - And Why Prices Won't Come Down, Either — Will tablets save the magazine business? Nope. But if the industry's hopes for the iPad and its ilk pan out, digital editions could give the industry a billion-dollar boost in a few years.

Discussion: Publishing Executive News, New York Observer, paidContent and eMedia Vitals

Robert Andrews / paidContent: The Message Isn't Always The Medium

Lymari Morales / Gallup:

In U.S., Confidence in Newspapers, TV News Remains a Rarity — No more than 25% say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in either — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news — with no more than 25% …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, MediaPost, TVNewser, Mediaite, CJR, Shaping the Future …, mediabistro.com and The Wire

Wall Street Journal:

Slow Start for Apple's iAds — Apple Inc. is facing some early challenges in its closely watched mobile advertising foray, with some ad campaigns experiencing delays as agencies attempt to learn the new system amid Apple's tight control over the creative process, according to ad executives.

Discussion: paidContent, Poynter Online, Silicon Alley Insider, eMedia Vitals, Guardian, AdPulp, Fortune and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr / Wall Street Journal:

Google and the Search for the Future — The Web icon's CEO on the mobile computing revolution, the future of newspapers, and privacy in the digital age. — To some, Google has been looking a bit sallow lately. The stock is down. Where once everything seemed to go the company's way …

Discussion: The Next Web, Future Tense and AdExchanger.com

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Fortune steals Primack away from Reuters — TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE — Dan Primack, editor-at-large with Thomson Reuters, has given his notice with the wire service to take a job at Fortune.com, which is overhauling the financial part of its site to feature his work.

Discussion: Romenesko and The Wire

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Google Hires BBC News Exec To Woo Publishers — Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is hiring BBC News' head of development and rights, Madhav Chinnappa, to its partnerships team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it tells paidContent:UK, “with a specific focus on helping publishers get the most out of Google News”.

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Initial impression of D.C. local news Web site TBD; N.Y. Times skips Obama lunch — One of the most intriguing features of the new, buzz-generating local Web site TBD is an invitation to readers to add some journalistic input. At the bottom of a piece on D.C. mayoral candidate Vincent Gray is the header “Complete This Story”:

Discussion: Romenesko

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Truth-o-Meter, 2G: Andrew Lih wants to wikify fact-checking — Epic fact: We are living at the dawn of the Information Age. Less-epic fact: Our historical moment is engendering doubt. The more bits of information we have out there, and the more sources we have providing them, the more wary we need to be of their accuracy.

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Times Paper in Mass. to Charge for Online Content — The Telegram & Gazette, a New York Times-owned newspaper in Worcester, Mass., said that it would begin charging readers to view some of the local news articles that appear on the paper's Web site. — Starting on Monday …

Discussion: Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Lost Remote, Silicon Alley Insider, TVWeek.com and NetNewsCheck Latest

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

With Summer, Big Cable Channels Keep Getting Bigger — Thirty-one percent ratings growth is the kind of history that the History channel likes to make. — The channel is having a remarkably strong summer, with an average of nearly 1.6 million viewers a night in June and July, up from 1.2 million in the same months last year.

Discussion: Media Buyer Planner

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

At 92, Still Grabbing the Brass Ring — THE day after he turned 92 (yes, 92), Sidney Harman, audio industry pioneer, philanthropist, author, university professor, lover of Shakespeare and soon-to-be-owner of Newsweek, was feted at the Aspen Institute, the research organization on whose board he sits.

Discussion: On Media's Blog

Media Week:

Times loses 1.2m readers — The Times has lost 1.2 million UK readers across its daily and Sunday websites and almost halved the amount of time people spend on its sites in the past three months, according data released by ComScore. — In May, the free-to-access website Timesonline.co.uk …

Discussion: The Wire