Mediagazer: Scared to open the package: adventures in game writer bribery (Ben Kuchera/Ars Technica)

7:45 PM ET, September 29, 2010

Top News:

AOL Shifts Emphasis, Bit by Bit — AOL Inc. went on a shopping binge Tuesday, announcing three acquisitions, as it tries to redefine itself as a hub for Internet videos and articles on various trendy topics. — Back when it was called America Online, AOL was the first introduction to the Internet for many Americans.

Discussion: GigaOM, New York Times, Venture Capital Dispatch, Deal Journal and Digits

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Why We Sold TechCrunch To AOL, And Where We Go From Here — By now you must have heard the news that AOL has acquired us. Here are videos of the on stage signing of the agreement and an interview with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong immediately afterwards. — So how did all this happen?

Bloomberg: Armstrong Says TechCrunch to Boost AOL's Brand, Talent: Video

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post: AOL feels the Crunch

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:

Being Glenn Beck — Glenn Beck was sprawled out on his office couch a couple of weeks ago, taking — as self-helpers like to say — an inventory. “I think what the country is going through right now is, in a way, what I went through with my alcoholism,” he told me. “You can either live or die.

Discussion: Mediaite, BAGnewsNotes, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, Inside Cable News, Think Progress, TVNewser, Ben Smith's Blog, The Huffington Post, Strupp and The Wire

CNN:

Fake pimp from ACORN videos tries to ‘punk’ CNN correspondent — Editor's note: CNN takes an unprecedented look inside the young conservative activist movement in the documentary “Right On The Edge,” which airs Oct. 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST. — Lusby, Maryland (CNN) …

Discussion: Gawker, Strupp, Salon, Mediaite, Guardian, The Wrap, The Huffington Post, Romenesko, TVNewser, Big Think, TPMMuckraker, Politics Daily, Jezebel, Weigel, New York Magazine, NPR Topics, Boing Boing and Latest Open Salon Blog

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

WSJ memo touts ad, circulation revenue gains — From: Krafinski, Marianne On Behalf Of Hinton, Les — Subject: FW: to be sent from Les's inbox - HOLD FOR MY CALL — This Saturday we launched WSJ Weekend to positive reviews and great enthusiasm from a broad set of readers and advertisers.

Discussion: MediaFile, Gawker, paidContent and WebNewser

Lymari Morales / Gallup:

Distrust in U.S. Media Edges Up to Record High — Perceptions of liberal bias still far outnumber perceptions of conservative bias — WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the fourth straight year, the majority of Americans say they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Top of the Ticket, Top Digital Journal News and BrauBlog

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Boston.com's Beard named National Journal Group online editor — David Beard Joins National Journal Group as Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Online Editor — Washington, D.C. (September 29, 2010) — National Journal Group announced today that online news specialist David Beard is joining …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab and The Wrap

Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb:

The Short Lifespan of a Tweet: Retweets Only Happen Within the First Hour — For some, Twitter is a social network and for others it is just a broadcast medium. Judging from the latest data from social media analytics and monitoring service Sysomos, for the majority of users, Twitter is indeed mostly a broadcast medium.

Discussion: Mashable!, more at Techmeme »

AT Internet Institute:

News websites: Facebook ahead of Twitter in terms of traffic source — Social networks are at the heart of breaking news, playing an increasingly essential role in this field. What level of traffic do social networks such as Facebook and Twitter generate for websites?

Discussion: paidContent, eMedia Vitals and Shaping the Future …

Joe Pompeo / Silicon Alley Insider:

Mediaite's Dan Abrams: “I'm Doing This Because We're Making A Profit” — Abrams Media, which publishes Mediaite and a handful of other news aggregation websites, will launch three additional sites and turn a profit at the beginning of next year, said the company's founder, Dan Abrams …

Discussion: WebNewser and Romenesko

Michelle Kessler / USA Today:

Ongo gets $12 million in financing — Silicon Valley start-up Ongo has announced an initial $12 million round of financing from USA TODAY parent Gannett, The New York Times Co. and The Washington Post Co. Ongo, founded by former eBay veteran Alex Kazim, plans to launch a consumer service …

Discussion: paidContent and Mashable!

