Mediagazer: Breaking: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch (Om Malik/GigaOM)

9:05 AM ET, September 28, 2010

Top News:

Om Malik / GigaOM:

Breaking: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch — AOL, the New York-based online media company, is on the verge of acquiring TechCrunch, the online blogging network started by former attorney, Michael Arrington. The deal is at a sensitive stage and might fall apart yet, but I don't think so.

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

The Pros and Cons of a TechCrunch/AOL Deal — Could AOL buy TechCrunch-a possibility that both Om Malik and the Wall Street Journal say is on the table? Sure. — Does that make sense? Good question. — TechCrunch is a big, successful Web site, and big successful Web sites are very hard to build.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Silicon Alley Insider, more at Techmeme »

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:

Why I am Not a Journalist: A True Story — The short answer is: I wanted to be, but I screwed it up, so I couldn't be. — Discovering journalism in college saved me. At the time (1976) I was on a track that would have led to an assistant manager's job at an Applebees.

Discussion: Romenesko

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:

How Angry NYT Editors and HBO's Bored to Death Make the Case for Media Reporting — Well, it's media reporting day-a-palooza here, which means that seven more people are reading this blog than they are on the average day. So while we're at it, here's how to explain the relevancy …

Discussion: Romenesko, New York Magazine and On Media's Blog

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:

Direct Line: Peter Kaplan on The John Koblin Hire, An iPad App, and WWD's Future — Well, big media change: John Koblin was hired by longtime former New York Observer editor Peter Kaplan — who is now the editorial director of Fairchild — to go report on media for Women's Wear Daily.

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:
Breaking: John Koblin Quits the New York Observer (Updated)

Discussion: The Wrap, Romenesko and New York Magazine

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Exclusive: Here's a Deal That Is Happening-AOL Buying Web Video Distributor 5Min — Here's a deal we can confirm: AOL is buying Web video start-up 5Min Media. — The price for the deal is between $50 million and $65 million, sources close to the situation said. AOL (AOL) plans to announce the deal Tuesday morning.

Discussion: Online Video News, TechCrunch, Beet.TV, VC Cafe, paidContent and Silicon Alley Insider

Mayhill Fowler:

Why I Left The Huffington Post — Yesterday The Huffington Post “posted” the last piece I will write for them, probably, barring the serendipity of life. Below is my email exchange with Roy Sekoff, the founding editor, on the subject. Arianna Huffington, for her part …

Discussion: Romenesko, Ben Smith's Blog, LA Observed, Gawker and The Huffington Post

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Huffington Post fires back at ex-blogger Fowler — The Huffington Post is firing back at Mayhill Fowler, one of the site's many unpaid bloggers, who scored a major political scoop during the 2008 presidential campaign. — Huffington Post spokesman Mario Ruiz took issue with Fowler's decision Monday …

Nicholas Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:

AOL Loses Star Media Reporter Jeff Bercovici To Forbes — Veteran media reporter Jeff Bercovici is quitting AOL and going to Forbes, a source tells us. — Forbes is undergoing a transformation under Lewis Dvorkin, who came to the company through its acquisition of True/Slant last spring.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, The Wrap, Talking Biz News, Gawker, The Wire and WebNewser

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Exclusive: Want Twitter to Help You Find More Followers? Pay Up For a “Promoted Account.” — Twitter is still working to get its first two ad products up and running. But it's going to launch a third, anyway: Tomorrow the company will show off “Promoted Accounts” at an ad industry conference in New York.

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Wall Street Journal, New Media Age, New York Observer, The Next Web, Adrants, Lost Remote, Silicon Alley Insider, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, AdAge and Softpedia News, more at Techmeme »

/ Jonathan Stray:

Designing journalism to be used — There are lots of reasons people might want to follow the news, but to me, journalism's core mission is to facilitate agency. I don't think current news products are very good at this. — Journalism, capital J, is supposed to be about ideals such as “democracy” and “the public interest.”

Discussion: Text Technologies

Jonathan O'Connell / Washington Post:

Bloomberg hiring more than 100 people in D.C. area for Web-based government information venture — Bloomberg, the New York giant of financial news and data, is hiring more than 100 people in Washington and has leased new space as it prepares to launch its Web-based government information venture, Bloomberg Government.

