Mediagazer: Zucker Announces Departure From NBC (Bill Carter/Media Decoder)

1:15 PM ET, September 24, 2010

Top News:

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Zucker Announces Departure From NBC — Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, told the company's employees in an e-mail Friday morning that he would step down from his position upon the completion of the takeover of NBC by Comcast. — The fate of Mr. Zucker …

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Jonathan Klein to Leave CNN — Jonathan Klein, the president of the beleaguered CNN/U.S. cable channel, is being replaced by Ken Jautz, the president of the tabloid-friendly sister channel HLN. — Mr. Jautz's title will be the executive vice president of CNN/U.S. Scot Safon …

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

CNN's Klein: ‘I Got Shot’ — CNN president Jonathan Klein didn't come into work this morning. — “I didn't want to put people in an awkward situation,” he told me. Two days ago, he learned he was out of a job. — On Wednesday afternoon, CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton …

Discussion: The Wire and Inside Cable News

Brooks Barnes / Media Decoder:

Disney's Internet Chief Resigns — The Walt Disney Company's top Internet executive, Steve Wadsworth, resigned late Thursday following a difficult tenure in which Disney's Web strategy underwent repeated retrenchments. — Mr. Wadsworth, whose title was president of the Disney Interactive Media Group …

Discussion: rbr.com, paidContent, Company Town and Hollywood Reporter

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

As another magazine charges for access, where's the proof of paywall success? — The great paywall debate centres on the decision of big publishers to charge for access. So most of the noise has been generated by Rupert Murdoch's online paywalls at The Times, Sunday Times, and now the News of the World.

The Wall Blog: Readers react negatively as UBM puts building mag behind paywall

The Wall Blog:

Has the Times paywall killed its blogs? — I wrote last week that I don't have a problem with The Times paywall just its implementation. One of its biggest failing appeared to be shutting its once popular blogs behind the paywall. — I've suspected it is doing them no good and a couple …

Discussion: Harry's Place

Tim Glanfield / Beehive City: The Times lose another 120,000 online readers behind paywall

Arianna Huffington / Guardian:

Leonard Downie's downer — Old media sniping about the Huffington Post as a ‘parasite’ aggregator just shows they don't get the new link economy — Once again, some in the old media have decided that the best way to save, if not journalism, at least themselves, is by pointing fingers and calling names.

Discussion: New York Observer, The Wire, WebNewser and Cision

James Robinson / Guardian:
US editor attacks net news ‘parasites’

Discussion: DailyFinance, The Wall Blog, Crikey, Jon Slattery, International Media, Journalism.co.uk, The Wire and WebNewser

Michael Miner / Chicago Reader:

Net News in Chicago: Still Poor, Still Striving — No one's getting rich. Hardly anyone's getting paid at all. — So we're told by The NEW News 2010, the second annual survey by the Community Media Workshop of what it calls “the Chicago area's online news ecosystem.”

Discussion: Romenesko

eMarketer:

The Continued Rise of Blogging — More than half of web users will read blogs this year — Social networks and microblogs have in recent years nudged blogging off the social media pedestal. For some consumers, who have more communication tools at their fingertips than they did a few years ago …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, HyperlocalBlogger and Real Lawyers Have Blogs

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

Netflix, NBC Universal content deal brings Battlestar Galactica, SNL and more to Watch Instantly — Just in case a throwaway mention of a streaming-only subscription for US customers wasn't enough, an agreement adding plenty of recognizable content from NBC to its Watch Instantly service …

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, Splitsider, PR Newswire, VideoNuze and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Saudi Arabians Will Soon Need A License To Blog — According to The Media Note, Saudi Information and Culture Ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman Al-Hazza announced last night Saudi time that all Saudi Arabian web publishers and online media, including blogs and forums, will need to be officially registered with the government.

Discussion: Gearlog and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Jason Fell / Folio:

Hearst Turns Inward for New Business Ideas — Launches internal project soliciting plans for ‘high-potential’ ventures. — One of the biggest players in consumer magazine publishers is looking inward for inspiration. — As Hearst gears up to launch its mobile application think tank the App Lab …

Discussion: Romenesko

Ed Yong / Not Exactly Rocket Science:

Should science journalists take sides? — Tonight I took part in a debate at the Royal Institution of Great Britain entitled “Should science journalists takes sides?” The event was chaired by Fiona Fox of the Science Media Centre and panellists included myself, Mark Henderson from the Times …

Discussion: Argo, the Blog

Media Week:

Trust green lights BBC Magazines sell-off — The BBC Trust has rubber-stamped the sale in principle of a majority stake in BBC Magazines, putting brands such as Radio Times in play. — BBC Magazines: longstanding title Radio Times — The trust cleared the way for a sale in principle …

Discussion: Variety, Guardian and Press Gazette

Andrew Clark / Guardian:

Andrew Clark — When film-makers use real-life stories, like Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's, blurring fact and fiction means we get factionalism — Gazing down from billboards across New York, the pale, furrowed face of a computer geek in deep concentration is adorned by the words: “Punk.

