Mediagazer: Online Measurement Creates a Muddle for Web Journalists (Jennifer Valentino-DeVries/Digits)

1:05 AM ET, September 10, 2010

Top News:

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Coverage of Koran Case Stirs Questions on Media Role — A renegade pastor and his tiny flock set fire to a Koran on a street corner, and made sure to capture it on film. And they were ignored. — That stunt took place in 2008, involving members of the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka …

Discussion: Guardian, Orlando Sentinel, The Daily Dish and Gothamist

Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:

Don't Blame Media, Blame the Media-Audience Infinite Loop — I've spent two days listening to and reading near-constant coverage of the wacko who's planning to burn Korans in Gainsville, Florida, and increasingly the stories have been about whether or not all the press attention has been irresponsible.

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite, Lost Remote, Strupp, International Media, USA Today and CNN

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Plan to burn Qurans ignites media frenzy — Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., got a bit of local press last Sept. 11 when members of his small congregation stood on the side of the road wearing “Islam is of the devil” T-shirts. This year, he has upped the ante with an anti-Islam stunt …

Discussion: Romenesko, Agence France Presse, George's Bottom Line, The Huffington Post, Threat Level, Silicon Alley Insider, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, CrunchGear, The Register, Poynter Online, Washington Wire, Data Center Knowledge, Politics Daily and CNN, more at Techmeme »

David Zurawik / Z on TV:

Fox News says it will not cover burning of Quran — In a bold move that is likely to be much discussed in coming days, Fox News said today that it will not cover the burning of the Quran on Saturday if Pastor Terry Jones follows through on his plan to burn copies of Islam's sacred book.

Discussion: Associated Press, Media Decoder, Romenesko, New York Times, USA Today, CNN, Gothamist, Guardian, PostPartisan, Mediaite, CJR, TVNewser, Silicon Alley Insider, The Wire, New York Magazine and Spiegel Online

Jenna Wortham / Bits:

Betaworks and The Times Plan a Social News Service — Something is stirring deep within the technology incubator Betaworks: A personalized news service called News.me that is being developed in collaboration with The New York Times. — On Thursday, a cryptic placeholder for the service went live.

Discussion: Mashable, The Next Web, paidContent, New York Magazine and Lost Remote

Philip Stone / FollowTheMedia:

What's More Important: The Money A Paywall Web Site Brings In Or The Influence - Branding - Earned From Letting Everyone In Free? — Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, says the Murdoch paywall at the Times and Sunday Times in the UK is a “foolish experiment” mainly because their readership online …

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
Newspaper Paywalls: Full Speed Ahead

Discussion: MediaPost, New York Times and CJR

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits:

Online Measurement Creates a Muddle for Web Journalists — When it comes to data about readers, maybe online news organizations have too much of what should be a good thing. — Web editors have a plethora of options when it comes to seeing what visitors are doing online.

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Reuters Taps Slate's James Ledbetter As Website Editor — Two months after the Slate Group folded its business news site The Big Money, its former editor-in-chief James Ledbetter is heading to Reuters (NYSE: TRI) to run the company's website, paidContent has learned. Both Reuters and Ledbetter confirmed the hiring.

Discussion: Talking Biz News, Romenesko and DailyFinance

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Newsweek's Weymouth heads to Washington Post — Lally Weymouth, a special diplomatic correspondent at Newsweek, becomes the latest high-ranking staffer to leave the magazine since audio magnate Sidney Harman agreed to buy it from the Washington Post Co. — Weymouth will join …

Discussion: Romenesko and On Media's Blog

John Koblin / New York Observer:

Wall Street Journal To Launch A Book Review Section — The Observer has learned that The Wall Street Journal will launch a weekly book review within the next few weeks. The Journal has never had a standalone book review before, and creating one now flies in the face of ever-dwindling book coverage in papers across the country.

Discussion: Slate, GalleyCat, Gawker, Media Buyer Planner, New York Magazine, Shaping the Future …, Crain's New York Business, The Wire and On Media's Blog

rbr.com:

Emmis buyout effort ended in frustration — Founder and CEO Jeff Smulyan had tried and failed once before to take Emmis Communications private, so he hung on to the bitter end this time as a shareholders meeting that began August 3rd was convened for the 10th time on Thursday, September 9th.

Discussion: Folio, Romenesko, Indianapolis Star and Media Buyer Planner

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

BREAKING: YouTube Still Isn't Profitable. But It Will Be, Says Google. Again. — Officially, Google doesn't talk about YouTube's profitability, or lack thereof. Except, of course, when Google executives do talk about it. — Then they say that YouTube is very close to becoming profitable.

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Macworld and Gizmodo

Joel Johnson / Gizmodo:

Forget Apple TV. AirPlay Is Apple's Sneak Attack On Television — It was almost a footnote. AirPlay, the audio streaming protocol once known as AirTunes, got just one minute of keynote time last week. But it might end up as the backbone of Apple's assault on the living room. More »

more at Techmeme »

Ethan Smith / Speakeasy:

MTV Overtakes Vevo as Top Online Music Destination … Thanks largely to an ad-sales partnership with Warner Music Group, MTV Networks last month became the Web's most-visited music destination, surpassing rival Vevo, according to new statistics from ComScore Media Metrix.

Discussion: AdAge, Crain's New York Business and The Wrap

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

What Apple's new App Store rules mean for news orgs: Some new clarity, but still plenty of fuzziness — After loads of criticism for unexplained decisions, inscrutable rules, and what appeared to be a desire to protect the public's morals and the feelings of the powerful …

Discussion: Romenesko, Google Mobile Ads Blog, Daring Fireball, TechCrunch, Apple, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, Gizmodo, Gadget Lab, ReadWriteWeb, CJR, Engadget and Silicon Alley Insider, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

As Ratings Slump, CNN Shifts Focus to New Faces — CNN, rebooting in a bid to revive its slumping ratings, officially tapped a former British tabloid editor to take over its flagship prime-time show. — Piers Morgan, who in recent years has reinvented himself as a TV interviewer and judge …

Discussion: Speakeasy