Mediagazer: In a hamster-wheel world, is there room for journalistic creativity? (Nikki Usher/Nieman Journalism Lab)

10:45 PM ET, September 20, 2010

Top News:

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Sports Illustrated Tells iPad Readers to Turn Around — Magazine publishers keep adding bells and whistles to their iPad editions. But Sports Illustrated's newest tweak goes the other way, and takes an option off the table. — The magazine used to give readers the ability to look at the app in …

Discussion: newsplexer, TeleRead and eMedia Vitals, more at Techmeme »

yelvington.com:
Beware, journalists: Apple is not your friend

Discussion: Techdirt, Poynter Online and Examiner

Wall Street Journal:
Apple Coaxes Publishers to Join It on iPad Subscriptions

Discussion: TechCrunch, Mashable!, GigaOM, TUAW, Garcia Media, Romenesko and Silicon Alley Insider, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Goodbye (Crummy) CAPTCHAs. Hello Ad Dollars? — Hate dealing with captchas-the squiggly, indecipherable text strings Web sites often force you to read and regurgitate for security reasons? Join the club. And pay attention to what Solve Media is trying to do.

Discussion: AdAge, paidContent, Fast Company, ChasNote, Download Squad, New York Observer, Both Sides of the Table, This is going to be BIG!, Examiner, The Next Web, NetNewsCheck Latest, MediaPost and eMedia Vitals, more at Techmeme »

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Kaus takes his blog to Newsweek.com — MICKEY KAUS BRINGS KAUSFILES BLOG TO NEWSWEEK.COM — New York - Blogger and recent U.S. Senate candidate Mickey Kaus has joined Newsweek and will be posting his pioneering political blog “kausfiles” several times a day on Newsweek.com, Newsweek announced today.

Discussion: LA Observed

Nikki Usher / Nieman Journalism Lab:

In a hamster-wheel world, is there room for journalistic creativity? Evidence from The New York Times — The essential question facing newsrooms today is this one: Does more speed and more content come at the cost of creativity? Does the “hamster wheel,” as described by Dean Starkman …

Discussion: CJR and Kirk LaPointe's …

Gene Weingarten / Washington Post:

Goodbye, cruel words: English. It's dead to me. — The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness.

Discussion: Romenesko, The Atlantic Wire and Washington Post

Robert Hernandez / Online Journalism Review:

Real-time Web + journalism = Real-time reporting — By Robert Hernandez: The next phase of the Internet affecting journalism — for better or worse — is well underway. — We started out with websites, then blogs, then the interactivity of Web 2.0. Now, we are in the era of the real-time Web.

Discussion: CyberJournalist.net and Web Journalist Blog

John Koblin / New York Observer:

Picture Time! The Front-Page Dummy for the 'Journal's New Saturday Edition — The Associated Press spoke to Robert Thomson about the Journal's new weekend edition that debuts this weekend. — The Journal's spokeswoman Ashley Huston helpfully sent us an image of the front-page dummy.

Discussion: Associated Press

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

A warning to nonprofit news organizations: Government funding may not boost the bottom line much — At a time when some Americans are talking about increasing government support for journalism, here's an interesting new study that adds a useful data point to the discussion …

Discussion: papers.nber.org and NetNewsCheck Latest

Wall Street Journal:

Shaping Ads for Web-Connected TV — Software Offers New Real Estate to Tout Products, Ability to Target Messages — Technology companies racing to deliver video to the living room over the Web are exploring the idea of offering ads on their services, seeking to capture some of the billions of ad dollars that flow to television.

Discussion: Search Engine Land, 5 Blogs Before Lunch and MediaPost

Shira Ovide / Wall Street Journal:

News Corp., Cablevision Square Off — In the latest standoff over fees sought to air television channels, News Corp. is trying to rally consumers to its side in a spat with Cablevision Systems Corp. — News Corp.—which is seeking higher fees for its channels in negotiations with Cablevision …

Discussion: Company Town, NewTeeVee and NYConvergence

Lucia Moses / Mediaweek:

Barbara Fairchild Out at Bon Appétit — Barbara Fairchild, the longtime editor of Condé Nast's Bon Appétit, will be replaced later this year after a 32-year career with the magazine, including 10 as its editor-in-chief, the company announced today.

Discussion: New York Observer, Crain's New York Business, The Wrap, MinOnline, Media Decoder, New York Magazine, WWD Media Headlines, MediaPost and LA Observed

Joe Flint / Company Town:

In Comcast-DirecTV talks over new G4 deal, there's no playing around [Updated] — Looks like satellite broadcaster DirecTV and cable giant Comcast Corp. are headed toward another throw-down. — At issue this time around is G4, the Comcast-owned channel that caters to young men with shows …

Joseph Plambeck / New York Times:

A Journalist Whose Sport Is Controversy — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Since Jason Whitlock's arrival here in 1994 to write a sports column at The Kansas City Star, he has grappled publicly with team owners and coaches, local news media personalities and even the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Discussion: Deadspin

James Hibberd / Hollywood Reporter:

Mark Cuban joining ABC's ‘Shark Tank’ — EXCLUSIVE: Entrepreneur to appear in three episodes — Entertainment entrepreneur Mark Cuban is joining ABC's “Shark Tank” for the show's second season. — The owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and chairman of cable channel HDNet will be a guest venture capitalist for three episodes.

