Mediagazer: Megan McCarthy: “The Cyborg of News, the Borg Queen of the Blogosphere” (Andy Plesser/Beet.TV)

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: Mediaite, The Wire, The Huffington Post, Romenesko, Guardian, Politics Daily, Show Tracker, The Wrap, Indecision Forever, Gawker, TVNewser, Yahoo! News and NPR Topics

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.

Edward Helmore / Guardian:

Tina's Brown's Daily Beast bids for Newsweek - and a showdown with the Huffington Post — 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 …

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, The Wire, MediaPost, FishbowlNY and New York Magazine

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Columbus Dispatch Signs On To News Corp. Digital Plans; UK Pubs Balking — A few more details are seeping out about News Corp.'s Project Alesia initiative to create new digital products for its own outlets and for other publishers. The Columbus Dispatch (circ: about 170,000) …

Discussion: Mobile Media, NAA Community and Editors Weblog

Discussion: Poynter Online

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 … and C21Media, more at Techmeme »

Choire / The Awl:

LA Times Declares War on “Rumors Spread by Bloggers with Axes to Grind” — The LA Times send out a newsletter today recruiting advertisers to the newsletter of The Envelope, which is (or at least should be!) the intentionally gossipy, rumor-filled awards-show blogging fiesta at their paper.

Elizabeth Spiers / Forbes:

A Force Of Nature — Forbes Magazine dated October 25, 2010 — Arianna Huffington has created a media upstart valued at $100 million. What's it really worth? — It's a balmy night in September, and the second floor of the Upper East Side town house of former Viacom ( VIA - news …

Discussion: Gawker

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, Salon, Deadspin and Runnin' Scared

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

Jennifer Whitehead / AdAge:

France Halts Plans to Ban Remaining Ads on Public TV — In Struggling Economy, State Broadcaster's Revenue Needs Trump President Sarkozy's Political Priorities — LONDON (AdAge.com) — The French government has halted a move by President Nicolas Sarkozy to ban all advertising …

Associated Press:

Mario Vargas Llosa Wins Nobel Literature Prize — STOCKHOLM (AP) — Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Spanish-speaking world who once ran for president in his homeland, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday. — The Swedish Academy said it honored …

Discussion: New York Times, New York Magazine, Observer, Gawker and ArtsBeat

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.

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Newsonomics of sports avidity — [Each week, our friend Ken Doctor — author of Newsonomics and longtime watcher of the business side of digital news — writes about the economics of the news business for the Lab.] — When The Sporting News began publishing, the telephone was barely 10 years old.

Technology Review:

When Digital Marketing Actually Works — Lessons from Web and mobile campaigns that yielded real-world business results. — What do you get for your digital marketing dollars? Figuring how much revenue or brand value companies are generating from their investments in digital media seems to be getting more and more complex.

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 …

Ryan Tate / Gawker:

Steve Jobs' Dark Arts: Four Stories Apple Is Suspected of Manipulating — For a man who assiduously avoids the news media, Steve Jobs is incredibly skilled at exploiting his leverage with the press. So skilled, it's alleged, he turned a top newspaper into a key tool of Apple's public relations.

Discussion: Guardian, VentureBeat and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Mark Leccese / Gatekeeper:

Sports Guy breaks Randy Moss story by “accident” — ESPN blogger and Boston sports nut Bill Simmons — known as “The Sports Guy” — used his Twitter account Wednesday evening to send a direct message to one of his 1,265,832 followers seeking “info,” he says, on a rumor he heard …

Discussion: Deadspin, Lost Remote and Switched