Mediagazer: Zynga And Facebook Are Killing Soap Operas (Tod Sacerdoti/Silicon Alley Insider)

8:30 AM ET, September 16, 2010

Top News:

John Boudreau / Mercury News:

Apple to announce subscription plan for newspapers — Apple is expected to announce soon a new subscription plan for newspapers, which hope tablets like the iPad will eventually provide a new source of profit as media companies struggle with declining print circulation and advertising revenue.

Ryan Chittum / CJR:
The Mercury News's Thinly Sourced Apple Scooplet

Discussion: Romenesko, TUAW, iPad News Daily and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »

Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:

DEMO: The secret of Groupon's success is ... good writing? — Among startups, there's a tendency to emphasize product technology, rather than fuzzier skills and qualities that don't “scale”. But chief executive Andrew Mason said today that the success of his popular social buying site Groupon …

Discussion: GigaOM and Tech Trader Daily

David Kaplan / paidContent: Gilt City Exits Beta With Limits Around Local Expansion

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Twitter as broadcast: What #newtwitter might mean for networked journalism — So Twitter.com's updated interface — #newtwitter, as the Twittery hashtag goes — is upon us. (Well, upon some of us.) — The most obvious, and noteworthy, changes involved in #newtwitter are (a) …

Discussion: al3x, Search Engine Land, AdAge, The First Post, AndyDickinson.net, ReadWriteWeb, Argo, the Blog, The Atlantic Online, SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog and Digital Connections, more at Techmeme »

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
You're a Media Company Now, Twitter — Good Luck

Discussion: PC World, TeleRead, Pakman's Blog and MediaMemo

John Koblin / New York Observer:

The Times and WSJ Battle Over Publicity Staff — The next battleground for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal's little newspaper war is apparently the papers' communications departments. — Bob Christie, the PR man for The Times who left the Journal back in March …

Discussion: Romenesko

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Newsweek departures continue: Hosenball heads to Reuters — Investigative reporter Mark Hosenball becomes the latest high-profile Newsweek staffer to leave since the magazine was sold last month. He's joining Reuters as a money and politics reporter after 17 years with the weekly magazine.

Discussion: Romenesko, New York Observer, The Wrap and On Media's Blog

Scott Sherman / CJR:

A Rocket's Trajectory — For more than thirty years, Keith Richburg has been a classy and distinguished presence at The Washington Post. Richburg served as bureau chief in Manila, Nairobi, and Paris, and also spent more than two years as foreign editor in Washington.

Discussion: Romenesko and On Media's Blog

Mark D. Fefer / Seattle Weekly:

On the Advice of the FBI, Cartoonist Molly Norris Disappears From View — Her work won't be in Seattle Weekly anymore, or anywhere else. — You may have noticed that Molly Norris' comic is not in the paper this week. That's because there is no more Molly. … The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully.

Discussion: msnbc.com and Mediaite

Jack Shafer / Slate:

Murdoch's Watergate — Every journalist suffers from subpoenas envy. As powerful as the pen may be, reporters covet the power that courts and Congress have to command individuals and organizations to give testimony and produce evidence. So whenever the power-thresher of a prosecution …

Discussion: CJR, KNSD-TV, PopEater and Guardian

Edmund Lee / AdAge:

The Future Is Now: Online Ad Platform Predicts Future Prices — Ad Network Takes Risk on Future Display Prices in Bid to Unlock TV Ad Dollars — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Despite digital media's virulent growth, it's still TV that drives the billion-dollar advertising budgets for most major corporations …

Mike Shields / Mediaweek:

Disney Online Rolls Out Muppets Web Series — It's time to get things started—in the kitchen. The Muppets are a starring in a pair of cooking shows. — Disney Online has rolled out two new Web series featuring Kermit, Fozzie and the gang along with Food Network veteran chef Cat Cora.

Discussion: SocialTimes.com

New York Observer:

Video: Former ‘New York Times’ Digital Design Director Discusses ‘Design and the News’ — The design blogger Tina Roth Eisenberg, aka Swiss Miss, posted this video of former nytimes.com design director Khoi Vinh in Zurich talking about his work, including redesigns of The Times opinion blog …

MediaShift:

Public Media Corps Takes on Broadband Divide for Minorities — If there was a reality show about the Public Media Corps (PMC), the intro might sound something like this: “Here's the true story of how 15 fellows, five public media institutions, three high schools, three community organizations …

Tod Sacerdoti / Silicon Alley Insider:

Zynga And Facebook Are Killing Soap Operas — Daytime soap operas, with very few exceptions, are dead. — On October 5, 2009, CBS canceled “Guiding Light,” the longest running television drama in history, which began in 1952. This September, CBS will air the last episode of “As The World Turns …

MediaShift Idea Lab:

PRX Story Exchange, Spot.us Bring Crowdfunding to Public Radio — Story Exchange (formerly Story Market) is a way for local public radio stations, producers, and listeners to pitch, find and fund documentaries and stories on important local issues. We're also one of this year's winners of a Knight News Challenge grant.

Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:

Latest Online Hyperlocal News Player: Press Release Distributor ReadMedia — ReadMedia, which has made a business of distributing hundreds of thousands of locally-targeted press releases to media outlets across the country, is now trying to make a more direct play in online hyperlocal news.

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Yahoo Connected TV Now Available On Select Toshiba TVs — Yahoo has just announced that Yahoo Connected TV is now available on a number of new models of Toshiba television sets, including Toshiba 46"-55" HDTVs and the WX800 Cinema Series 3D LED. — The Yahoo Connected TV service provides widgets …

Discussion: NewTeeVee and WebNewser

Zeke Turner / New York Observer:

Petty Crime Charges Don't Stick to Journal Reporter Doug Belkin — All of the charges against Doug Belkin, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested while covering the Rod Blagojevich trial in July, were dismissed yesterday by a magistrate judge in U.S. Federal District Court.

Discussion: Romenesko

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

CNBC Gets Bloggy With NetNet: An Interview With John Carney — It's been four months since CNBC hired John Carney as a senior editor for its website. — Since then, Carney has been writing up a storm for CNBC.com and appearing regularly on air. But what the network really hired …

Discussion: CNBC and Talking Biz News

Leon Neyfakh / New York Observer:

So Sorry To Do This! Rain Check? Flakiness Epidemic Sweeps Digital New York — “I'm on my way to something I was supposed to be at an hour ago,” said the fashion journalist Zandile Blay on Monday night. “It's Fashion Week and I've basically missed every single show I had, with the exception of one.”

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

The news is, that pitch was paid for — (WJBK Fox 2 Morning News / September 14, 2010) — When spokespersons for hire promote products on local TV news shows. — With summer ending, local television news stations recently rolled out their back-to-school features.

Discussion: B&C, MediaPost, AdPulp, The Awl, Romenesko and Tower Ticker

Elizabeth Holmes / Wall Street Journal:

The Importance of Tweeting Oscar — The Invisible Style Setters Who Dish Personal Details and Plug the Brand for Their Designer Bosses — Sushi makes her crave chocolate. She spent a summer wielding power tools and drinking Rolling Rock beer. And more than 14,300 people follow her on Twitter.

Discussion: NYConvergence

Jim O'Neill / Online Video News:

Brightcove President David Mendels on consolidation, profitability and the future of the OVP segment's 800-pound gorilla — David Mendels has been COO and President of online video platform Brightcove since Jan. 1, but has had a seat on the management team since last Oct. 1, a seat he originally thought would be a temporary one.