Mediagazer: Emmis buyout effort ended in frustration (rbr.com)

10:40 PM ET, September 9, 2010

Top News:

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, New York Times, Guardian, Romenesko, Media Decoder, CJR, USA Today, Mediaite, PostPartisan, TVNewser, Gothamist, Silicon Alley Insider, New York Magazine, The Wire and CNN

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, International Media, Strupp and USA Today

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, Orlando Sentinel, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, Threat Level, Silicon Alley Insider, CrunchGear, Poynter Online, Mediaite, The Register, Washington Wire, Data Center Knowledge and CNN, more at Techmeme »

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, Lost Remote and New York Magazine

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: New York Times, CJR and Mashable

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

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: Romenesko, Talking Biz News and DailyFinance

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

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, Gizmodo, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, CJR, Gadget Lab, ReadWriteWeb, Engadget and Silicon Alley Insider, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Scarborough and Kinsley Will Write for Politico — Politico has built a successful enterprise on the idea that there is no such thing as too much information when it comes to political news. Now it is going to apply that concept to political opinion. — Starting on Oct. 1 …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, CJR, rbr.com, The Politico, Romenesko, WebNewser, The Wire, New York Magazine, Gawker and The Huffington Post

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, The Wrap and Crain's New York Business

Evelyn Rusli / TechCrunch:

Video Publishing Platform Ooyala Raises $22 Million, Prepares For Major Asian Expansion — Advertisers are not the only ones plowing money into the online video space with gusto, you can add large, international investors to that growing list. — This morning, Ooyala announced …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Online Video News, NewTeeVee, The Huffington Post, paidContent and Beet.TV, more at Techmeme »

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

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

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:
How Piers Morgan's Deal To Take Over For Larry King Came About

Discussion: Company Town and Movieline

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

Dave McNary / Variety:

Public TV writers ratify new pact — Deal covers made-for-Internet programming — Public television writers repped by the Writers Guild of America have unanimously ratified a new four-year pact. — The WGA said the deal, announced Wednesday, covers made-for-Internet programming …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Broadcasting & Cable and The Wrap