Mediagazer: Google and the Search for the Future (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr/Wall Street Journal)

7:20 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:
Who's Going to Sell Hulu to Wall Street?

Discussion: NewTeeVee

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

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: Gawker, paidContent, VentureBeat, Fast Company, Gizmodo, Epicenter, The Next Web, Silicon Alley Insider, Guardian, AdPulp, Fortune and Poynter Online, 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: Gawker, ReadWriteWeb, Digital Daily, danah boyd, CJR, MarketingVOX, The Next Web, Future Tense, ResourceShelf, AdExchanger.com and Kirk LaPointe's …, more at Techmeme »

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: The Huffington Post, Gawker, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Shaping the Future …, Silicon Alley Insider, Editors Weblog, rbr.com, The Wrap, Lost Remote, TVWeek.com and NetNewsCheck Latest

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Gawker's Next Redesign Thinks Big-Like Big-Screen TV — For better or worse, Nick Denton's Gawker Media leads the way for a lot of online media. So it's worth checking out what he has up his sleeve, which happens to be in plain view: A super-sized redesign of his nine-blog network.

Discussion: Romenesko and New York Observer

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.

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 and paidContent

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Guardian launches governmental pledge-tracking tool — Since it came to office nearly 100 days ago, Britain's coalition government — a team-up between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats that had the potential to be awkward and ineffective, but has instead (if The Economist's current cover story …

Discussion: Fast Company

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Ambinder, Madhani to lead National Journal's White House team — Marc Ambinder and Aamer Madhani to Lead New National Journal W.H. Team — Washington, D.C. (August 16, 2010) — National Journal Group announced today that two of Washington's fastest-rising journalistic talents are joining together …

Discussion: MinOnline and On Media's Blog

Newser:

Once Again Into the Breach: Rupert Murdoch Dreams of a Digital Newspaper — Follow him on Twitter @MichaelWolffNYC — First, the really big news in the LA Times story about Rupert Murdoch's plan to start an all new national newspaper for the iPad and mobile devices: The picture shows that he's not dyeing his hair anymore.

Discussion: Romenesko

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:
Murdoch's New iPaper: One Last Tragic Roll Of The Digital Dice

Discussion: Garcia Media, Monday, August 16, 2010, PC Magazine, Guardian, Journalism.co.uk and broadstuff

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”.

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Yahoo's Premier League Video Highlights Go Live — For such a potentially beneficial addition, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) certainly isn't shouting about its new English Premier League video highlights, which debuted in Britain this weekend. — On the Monday morning after the league's opening weekend …

Discussion: Media Week, Press Gazette, CrunchGear and TechCrunch Europe

John Paczkowski / Digital Daily:

Rumored $99 iTV Could Pave Way for $2,000 Apple-Connected Television — “The problem with innovation in the TV industry is the go-to-market strategy. The TV industry has a subsidized model that gives everyone a set-top box for free. So no one wants to buy a box.

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Mercury News, TechCrunch and parislemon, more at Techmeme »

Peter Finocchiaro / Mobile Marketer Content:

Fox Business broadcasts bold app strategy with iPad offering — Cable television channel Fox Business Network is kicking its application strategy into high gear with the expected launch today of an iPad application. — Fox Business is targeting business-minded consumers who want an interactive tool …

Discussion: Mobile Marketer, WebNewser and Inside Cable News

Tracy Wilkinson / Los Angeles Times:

Under threat from Mexican drug cartels, reporters go silent — Journalists know drug traffickers can easily kidnap or kill them — and get away with it. — Placards with pictures of slain journalists are seen this month at a Mexico City rally by journalists protesting the violence they face.

Discussion: New York Observer, Romenesko, The Daily Dish and Journalism and the World

Gregory Ferenstein / CNN:

How web journalism can make people seem hateful — Editor's note: Gregory Ferenstein is an author and educator who writes about the intersections of technology, business and politics. He is a fellow at the University of California Center for the Study of Democracy.

NPR:

News Website Texas Tribune Thrives, But How? … One of the most intriguing news start-ups in the past few years is the Texas Tribune, an Austin-based website that emphasizes explanatory and investigative reporting. Wealthy venture capitalist John Thornton decided the decline of newspapers …

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: TVNewser, TVWeek.com, Mediaite, Shaping the Future …, National Media, Journalism.co.uk, MediaPost, CJR and The Wire

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