Mediagazer: New Media Upstarts Relying on Journalism for a Change (The Wrap)

11:35 PM ET, September 8, 2010

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

CNN Makes It Official: Piers Morgan Will Replace Larry King — CNN said Wednesday that Piers Morgan would take over for Larry King next January, putting an end to speculation about one of the most prized time slots in television. — Mr. Morgan, the British-born journalist and talent show judge …

Discussion: The Wrap, Mediaite, Tuned In, Broadcasting & Cable, Romenesko, New York Observer, The Wire, International Media, DailyFinance, Chickaboomer, PopEater, The Huffington Post and Press Gazette

Alan Duke / CNN:

Larry King replacement named — (CNN) — British TV host Piers Morgan will take over Larry King's prime-time hour with “a candid, in-depth newsmaker interview program” starting in January, CNN announced Wednesday. — Morgan, best known to American viewers as a judge on NBC's “America's Got Talent …

Discussion: New York Times, The Wrap, Mediaite, PC Magazine, newsfeed.time.com and Ryan Seacrest What's Happening

Zeke Turner / New York Observer:

Lucky Girl Brandon Holley Ditches Yahoo's ‘Brainy Geeks,’ Returns to Condé … Three years ago Jane magazine closed, and editor Brandon Holley was out of a job. — “I didn't leave Jane, Jane left me,” Ms. Holley told The Observer on the phone this afternoon.

Discussion: Media Decoder and AdAge

Joe Pompeo / Silicon Alley Insider:
Brandon Holley Leaves Yahoo, Heads Back To Conde Nast As Editor Of Lucky

Discussion: Gawker, New York Magazine, Romenesko, minonline.com, New York Observer and paidContent

Scott Klein / ProPublica:

Welcome to the Nerd Blog … Today we are introducing our Nerd Blog, a place to talk about what programmer-journalists at ProPublica are working on, announce newly-launched news applications, and to hear from technically-minded readers, as well as our fellow nerdy journalists.

Discussion: Romenesko

Next Media Animation:

Wall Street Journal takes on New York Times — After more than a century of peaceful co-existence, the Wall Street Journal has decided to take on the New York Times head on with its Greater New York section. New owner Rupert Murdoch declared “let the battle begin.” Is this going to be a newspaper war for the ages?

Discussion: BoomTown, New York Observer, Mediaite, Gothamist, The Awl and On Media's Blog

Emma Heald / Editors Weblog:

Arthur Sulzberger on charging online: to succeed, we need to take risks — Chairman and publisher of the New York Times, Arthur Sulzberger Jr, stressed the need to take risks and not be afraid of failure in the quest to find a business model that can adequately support high quality journalism.

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, Romenesko, New York Observer, The Wrap and Mashable!

Nick Davies / Guardian:

Phone hacking was rife at News of the World, claims new witness — • Ex-NoW journalist says Andy Coulson ‘must have known’ — • Speaker paves way for second committee to investigate — • Poll finds 52% think PM's communications chief must go

Discussion: CJR, The Atlantic Online, Politics Daily and The Lede

Michael Wolff / Newser:
News Corp. Is Freaking Out

Discussion: The Independent

The Wrap:

New Media Upstarts Relying on Journalism for a Change — New websites are launched every day — most, it would appear, involving photos of cats in compromising situations. Sites with real impact potential pop up less often. — Yet three recent digital media launches — Capital New York …

Steve Rubel / The Steve Rubel Stream:

Google Instant Makes SEO Irrelevant — Google today launched an ambitious effort to speed up searching. But what they really did is kill SEO. — Google says: … The most important consideration for marketers or anyone who creates content, however, is in the bullets...

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

Ebyline Launches As A Market For Freelance Journalists And News Syndication — Can a ragtag group of former newspapermen from the L.A. Times help newspapers fight off the content farms of the Web The founders and backers of Ebyline, which has been in private beta for a few months and launches today …

Discussion: LA Observed and eMedia Vitals

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Like It or Not, Twitter Has Become a News Platform — There's been plenty of debate lately about whether Twitter has become “mainstream” or not, but examples continue to pile up of how the social network/microblogging platform has worked its way into our lives, to the point where it has become a form of media unto itself.

