Mediagazer: Howard Kurtz finds there are news nuggets in the tough, often tacky blog world (Howard Kurtz/Washington Post)

8:40 PM ET, October 18, 2010

Top News:

Daily Beast Drops Out of Talks With Newsweek — The Daily Beast news and commentary website has withdrawn from talks with Newsweek magazine about a possible merger between the two news organizations, according to a person familiar with the matter. — The two parties have been discussing …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Observer, New York Magazine, Gawker, The Wire, Folio, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Huffington Post, Mixed Media and Mediaweek

Chris Wickham / Reuters:

Reuters columnist resigns after trading code breach — (Reuters) - A columnist at Reuters Breakingviews has resigned after multiple breaches of the Thomson Reuters TRI.N (TRI.TO) code of conduct on share dealing, and cases involving other commentators are being investigated.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Talking Biz News, Guardian, Press Gazette, The Huffington Post, Globe and Mail and paidContent

David Folkenflik / NPR:

What's The Point Of Journalism School, Anyway? … If there's one thing a journalism school expects of its students, it is the ability to pose a tough question. — Orion de Nevers, a freshman at the University of Southern California, serves up this one: Why would anyone major in journalism at all?

Discussion: Gawker, Romenesko, FishbowlDC and freefromeditors

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Howard Kurtz finds there are news nuggets in the tough, often tacky blog world — I didn't get into journalism to write about Brett Favre's private parts, and I suspect most of my colleagues would like that story ruled out of bounds. — But our ability to spike such tawdry tales ended many seasons ago.

Discussion: Chickaboomer and MinOnline

David Carr / New York Times:
When Salacious Is Irresistible

Discussion: Runnin' Scared

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: Alaska Dispatch, KTVA-TV, The Huffington Post, Ben Smith's Blog, Hot Air, Committee to Protect …, New York Magazine, Nieman Journalism Lab, Yahoo! News, CJR, Politics Daily, MetaFilter, The Daily Dish, BAGnewsNotes, The Daily Caller, Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo and Boing Boing

Rick Edmonds / The Biz Blog:

New York Times to Launch Texas Regional Edition By Month's End — The New York Times will up the ante on its year-old venture into regional editions with the launch later this month of two pages of statewide Texas news in its Friday and Sunday papers. — While the business metrics …

Jason Fry / National Sports Journalism Center:

Five Reasons Sports Departments Are Digital Innovators — Earlier this month, the University of Memphis's Carrie Brown-Smith and Drury University's Jonathan Groves offered a post on Brown-Smith's excellent blog The Changing Newsroom identifying sports departments as homes for newspaper's Web innovators.

Discussion: State of the Fourth Estate

Gabriela Schneider / Knight Foundation News Releases:

Sunlight Foundation to Launch “National Data Apps” with grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation — WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Sunlight Foundation will create a series of new “National Data Apps” that will help citizens easily use federal data to better understand everything …

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation and KnightBlog

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.”

Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:

Brightcove preparing for IPO in 2011: source — (Reuters) - Online video publisher Brightcove is preparing for an initial public offering in the first half of next year, according to a person close to the company. — Brightcove, which helps media and marketing companies distribute Web videos across …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Silicon Alley Insider, paidContent and All Things Digital, more at Techmeme »

Russ Smith / splicetoday.com:

One Quibble About the Best English-Language Magazine — Britain's Spectator stomps the competition for witty and erudite commentary, but its explanation of a re-design was gratuitous. — An editor of a magazine these days may receive no greater compliment than when a reader expresses …

Mike Shields / Mediaweek:

Univision, Vevo Strike Content Pact — Vevo is looking to widen its footprint in the Hispanic market by adding Univision to its content distribution and ad sales network. — The music video site—a joint venture between Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media Company …

Discussion: rbr.com and NewTeeVee

Perfect Market Blog:

Perfect Market: Vault Index Summer 2010 — Following Perfect Market's release today of the Vault Index and Infographic, which shows that serious news stories have markets for both audience and advertisers, a reporter asked this question, which is worth addressing:

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, PRWeb, Search Engine Land, BusinessJournalism.org …, The Wrap and eMedia Vitals

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Traffic Bait Doesn't Bring Ad Clicks

Discussion: Mediaite, CJR, AdAge, GigaOM, SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog and Brooks in Beta

The Maynard Institute:

Editor & Publisher Staff Fired — Replacements named at “bible of the newspaper industry” (10/18/10); White House stands by bloggers; uplifting, yes, but were 1,300 journalists needed? ; O'Reilly's ratings rise after dust-up on “The View”; “journalist” calls to mind white women …

Discussion: Romenesko, paidContent, Mediaite and Jacket Copy

Oliver Luft / Press Gazette:

Independent to launch new cut-price national daily — Alexander Lebedev is to launch a cut-price daily national newspaper next Tuesday aimed at the quality market. — The paper, called i, will launch as a spin-off version of The Independent with a cover price of just 20 pence targeting …

Discussion: Media Week and Editor's Blog

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

NSFW: Respected Newspaper Man on the Death of Print - “La La La, I Can't Hear You” — By any measure you care to use, British newsman Peter Preston deserves respect. — A former editor of the Guardian, the paper's investigative reporting on his watch - including the infamous ‘cash for questions’ scandal …

Discussion: Guardian

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

Discussion: PopWatch, rbr.com, Media Buyer Planner and TVNewser

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 …

Robert Feder / blogs.vocalo.org:

Editor calls damage to Tribune reputation ‘shameful’ — ← Blackhawks romance puts reporting career on ice … Authors — blogs.vocalo.orgis proudly powered by WordPress — Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). — Yashfa ver. 1.7 created by WP GPL

Stephen Mayne / Crikey:

Rupert and me: 48 hours of travel for a 12-minute exchange — With 38.4% of the voting shares, there is no doubt Rupert Murdoch still controls News Corporation after 57 years as chief executive. — However, for the first time I can recall, Friday's AGM in New York saw …

Discussion: Press

Gawker:

The Huffington Post May Be Chopping Off Its Investigative Fund — The Huffington Post is poised to announce a merger of its investigative fund with the Center for Public Integrity tomorrow morning, a move that will effectively end the fund as it exists today, we hear.

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.

Discussion: Big Journalism