Mediagazer: Howard Kurtz Joins The Daily Beast (Tina Brown/The Daily Beast)

8:15 PM ET, October 5, 2010

Top News:

Howard Kurtz Joins The Daily Beast — Media and investigative reporter Howard Kurtz joins The Daily Beast as Washington Bureau Chief. The Daily Beast turns two tomorrow, and an early piece of birthday good news is that Howie Kurtz, who has won renown for his media and investigative reporting …

Discussion: TBD All News, CJR, Media Decoder, paidContent, The Huffington Post, Romenesko, NPR Topics, New York Observer, Salon, Big Journalism, Chickaboomer, Mediaite, Scocca, The Wrap, Gawker, The Moderate Voice, The Wire, TVNewser and Media Nation

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Washington Post's Howard Kurtz joins the Daily Beast — The Daily Beast stunned media insiders Tuesday by announcing that Howie Kurtz, the Washington Post's long-running media reporter, is joining the site as its new Washington bureau chief. — Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of the Daily Beast …

Discussion: Media Decoder, The Wrap, Romenesko and New York Observer

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

Jason Calacanis: Revenge is a new editorial project to rival TechCrunch — Jason Calacanis is angry. You can tell he's angry partly because he talks even faster than normal, but also because he's (still) spitting feathers about TechCrunch founder (and now AOL, employee) Mike Arrington.

Discussion: Gawker, broadstuff, The Next Web, NewsGrange, ReadWriteWeb, SiliconANGLE, WebNewser and Voices on All Things Digital

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

New Fuel for Local Papers: Medical Marijuana Ads — COLORADO SPRINGS — When it hit the streets here last week, the latest issue of ReLeaf, a pullout supplement to The Colorado Springs Independent devoted to medical marijuana, landed with a satisfying thud.

Discussion: Romenesko, FishbowlNY, Nieman Journalism Lab, The Latest Word, The Rural Blog, Media Research Center, The Wire, New York Observer and Gawker

Alessandra Stanley / New York Times:

‘Recovering’ Politician, Aspiring ... ? — The ickiness factor of “Parker Spitzer” may subside, but the first glimpse of CNN's latest offering on Monday was hard to watch. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York and the conservative syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker playfully …

Discussion: New York Post, Mediaite, Romenesko, The Wire, Guardian, Tuned In, NY Daily News, Z on TV, WebNewser, Politics Daily, New York Observer, New York Magazine, City Room, The Caucus, mediabistro.com, Gothamist, Chickaboomer, Runnin' Scared, Ypulse and Hot Air

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:
Bad Ratings Follow Bad Reviews For Eliot Spitzer's New Show

Discussion: Mediaite, Inside Cable News and Runnin' Scared

John Carney / CNBC:

Blogonomics: The New York Observer's Bid For DealBreaker — The news that the New York Observer is close to a deal to acquire DealBreaker has already spurred lots of smart commentary, including pieces from Mike Merced, Felix Salmon and Robert Cyran. — For those of you who are new to the story …

Discussion: The Wire, Felix Salmon, DealBook, ritholtz.com and Silicon Alley Insider

Martin Robbins / Guardian:

Why I spoofed science journalism, and how to fix it — Last week I posted a spoof of science journalism that to my complete surprise went viral. Since then, I've been trying to find answers. What's wrong with science journalism, and how do we fix it? — Bizarrely, the most read article …

Alex Weprin / mediabistro.com:

The Huffington Post Launching a ‘Divorce’ Vertical — Continuing its rapid expansion into new verticals and topics, The Huffington Post is planning a section dedicated to the subject of “Divorce.” — Journalist and author Nora Ephron conceived the vertical, and will serve as its founding editor …

Discussion: GalleyCat and WebNewser

Marc Graser / Variety:

Ford revs up Web series — Motor Co. teaming with ‘Amazing Race’ producers on net show — Ford Motor Co. is pairing up with “The Amazing Race” producers Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri to launch their own reality competition show “Focus Rally: America” that will bow as a Web series early next year.

Discussion: Speakeasy

Yahoo / Yodel Anecdotal:

Yahoo! to Acquire Dapper to Extend Our Lead in Display Advertising — Yahoo! has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Dapper, a technology platform providing dynamic display ad creation and optimization. — Yahoo! is already the largest and most successful force in display advertising …

Discussion: paidContent, VentureBeat, SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch and BoomTown, more at Techmeme »

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

Pay Now, Read Later: Instapaper Starts Testing Subscriptions — There are few services I use more on a daily basis than Instapaper. The super-simple bookmarking tool has been my go-to way to come back to articles to read later for a few years now. And with brilliant iPhone and iPad apps, Instapaper has only gotten better with time.

Discussion: Lifehacker, Mashable!, Fast Company, VentureBeat, Download Squad and New York Observer

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

2 E-Books Cost More Than Amazon Hardcovers — Readers of e-books may not be able to turn paper pages, lend their copies to friends or file them away on living room bookshelves. But they do have the comfort of knowing that they paid less for them than for hardcovers.

Discussion: New York Observer and eBookNewser, more at Techmeme »

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Digits:

NBC Invests in Targeted TV Ads Business — A company that delivers targeted ads to television sets has scored another endorsement. — NBC Universal plans to announce Tuesday an investment in Invidi Technologies Corp., according to the companies. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed.

Discussion: paidContent and AdAge

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Hulu CEO to Big Media: Serve Consumers or Lose Them — At American Magazine Conference, Jason Kilar Tells Attendees to Stop Protecting Outdated Business Models — CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Big media companies have to show enough spine to charge for certain content, but they can't obsess …

Martin Belam / currybetdotnet:

“It's not a perfect system” - my thoughts on changes to Reuters' commenting policy — I've previously made some of my views on newspaper website comments pretty clear - I miss them when they aren't there, and I don't think forcing people to use their real names is a way to improve their value to a news organisation.

Discussion: Strange Attractor

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

O'Keefe says he wasn't going through with CNN seduction plot — Conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe says that a CNN reporter who exposed his alleged plot to seduce her on a boat “was never going to be placed in a threatening situation.” — O'Keefe offered his explanation of events Monday …

Discussion: CNN, Romenesko and Salon

David Goetzl / MediaPost:

‘B&C,’ ‘Multichannel News’ Erect Pay Walls Between Mags, Online Stories — The new owners of industry publications Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News have erected pay walls around previously free Web content that could have been causing a drain on print subscriptions.

Discussion: Media Buyer Planner

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Sony Raises the Curtain on Ariama, Its Classical iTunes — Want your classical music on your iPhone, now? Sony Music is thinking about you: The label has opened up Ariama, its all-classical online store. — This is the iTunes-meets-classical project I told you about in July.

Discussion: Ars Technica and Gizmodo