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Gabe Rivera / The Atlantic Wire:

MEDIA DIET: Gabe Rivera: What I Read — How do people deal with the torrent of information that rains down on us all? What's the secret to staying on top of the news without surrendering to the chaos of it? In this series, we ask people who seem well-informed to describe their media diets.

Bloomberg:

New York Times Shares and Options Rise on Slim Takeover Speculation — New York Times Co. shares rose as much as 8 percent and bullish options trading surged to a six- month high on renewed speculation the newspaper publisher may be acquired. — Almost 6,400 calls to buy the stock changed hands …

Discussion: MarketBeat, Romenesko, Reuters, MediaMemo, New York Observer and The Wire

Stuart Elliott / New York Times:

Glamour Promotes Its Brand and Its Readers — FOR decades, fans of soap operas have been watching the exploits of the young and the restless. Now, will the readers and advertisers of a well-known woman's magazine want to be, or reach, the young and the posh?

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Sarnoff Leaves Dow Jones To Join BBC Worldwide America As COO — Herb Scannell continues to pull former Viacom (NYSE: VIA) colleagues into BBC Worldwide America. The latest is Ann Sarnoff, who left Dow Jones after four years to be Scannell's COO. Sarnoff was president of Dow Jones Ventures …

Discussion: The Wrap, MediaPost, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter Online:

‘Intersect’ Provides New Way to Share Life Stories Based on Time & Place — Often, the stories we tell — as journalists and as citizens — are part of an ongoing narrative. It's easy, though, for parts of that narrative to get lost along the way. Our memories get hazy.

Discussion: Lost Remote

Steven Aftergood / Secrecy News:

Pentagon Seeks “Coordination” of Media Activities — The Department of Defense last week increased its efforts to require that Department contacts with the media be monitored and approved by DoD public affairs officials. — “I am asking the heads of the Military Services …

Discussion: Romenesko

Paul Bradshaw / Online Journalism Blog:

Lessons in crowdsourcing: Claire Wardle on using Ushahidi for the Tube strike — The following is cross-posted from Claire Wardle's blog: — Late on Monday night, I wrote a short post in anticipation of the crowdmap I'd just set up for BBC London, which I hoped would provide a useful service …

Discussion: BBC College of Journalism Blog and The Wall Blog

James Chessell / TheAustralian:

Fairfax Media loses copyright battle — THE Federal Court has ruled against Fairfax Media's attempt to claim copyright over headlines in The Australian Financial Review. — The decision is seen by the publishing industry to have significant implications for the reproduction of newspaper articles.

Discussion: paidContent, Guardian and mediabistro.com

Holly Yeager / CJR:

Boy, Look Who National Journal's Been Hiring — So far only 20% of high-profile hires are women; not good — The National Journal Group has been generating a lot of buzz lately with big-name hires like Major Garrett, Matt Cooper, Marc Ambinder and Michael Hirsh.

Discussion: The Wire

Nick Axelrod / WWD:

Anna Wintour Weaves Her Web — ANNA WEAVES HER WEB: Just what Anna Wintour needed: another project. On the eve of New York Fashion Week and a mere two days before her brainchild, Fashion's Night Out — which, while ostensibly having little to do with Vogue, has more than five …

Discussion: Media Decoder

Telegraph:

BBC World Service ‘faces having to pull out of countries’ — The BBC World Service has been told to brace itself for cuts which could force it to pull out of several countries, including Burma, it has been disclosed. — BBC chiefs have been engaged in talks with the Foreign Office …

Discussion: Guardian and Journalism.co.uk

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

Jim Wiatt, ex-William Morris Chief, Takes Content Strategy Job With AOL — Jim Wiatt, the subject of much speculation after a bruising exit from William Morris Endeavor last year, will be joining the Internet portal AOL as a strategic advisor to develop content partnerships across media and entertainment.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Deadline.com, Media Decoder, digiday:DAILY, paidContent and Media News International

Committee to Protect Journalists:

Silence or Death in Mexico's Press — The drug traffickers, violent criminals, and corrupt officials who threaten Mexico's future have killed, terrorized, and co-opted journalists, knowing that controlling the flow of information will further their needs. They have been increasingly successful, and the results have been devastating.

Discussion: KnightBlog and International Media