Mediagazer: Netflix May Launch Streaming-Only Plan in the U.S. (Janko Roettgers/NewTeeVee)

3:40 AM ET, September 24, 2010

Top News:

What impact is SEO having on journalists? Reports from the field — Last week, I wrote that SEO and audience metrics, when used well, can actually make journalism stronger. But I got pushback from journalists who complained that I was parroting back management views rather …

Discussion: Guardian, WebNewser and Cision

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
Let's Just Stop the Old vs. New Media Argument

Discussion: Romenesko, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog and WebNewser

Ryan Lawler / NewTeeVee:

How Online Video Killed Blockbuster — Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning, as part of a pre-arranged recapitalization that it has negotiated with its bondholders. With the filing, Blockbuster has wiped out nearly $1 billion in debt and given most of its bondholders equity in the company instead.

Bloomberg:
Blockbuster Files for Bankruptcy After Online Rivals Gain

Discussion: Company Town, Online Video News, Reuters, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Globe and Mail, paidContent, MediaPost, VentureBeat and Gizmodo

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: paidContent, WebNewser, All Things Digital and WebProNews

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

Jeff Bercovici / DailyFinance:

A New Era at Forbes: Staffer Calls Cover Story ‘Stupefyingly Inane’ — Forbes magazine unveils a new look this week, with a redesigned issue on newsstands tomorrow featuring its signature Forbes 400 list, but for a sense of how much the company has changed since Lewis D'Vorkin took …

Discussion: CJR and Romenesko

Andrew Vanacore / Associated Press:
Forbes undergoes radical overhaul

Discussion: Talking Biz News, Romenesko and MediaMemo

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 and Multichannel News

Brad Stone / Business Week:

Facebook Sells Your Friends — How Facebook plans to leverage its 550 million users into the greatest advertising juggernaut since ... O.K., only since Google. That's still huge — There were two obvious winners at the FIFA World Cup this summer. Spain took home the 13-pound …

Discussion: MediaPost and AdExchanger.com

Joel Meares / CJR:

Q&A: This Week Host Christiane Amanpour — The move to Sunday morning, her critics, and reporting in a new age — Christiane Amanpour has been sitting at the newly-refurbished This Week desk for nearly two months now. While some reviewers took shots at the former foreign correspondent …

Nick Bilton / Bits:

Instapaper Goes From Hobby to Start-Up — On Tuesday Marco Arment, the chief technology officer at the social networking site Tumblr, announced that he would be leaving it to tend to a personal project: Instapaper. — I caught up with Mr. Arment on the phone on Wednesday to find out what was next from his personal project.

Journalism.org:

ADVANCES IN SOCIAL NETWORKING KEEP TWITTER ATWITTER — New developments in the tech world sometimes make mainstream news headlines, but they almost always generate major attention on Twitter. Last week was no exception as Twitter was dominated by developments and new products …

Discussion: Romenesko, PewResearch.org and WebNewser

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

Mail Online defies August slump to set new monthly user record — Daily Mail website hits new high of 45 million monthly browsers, as guardian.co.uk remains in second place with 35 million — Mail Online defied the traditionally quiet month of August to hit a new traffic record …

Discussion: Media Week and Press Gazette

Paul Bradshaw / Online Journalism Blog:

“The mass market was a hack”: Data and the future of journalism — The following is an unedited version of an article written for the International Press Institute report ‘Brave News Worlds (PDF)’ — For the past two centuries journalists have dealt in the currency of information: we transmuted base metals into narrative gold.

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:

Netflix May Launch Streaming-Only Plan in the U.S. — Netflix CEO Reed Hastings doesn't usually reveal future plans, but he decided to throw us a bone today after two days of bad publicity, hinting at the option of a cheaper subscription plan that comes without any physical DVD rentals in the U.S.

Discussion: The Official Netflix Blog, MediaMemo, Fast Company and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:

Nielsen Testing a New Web-Ad Metric — Nielsen Co. is working on a service that would offer advertisers and Web publishers a new stream of data to improve audience measurement for online advertising, a move that may bring more ad dollars to the sector. — As with TV ratings …

Discussion: Inside Facebook and The Next Web

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Orla Healy (And More?) Out at New York Daily News — We hear from multiple sources that Orla Healy, the legendarily-disliked features editor at the New York Daily News, has been let go. Since Martin Dunn left the paper, Healy's clock has been ticking. Time's up. We hear. [UPDATED below].

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, New York Magazine, TechCrunch, New York Observer and FishbowlNY

The Wall Blog:

Readers react negatively as UBM puts building mag behind paywall — United Business Media has put the premium content of its Building Design website behind a paywall, asking £69 from a year for access, and sparked a largely (and maybe not surprising) negative reaction from readers.

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Hey Cable Guys! Cord Cutting is Real, and It's a Problem, Says Verizon CEO — The party line from cable executives is that the “cord-cutting” phenomenon-consumers swapping cable subscriptions for Internet video-is a myth. Or, at best, greatly exaggerated. Not so, says Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

Discussion: Light Reading, MediaPost, Wall Street Journal, Multichannel, TUAW, NewTeeVee, Online Video News and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

ESPN's Newest Premium Apps Are For Insiders Only — While other publishers brag about surpassing single-copy sales on the iPad or look for ways to manage subscriptions outside of iTunes, ESPN (NYSE: DIS) is running a different pattern. The Disney sports unit has a number of successful free and one-time purchase apps.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, WebNewser and Poynter Online

Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:

Sorry, New York Times Co, We'd Like To Work With You, But We're Not Going To Blow Smoke Up Your Ass — A few weeks ago, we had an interview scheduled with Cella Irvine, the CEO of About.com. After a hiccup during the recession, About.com is firing on all cylinders again, and we were eager to hear the latest from Cella.