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, New York Magazine and George's Bottom Line

Pete Wells / Diner's Journal:

Gourmet Is Reincarnated, This Time as an iPad App — Tonight, with the introduction of an iPad app, Condé Nast continues its attempt to prove that there is life after print for Gourmet. — The new product, described in press materials as “an innovative app and digital content experience …

Discussion: WebNewser, Gourmet Live, Grub Street New York, Gizmodo and Spiersblr

Nat Worden / Wall Street Journal:

Apple TV Splits Networks — Top Media Executives Question Whether 99-Cent Rentals Hurt Pay Model — NEW YORK—Media executives gathered this week at a conference here sounded a note of caution on Apple Inc.'s 99-cent digital-rental service for TV shows amid a division in the industry on whether to participate.

Discussion: Online Video News and Digits

Emma Heald / Editors Weblog:

How do Yahoo and others compare to traditional news producers? — One of Yahoo's top journalists for its news blog The Upshot has quit, reportedly saying that Yahoo's ‘corporate conservatism’ got in the way of his attempts to report the news. According to Daily Finance's Jeff Bercovici …

Discussion: Cision

Guardian:

Film Power 100: the full list — You just want the raw facts? Without any fancy interactivity? You've come to the right place — • Datablog: download the full list as a spreadsheet — 1) James Cameron — Director: Avatar, Titanic — 2) Steven Spielberg

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Women & Hollywood, newsfeed.time.com and Deadline.com

Steven Church / Bloomberg:

Philadelphia Inquirer Lenders Outbid Raymond Perelman for Newspaper Owner — Philadelphia Inquirer lenders won a bankruptcy court auction for the newspaper and its sister publication with a high bid of $105 million, outbidding Raymond Perelman, father of billionaire Ronald Perelman.

Discussion: Philly.com, DealBook and Shaping the Future …

Greta Van Susteren / Gretawire:

just cancelled Bob Woodward interview ... I just cancelled a Bob Woodward new book interview because the publisher won't get me a copy to READ BEFORE I do the interview. ON THE RECORD at ten is not the Home Shopping Channel - I actually read the books before I do the interview out of respect for the viewers …

Discussion: TVNewser, The Huffington Post and New York Magazine

Steven Bertoni / Money Talks:

Tribune Insider Denies Eisner Rumors — “The name Michael Eisner has never been uttered in any board conversation.” … That's what a Tribune director recently told me over the phone. He says the company has no bad opinions of the famous former Disney chief, just that the Tribune board has no idea where the rumors are coming from.

MediaShift:

A Guide to Rising Public Media Networks in the U.S. — While it's taken public broadcasters awhile to catch up to the possibilities and dynamics of social and mobile media platforms, over the past year on MediaShift we have been documenting a flurry of innovation that reveals new possibilities …

Discussion: Technology360 and Center for Social Media blogs

Ryan Lawler / NewTeeVee:

Next New Networks Chairman, CEO Swap Roles — Web video startup Next New Networks announced that CEO Lance Podell is stepping down from his current role, citing personal reasons. Podell will continue to oversee the broader strategic direction of the company as its chairman.

Discussion: MediaMemo, Next New Networks, Beet.TV and paidContent

Ken Silverstein / Harper's:

Broder and Woodward Still on Lecture Circuit — Two years ago, I wrote about private groups offering big speaking fees and perks to David Broder and Bob Woodward, even though both had talked in the past about the impropriety of journalistic “buckraking.” Broder, for example, said in 1996 …

Discussion: FishbowlDC

Ryan Lawler / NewTeeVee:

The Problem With TV Everywhere: There's No Business Model — Some cable providers and networks have been busy creating so-called TV Everywhere services that let subscribers log in and view on-demand video content online. But despite some early enthusiasm from select networks, these services have been slow to catch on.

Discussion: FM Blog

Andrew Wallenstein / Hollywood Reporter:

EXCLUSIVE: MySpace taps new content chief — Andy Marcus aims to leverage site's audition platform — MySpace has tapped Andy Marcus to take the reins on its efforts in the entertainment business. — Formerly senior vp business and legal affairs at MySpace, Marcus will move over to senior vp entertainment and video.

Discussion: NewTeeVee, paidContent, WebProNews and All Things Digital