Mediagazer: Disney picks Playdom chief, Yahoo veteran to head interactive group (Ben Fritz/Company Town)

6:20 PM ET, October 3, 2010

Top News:

How to be a data journalist — Data journalism trainer and writer Paul Bradshaw explains how to get started in data journalism, from getting to the data to visualising it — • Guardian data editor Simon Rogers explains how our data journalism operation works — Data journalism is huge.

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb

Alex Williams / ReadWriteWeb:

5 Tools for Online Journalism, Exploration and Visualization — In our last post on data journalism, we ran across a number of tools that would be helpful for anyone who is interested in how to make sense of data. — The tools represent a renaissance in how we make sense of our information culture.

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

EXCLUSIVE: Jon Stewart mocks Rick Sanchez — Letterman jokes about cleaning out fired anchor's office — NEW YORK - Jon Stewart and David Letterman joked about the Rick Sanchez controversy here Saturday evening as host of Comedy Central's “Night Of Too Many Stars.”

Discussion: NY Daily News, TVNewser, Runnin' Scared, Gossip Cop, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, mediabistro.com and Gothamist

Hunter Walker / The Wrap:
Rick Sanchez's Public Meltdown — Lashes Out at CNN, Jon Stewart, Jews

Discussion: Mediaite, Speakeasy, The Moderate Voice, Romenesko, The Huffington Post, MyFox New York, The Hollywood Reporter, National Media, newsfeed.time.com, blogs.tampabay.com, Chickaboomer, Runnin' Scared and Broadcasting & Cable

Hollywood Reporter:
CNN ousts Rick Sanchez over Jon Stewart rant

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite, The Nation, Politics Daily, Washington Post, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, Big Think, Gothamist and The Moderate Voice

Connie Schultz / Poynter Online:

Why Connie Schultz Won't Give up on the Fight for Good Journalism — Shortly before I started writing this essay, I listened to a voice message from a reader named Ellen who wanted me to know about the tip jar at her niece's place of employment. — “She works the ﬁsh fry on Friday's,” she told me.

Discussion: Gawker, Editors Weblog and Journalism News

Jose Antonio Vargas / The Huffington Post:

The Social Disconnect — How Hollywood Misread Facebook — Everything that's wrong about The Social Network is summed up by its title. — The movie, opening nationwide today, is not interested in the concept of social networking or the actual usage of Facebook.

Discussion: Bits, The Daily Beast, The New Yorker Blog, Anil Dash and New York Times

Adam Markovitz / PopWatch:
‘Social Network’: Natalie Portman was Aaron Sorkin's secret weapon

Discussion: The Marquee Blog

Jim Efstathiou Jr / Bloomberg:

New York Times to Repay Carlos Slim's $250 Million Loan Three Years Early — New York Times Co., publisher of the namesake newspaper, plans to pay back a $250 million loan from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim three years ahead of schedule. — The company intends to repay the loan …

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Bloomberg, Runnin' Scared and New York Magazine

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

‘Newspaper companies that will survive will not consider themselves newspaper companies’ — Dallas Morning News publisher's letter to staff on the paper's 125th anniversary — As we celebrate our 125th anniversary, I wanted to congratulate and thank each and every one of you for being a part …

Discussion: Dallas Morning News

Andrew Breitbart / Big Journalism:

O'Keefe Owes His Supporters an Explanation — I proudly stood behind James O'Keefe on his groundbreaking ACORN investigation. I also defended him when the media, including CNN — during a previous regime, “the Rick Sanchez era” - falsely reported the Sen. Mary Landrieu story as a “wiretapping” plot gone wrong.

Discussion: Mediaite

Ben Fritz / Company Town:

Disney picks Playdom chief, Yahoo veteran to head interactive group — Walt Disney Co. has named a new leadership team for its interactive group, dividing the duties between two veterans from the worlds of video games and online media. — John Pleasants, the chief executive …

Discussion: paidContent, The Wrap, Media Decoder, Variety and Hollywood Reporter

Nicholas Carlson / The Business Insider:
Yahoo Media Boss Jimmy Pitaro Quitting For “Huge And Amazing Job” …

Discussion: BoomTown, Hollywood Reporter and Silicon Alley Insider

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Media Execs Visit Obama White House — White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel announced he would be leaving the Obama administration to run for Mayor of Chicago last week. According to White House visitor logs released Friday, media personalities and executives were regulars on the guest list to meet with Emanuel.

Discussion: Gawker, Mediaite, New Yorker, The Hill and FishbowlDC

Nick Davies / Guardian:

Phone-hacking scandal: Andy Coulson ‘listened to intercepted messages’ — Anonymous source tells Channel Four David Cameron's media adviser would ask for recordings to be played for him at News of the World — The prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, personally listened …

Nieman Foundation News:

Nieman Curator Bob Giles to Retire — Cambridge, Mass. - Bob Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard for the past decade, will retire at the end of the academic year in June 2011. — “It is not easy to leave a great institution and the wonderful people who make it so …

Discussion: Romenesko and Media Nation