Mediagazer: Thinking about starting an online news business? Here's your start-up checklist (Robert Niles/Online Journalism Review)

7:25 PM ET, October 7, 2010

Top News:

Isabel Macdonald / The Nation:

Lou Dobbs, American Hypocrite — Research support for this article was provided by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. — In Lou Dobbs's heyday at CNN, when he commanded more than 800,000 viewers and a reported $6 million a year for “his fearless reporting and commentary,” …

Discussion: The Wire, The Huffington Post, Romenesko, The Wrap, ABCNEWS, Politics Daily, Show Tracker, Guardian, Gawker, Yahoo! News and NPR Topics

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

CNN's research says 27% of us share 87% of news links — CNN has been researching how news articles are shared through social media, identifying different motivations for sharing and the increased benefit for advertisers who feature on recommended news pages.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Shaping the Future …, Lost Remote, Nieman Journalism Lab and C21Media, more at Techmeme »

New York Post:

Richard Johnson LA-bound — Tweet — It's the end of an era — Richard Johnson is leaving Page Six after nearly 25 years as editor of the world's most famous gossip column. — Emily Smith, who cut her teeth on Fleet Street before coming to New York five years ago …

Discussion: New York Observer, ClickZ, Deadline.com, Runnin' Scared, Ben Smith's Blog, Hollywood Reporter, Media Decoder, FishbowlNY, Gawker, Romenesko, New York Magazine and LA Observed

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Page Six Vet Richard Johnson Flees New York Post For News Corp. “Digital Ventures” — The old media exodus continues. — Richard Johnson, the veteran gossip reporter who has edited The New York Post's iconic Page Six column for nearly 25 years, is leaving the paper — and New York — to …

Discussion: New York Observer

Edward Helmore / Guardian:

Daily Beast bids for Newsweek — British publisher plans to strengthen her web magazine - and challenge rival Arianna Huffington - by a merger with the ailing weekly — Tina Brown, one of New York's best-established British media figures, has set her sights on Newsweek …

Discussion: MediaPost, The Wire, FishbowlNY and New York Magazine

Chris Rovzar / New York Magazine: What Would a Tina Brown-Helmed Daily Beast-Newsweek Hybrid Look Like?

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

NI yet to convince rivals over aggregation app — News International presses ahead with plans for aggregation app but rival publishers voice doubts over editorial control — News International is pushing ahead with plans to launch a paid-for, news aggregation app for the iPad but is understood …

Discussion: Poynter Online

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
Columbus Dispatch Signs On To News Corp. Digital Plans; UK Pubs Balking

Discussion: Mobile Media, NAA Community and Editors Weblog

David Saleh Rauf / American Journalism Review:

From Covering Parties to Hanging with an Algorithm — Megan McCarthy's journey to Mediagazer, a media news aggregator with a heavy tech flavor — David Saleh Rauf (drauf@ajr.umd.edu) is an AJR editorial assistant — Megan McCarthy's career as a reporter blossomed from a single e-mail.

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:

Reed Hastings' Six Lessons for the Newspaper Industry — Reed Hastings has been on a rollercoaster ride in the 13 years since he founded Netflix. From punchline to genius to toast to genius and back, several times over, it seems. In a talk Tuesday night in his hometown of Santa Cruz …

Discussion: Romenesko

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:

Google News Testing Twitter Integration With “Friends” — Google is testing a new feature that lets you connect your Twitter account to Google News. Some people are seeing a “Friends” box on the right hand side of Google News inviting them to do this. — The friends box asks you to enter your Twitter username and click “Save.”

Discussion: TechCrunch, Lost Remote, GigaOM, Search Engine Watch and ReadWriteWeb, more at Techmeme »

Laura McGann / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Los Angeles Times collaborates across the newsroom and with readers to map neighborhood crime — There's something about the immediacy of the web that makes interactive features seem effortless: One click and the information is there. But of course the feel of the end product is not the same as the process required to get it there.

Henry Unger / The Biz Beat:

Ted Turner worried about right-wing alternative to CNN long before Fox — Ted Turner is a pretty good prognosticator. — Years before Rupert Murdoch launched Fox News, Turner thought the biggest threat to his CNN operation would come from “a right-wing news alternative,” he said Wednesday.

Discussion: Inside Cable News and Hollywood Reporter

Robert Niles / Online Journalism Review:

Thinking about starting an online news business? Here's your start-up checklist — By Robert Niles: Have you been thinking about starting a news website? Are you considering “being your own boss” as the next step in your journalism career? — You can stumble your way into entrepreneurship …

Discussion: Knight Digital Media Center …

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

BloombergTV's New Docu Series Kicks Off Tonight With Mark Zuckerberg Rivals The Winklevoss Twins — BloombergTV is trying to get a piece of CNBC's business-documentary turf with a new show called “Bloomberg Game Changers.” — The 11-episode, 30-minute series premieres tonight at 9 p.m …

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, Switched and Talking Biz News

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Current TV Taps Sims Creator Will Wright For Interactive Webisode Series — Will Wright, creator of virtual world The Sims, is getting into television with an episodic series for Current TV tentatively titled Bar Karma. While this is Wright's first time working in TV …

Discussion: Crain's New York Business, Variety and Multichannel

Knight Foundation News Releases:

New Knight Grant Accelerates Digital Transformation Of Investigative Reporting Leader, Center for Public Integrity — The Center for Public Integrity, a 20-year leader in nonprofit investigative journalism, will speed its transformation into a 21st century news organization with a new $1.7 million grant …

Discussion: KnightBlog

Anna Fata / Daily Texan:

CBS president says new technology bolsters broadcast TV — Blogs, tweets, Internet help to expand online attention — The common belief that new technology, such as the Internet, will lead to the death of television is false, said CBS President Leslie Moonves on campus Monday.

Discussion: rbr.com and TVNewser

Michael Oneal / Chicago Tribune:

Tribune Co. bankruptcy muddled as mediation founders — Rival creditor groups preparing restructuring plans; New York Times story a black eye for company management — Mediation talks broke down once again in the Tribune Co. bankruptcy case this week, sending rival creditor groups …

Discussion: Romenesko, Beachwood Reporter and Hit & Run

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Naked Brett Favre Won't Make Money for Nick Denton — Gawker Media's Deadspin sports site says it will publish nude photos of Brett Favre today, along with some voicemails it says the quarterback left for a woman who is not his wife. — Which means that corner of Deadspin is going to be very, very popular today.

Discussion: The Wire, Silicon Alley Insider, Deadspin and Runnin' Scared