Discussion: New York Magazine and PopWatch

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

In Martha Stewart's Work With Hallmark, Questions for Future — LOS ANGELES — A cheerful Martha Stewart was on the line, ready to talk about her new partnership with the Hallmark Channel. Last week, the channel started to run no less than eight hours a day of programming, five days a week, from the décor doyenne's orbit.

Discussion: Gawker and Hollywood Reporter

Bill Mitchell / Newspay:

10 Ways Journalism Around the World Is Being Revived and Reinvented — Prepping for a session for the International Press Institute (IPI) annual congress last week in Vienna, I asked the panelists, among other things, to describe a media trend they find encouraging.

Discussion: Reportr.net and Editors Weblog

Joe Strupp / Strupp:

Fineman On Newsweek, Huffington Post and Fox News — After spending 30 years at Newsweek, Howard Fineman is leaving for Huffington Post. His move from the traditional weekly magazine to the leader of online news and opinion is itself a mark of the change afflicting media coverage today.

Discussion: The Wire, Outside the Beltway and Monday Note

David Carr / New York Times:

Blurring Satire and Politics — Picture a football game where the reporters and commentators, bored by the feckless proceedings on the field, suddenly poured out of the press box and took over the game. — In politics, it seems as if the media is intent on not just keeping score but also calling plays.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Think Progress, Mediaite, Howard Kurtz and TVNewser

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Kiely leaves USA Today to join National Journal — Kathy Kiely Joins National Journal Editor Team — Washington, D.C. (September 20, 2010) — National Journal Group announced today that veteran political journalist Kathy Kiely is joining the news organization as Managing Editor for Politics.

Discussion: Gannett Blog

Archibald Preuschat / Wall Street Journal:

BMG Joint Venture Builds Up Music-Rights Business — BMG Rights Management, which represents the rights to more than 200,000 songs, on Monday announced its fourth major acquisition this year—part of its aim to break into the top ranks of global players in the music publishing industry.

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Biz appetite for acquisitions under scrutiny — NEW YORK — The current appetite for acquisitions — or in their stead more stock buybacks and bigger dividends — is expected to be a key focus at Goldman Sachs' 19th annual Communacopia conference, which runs Tuesday through Thursday in New York.

Amy Dunkin / CUNY Graduate School of Journalism:

TWO $3 MILLION GRANTS TO FUND NEW ENTREPRENEURIAL PROGRAM — The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism has been awarded two $3 million grants to help it establish the nation's most intensive program in entrepreneurial journalism with the creation of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism …

Discussion: BuzzMachine, The Wire, Journalism.co.uk, Jon Slattery, News Innovation, State of the Fourth Estate and New York Times

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:

Signs of the Times: Newsweek Goes Down — Via Newsweek-reporter-turned-Tumblr- Emissary Mark Coatney and Newsweek's Sarah Frank, here's a picture of the Newsweek sign being pulled down. She notes: “In case anyone wants to watch, they're pulling the Newsweek sign down from the front of the building right now.

Discussion: Still Not Going To Do … and Cision

Mail.com Media Corporation:

MMC ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC TRANSACTION WITH EUROPE'S LARGEST INTERNET COMPANY — LOS ANGELES, CA. September 20th, 2010 - MMC, the leading publisher and digital media company that owns content properties such as OnCars.com, Deadline.com, HollywoodLife.com, Movieline.com, BGR.com, YHAwards.com …

Discussion: paidContent, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Hollywood Life, Mashable! and Movieline, more at Techmeme »

Howard Kurtz:

MSNBC finally pays off at 30 Rock — NEW YORK—Steve Capus glances at the eight video feeds on the flat-screen monitors in his Rockefeller Plaza office, smiling as he spots Andrea Mitchell in a head scarf, doing a morning live shot for MSNBC. — The 46-year-old NBC News president ticks …

Discussion: DailyFinance, Romenesko, TVNewser, Chickaboomer, The Wire, Inside Cable News and On Media's Blog

Laura McGann / Nieman Journalism Lab:

L.A. Times' controversial teacher database attracted traffic and got funding from a nontraditional source — Not so long ago, a hefty investigative series from the Los Angeles Times might have lived its life in print, starting on a Monday and culminating with abig package in the Sunday paper.

Discussion: LA Observed

Paul Bradshaw / Online Journalism Blog:

The BBC and missed data journalism opportunities — I've tweeted a couple of times recently about frustrations with BBC stories that are based on data but treat it poorly. As any journalist knows, two occasions of anything in close proximity warrants an overreaction about a “worrying trend”.

Discussion: BBC