Russell Adams / Digits:
New York Times Backs News-Aggregation Software Company

Discussion: Associated Press, Lost Remote, Romenesko, Washington Post and New York Observer

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Pandora's Ad Network Jumps From PC, Phone To TV, BluRay Players — After launching its own ad platform for the iPad this past summer, streaming radio player Pandora is making its ad system more at home. Later this morning, the company will announce that it's expanding its audio ad network …

Discussion: media.fordvehicles.com

The Official Google Blog:

What does the future of display advertising look like? — This afternoon, we gave a keynote address at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX Conference in New York, entitled “Display 2015: Smart and Sexy.” — As you know by now, we're investing significantly to make display advertising better …

Discussion: Real-Time Advertising Week, Beet.TV, Digits, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, AdExchanger.com, Silicon Alley Insider, L.A. Times Tech Blog and FM Blog

Ben Kuchera / Ars Technica:

Scared to open the package: adventures in game writer bribery — One of the best perks of my job is the ability to play games before they come out, and of course I get copies sent to my door. It's not a bad deal. Most of the time the games come in nondescript boxes containing nothing more than the game …

Melissa Maerz / Show Tracker:

An FCC complaint takes aim at TV news ‘experts’ paid to promote products — Earlier today, the nonprofit watchdog group Free Press filed a complaint with Federal Communications Commission based on Los Angeles Times columnist James Rainey's complaints about hidden advertising embedded in newscasts.

Discussion: Save the News Blog

Robinsloan / Twitter Blog:

Tweets in your media, media in your Tweets — On a sunny September Sunday inside a non-descript trailer in downtown Los Angeles, media evolved. — There—in the shadow of the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, next to an outdoor stage where Justin Bieber would soon perform …

Nicholas Carlson / The Wire:

Ex-AOL Media Boss Bill Wilson Takes On $144.9 Billion Local Ad Market As Chief Digital Officer At Townsquare — Bill Wilson, the former AOL EVP who stared formulating that company's turnaround as a twenty-first century Time Inc. even before Tim Armstrong joined, has a new gig: He'll be EVP and chief digital officer at Townsquare Media.

Discussion: paidContent and WebNewser

Don Jeffrey / Bloomberg:

Disney, CBS, Fox Sue Online Subscription Service Ivi for Streaming Shows — Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, CBS Corp. and other broadcasters sued Ivi, an online subscription service, for streaming television programs over the Web without authorization. — The companies, also including News Corp.'s Fox …

Discussion: MediaPost, PC World, NewTeeVee, Mashable!, Fast Company, Online Video News and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Margaret Atwood on Twitter-as-performance, and why you should keep your Kindle in a lead-lined box — Continuing our impromptu series Literary Figures Talk About Twitter: The terrific Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood did an interview with Big Think about (among other things) her usage of and thoughts about Twitter.

Carol Marie Cropper / NetNewsCheck Latest:

Gilbert: Only 1 In 10 ‘Old Media’ Will Survive — DALLAS — Fewer than one in 10 traditional media outlets are likely to survive, Clark Gilbert, president and CEO of a Salt Lake City digital media company, suggested to those gathered at the Local Mobile Advertising Conference here Tuesday.

Discussion: Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, WebNewser and GigaOM Pro

Alex Alvarez / FishbowlNY:

Newsweek Names Rhona Murphy Global Publisher — Chalk up a hire for Newsweek: the weekly news magazine — which will move under new owner Sidney Harman's control this Friday — has tapped Rhona Murphy as its global publisher. — Murphy will be in charge of overseeing the publishing operations …

Discussion: Folio and The Wrap

Jack Shafer / Slate:

Advertisements for Themselves — The newspaper industry is likely to hit a 25-percent low in advertising sales this year. If so, it will end up billing about half of what it billed in its record year of 2005. — But the newspaper industry aims to win back those advertisers, of course.

Discussion: Romenesko and State of the Fourth Estate

Rob O'Regan / eMedia Vitals:

Consumer Reports, Sporting News tinker with paid content models — Reactions: — Publishers continue to experiment with paid content models - even paywall pioneer Consumer Reports, which has been charging for online content since 1997. — Consumer Reports, which has 3.3 million paid online subscribers …