Discussion: Romenesko

Martin Robbins / Guardian:

This is a headline about science — In the standfirst I will make a fairly obvious pun about the subject matter before posing an inane question I have no intention of really answering: is this an important scientific finding? — In this paragraph I will state the main claim that the research makes …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Latest Open Salon Blog and kottke.org

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

There Are Stories Out There On Twitter, Flickr, YouTube — Build Them With Storify — The main reason I love services like Tumblr and Posterous is that they make personal blogging simple. While you certainly still can write long-winded pieces about whatever you want, you can also just use …

Discussion: VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Joe Pompeo / The Business Insider:

TheWeek.com Staffs Up With Radar Refugees — For years, The Week didn't concern itself much with the web. It's a publication, after all, that already performs the same basic function as most blogs and aggregators — curating and contextualizing the news cycle; only it does so in print, and on a weekly basis rather than a daily one.

Discussion: Most Recent Home Page Posts …

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

Time Life: The last digital holdout — Get your box set via P.O. Box! With dusty product offerings, outdated formats, and an aging demographic, the privately-owned company has nowhere to go but the selling block. — If you're up at night channel-surfing around the tube, you'll still see them …

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Analyst: NBC Network Is Worth ‘Negative $600 Million’ — USA's estimated value: $11.7 billion. — NEW YORK — USA Network is the most valuable part of NBC Universal at $11.7 billion, but the NBC network is worth a negative $600 million, according to Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Harrigan.

Discussion: Company Town, NewTeeVee and TVbytheNumbers

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

OneTrueFan Is The Foursquare For Websites — The Foursquare model of checking into a location, earning badges and tapping into your social network to share that location has become one that has been able to be applied to other platforms. For example, GetGlue allows users to check-in to shows …

Discussion: louisgray.com and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Dailymotion Hits 70 Million Monthly Uniques with 57 Percent Jump in North America: Launches in Australia, Next Morocco — PARIS — Dailymotion, the Paris-based online video site, has registered a 21 percent rise in unique visitors around the globe to reach 70 million, according to the latest numbers from comScore Media Metrix.

Kunur Patel / AdAge:

TVGuide Using Facebook Technology for Check-in Feature — Users Will Be Able to Share on Social Networks What They're Watching — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — For TV, check-ins are the new black. But as more and more networks and studios try it on, Facebook has yet to make a major move in the space.

Discussion: WebNewser

Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:

The real-time curation wars (exclusive first look at Curated.by) — Back in March I wrote a post about the seven needs of real-time curators. Over the next week or so no less than three companies are shipping services that will fulfill that dream with tools that comply with all seven needs.

Discussion: iMediaConnection Blog and PSFK

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

Windows Live Outsources Blogging, Migrating 30 Million Users To WordPress.com — Back in 2006, we covered the launch of Windows Live Spaces, a blogging service for Windows Live users. Today the service is headed in a new direction: Microsoft has teamed with Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com …

Discussion: TechFlash and paidContent, more at Techmeme »

Paul Kim / WordPress.com News:
Welcome Windows Live Spaces Bloggers

Discussion: Between the Lines Blog, The Next Web, FM Blog, TechFlash, The Windows Blog, PC Magazine, ReadWriteWeb, Neowin.net, PC World and Raanan Bar-Cohen, more at Techmeme »

David Kaplan / paidContent:

AOL's Project Devil Aims To Update The Banner Once And For All — Just in time for the first day of New York City's Advertising Week, AOL (NYSE: AOL) sought to get a jump on attention getting news with its latest effort to build a better advertising business.

Dan Zak / Washington Post:

‘The Wire’ writer David Simon among MacArthur genius grant winners — David Simon bristled as he listened to the voice mail. A lawyer in Washington wanted to talk about a “personal matter.” Expecting a lawsuit or subpoena or worse, Simon dialed her back after a lunch in Baltimore two weeks ago.

Discussion: New York Times and Reuters

James Hibberd / The Hollywood Reporter:

Another Twitter feed gets CBS comedy deal — Exclu: Call it “$#*! My Roommate Says.” — CBS is developing two new comedies, including a project based off a Twitter feed produced by social-media master Ashton Kutcher. — Following on the successful launch of its Twitter-inspired comedy “$#*!