Mediagazer: Twitter's Biz Stone Shares a Stoli (Jessica E. Vascellaro/Wall Street Journal)

8:25 AM ET, October 18, 2010

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Traffic Bait Doesn't Bring Ad Clicks — Sure, articles about Lindsay Lohan's repeat trips to rehabilitation and Brett Favre's purported sexual peccadilloes generate loads of reader traffic, but do they actually make decent money for the Web sites that publish them? — According to a new analysis, no.

Discussion: AdAge

Perfect Market Blog:
Perfect Market: Vault Index Summer 2010

Discussion: Search Engine Land and Mixed Media

Richard Mauer / Anchorage Daily News:

Miller security guards handcuff editor — The editor of the Alaska Dispatch website was arrested by U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller's private security guards Sunday as the editor attempted to interview Miller on camera at the end of a public event in an Anchorage school.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, BAGnewsNotes, Politics Daily, Gateway Pundit and Talking Points Memo

Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:

Yahoo to Offer Media Links — Yahoo Inc. plans to mimic a strategy used by rival Facebook Inc. to help drive traffic to its site, people familiar with the matter said. — The Sunnyvale, Calif., company soon will roll out a feature called Y Connect to allow media publishers …

Discussion: paidContent, Fast Company and Silicon Alley Insider, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / AdAge:

Simon Who? ‘Idol’ Spots Still Priciest in Prime Time — Ad Age's Exclusive Annual Survey of Broadcast TV Ad Costs Has Fox Sitting Pretty With Five of Top 10 Shows — What a spot costs — Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Jeremy Porter / Journalistics:

The Top 25 U.S. Newspapers According to Google — Clicks is one thing, credibility is another. When it comes to online credibility, Google PageRank rules over all. Few metrics illustrate true authority on the Web more than Google's PageRank. PageRank is the accepted standard for authority on the Web.

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Redesigned, Self Adjusts Its Formula — As a competitive triathlete and the editor in chief of Self, a magazine that offers women exclamation-pointed tips on self-fulfillment ("Banish the Blahs and Feel Happier!" “Leaner Legs! Tighter Tush!” “Be True to You!"), Lucy Danziger is not prone to idling.

Peter Preston / Guardian:

We thought the internet was killing print. But it isn't — There is no clear correlation between a rise in internet traffic and a fall in newspaper circulation. Some papers are growing in both formats, others are succeeding in neither, according to new research — The woe, as usual, is more or less unconfined.

Discussion: TechCrunch and Kirk LaPointe's …

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:

Why Do So Many New-Media Startups Ultimately Commit Suicide? — Life in the Fast Lane With VC-Enabled ‘Geniuses’ Who Do Themselves in With Not-So-Genius Moves — It's become accepted wisdom that many old-media companies are doomed; they're led by, the thinking goes, out-of-touch numbskulls.

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:

Twitter's Biz Stone Shares a Stoli — Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, known for creatively marketing the microblogging service, is turning his promotional prowess to something else: Stolichnaya vodka. — The Russian spirits brand features the 36-year-old executive in a round of TV, print, and digital ads set to be released this week.

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

HTML5 Video is Not Ready for the Web, W3C's Le Hegaret — CAMBRIDGE, Mass — Despite the growing demand for HTML5, and its deployment by many big online players, its commercial introduction is premature as there is no standard for the new technology, says Philippe Le Hegaret …

J. Jennings Moss / Portfolio:

The Quiet Mogul — What does it take to succeed in China or win as a venture capitalist or figure out a successful media strategy? For IDG's Pat McGovern, the answer to all three rests in trusting the people you hire. — Talking with Pat McGovern, you wouldn't automatically label him as a “media mogul.”

Elizabeth Jensen / New York Times:

With Grant, NPR to Step Up State Government Reporting — NPR has received a $1.8 million grant from the Open Society Foundations to begin a project called Impact of Government that is intended to add at least 100 journalists at NPR member radio stations in all 50 states over the next three years.