Mediagazer: Web Ads Tied To News Photos Pop Up More And More (Linton Weeks/NPR)

6:15 PM ET, October 21, 2010

Top News:

In wake of NPR controversy, Fox News gives Juan Williams an expanded role — The cable news network signs the analyst to a new three-year contract for nearly $2 million. Meanwhile, conservative figures blast the public radio network for its response to Williams' comments about Muslims.

Discussion: Fox News, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Wire, LA Observed, The Huffington Post, Media Decoder, Gawker, Romenesko, Hot Air, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Hubbub, The Hill and Michelle Malkin

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

NPR Ends Analyst's Contract After Comments on Muslims — NPR has terminated its contract with Juan Williams, one of its senior news analysts, after he made comments about Muslims on the Fox News Channel. — NPR said in a statement that it gave Mr. Williams notice of his termination on Wednesday night.

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Juan Williams Fired by NPR For No Particular Reason — National Public Radio has fired the political analyst Juan Williams for comments he made about Muslims on Bill O'Reilly's Fox show. These are two of the controversial comments in question, according to The New York Times:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
Fired From NPR, Juan Williams Keeps Talking on Fox

Discussion: NPR, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, newsfeed.time.com, CNN, The Atlantic Wire, Hit & Run, Mixed Media and Outside the Beltway

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Magazines, Advertising, and the Malleability of Ethics — Since the recession hit and print started dying in earnest, magazines have been...let's say, loosening their standards on the editorial-advertising divide. Now, in a bid to maintain relevance, the American Society of Magazine Editors has updated its ethical guidelines.

Discussion: MPA, Romenesko and Canadian Magazines

Lucia Moses / Mediaweek:
ASME Releases Updated Ad Guidelines

Discussion: mediabistro.com and FishbowlNY

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:

The 100 Percent Solution: For Innovation in News — “It starts with a vision: what if we could cover all of it? And when you try to act on that vision, you invariably run into problems. It's sweating those problems that leads to innovation, or at least to new knowledge.”

Discussion: Online Journalism Blog, Nieman Journalism Lab and Free Press

Nielsen Wire:

Connected Devices: Does the iPad Change Everything? — The growing popularity of connected devices - especially Apple's iconic tablet computer, the iPad - are starting to change the how people consume media. And with sales of these devices expected to be a bright spot in an otherwise …

Discussion: MediaPost, Fortune, TUAW, Poynter Online, NetNewsCheck Latest and MarketingCharts, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Hulu Plus, Take Two: How's $4.95 a Month? — Hulu is considering cutting the price on Hulu Plus, the subscription service it began testing in June, sources tell me. I'm told the video site is talking about slashing its $9.95 per month fee in half, to $4.95.

Discussion: The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Ira Teinowitz / The Wrap:

Cablevision/Fox Spat Could Affect Comcast/NBCU Deal — It's looking increasingly like Fox's spat with Cablevision could wind up having repercussions for Comcast's deal for NBC Universal. — An industry analyst and consumer groups are suggesting that an unprecedented tactic Fox employed early …

Discussion: Company Town, Free Press, Gothamist and Broadcasting & Cable

Los Angeles Times:
News Corp.'s hit and run

Discussion: Stop Big Media News

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Who, Us? Netflix Says Its Customers Aren't Cord Cutters — Here is the standard cord-cutting formula: Tell your cable company to pound sand and replace it with an antenna, an Internet connection and a Netflix subscription. — Except, says Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, that's not what his 19.6 million customers are doing.

Discussion: Epicenter, Fast Company, The Wrap and The Atlantic Online

Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
Netflix: Instant-Streaming Only Option May Debut In U.S. Later This Quarter

Discussion: MediaPost, NewTeeVee, Company Town, Silicon Alley Insider, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, New York Magazine, Online Video News and Media Money …

Rick Edmonds / The Biz Blog:

USA Today's “Radical Restructuring” Means End of Newsroom Integration, Universal Desk — Eight weeks ago, USA Today announced some impending layoffs and promised what Publisher Dave Hunke called a “pretty radical” restructuring. Now some of the changes are rolling out, and they are indeed big ones.

Discussion: Gannett Blog and Poynter Online

Damon Kiesow / Poynter Online:

Comments return to the Portland Press Herald — Less than 48 hours after comments were removed from the Portland (Maine) Press Herald's website, they are back, using newly installed moderation tools. — Comments were pulled Tuesday after what Publisher Richard Connor described as “vile …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab and Shaping the Future …

Dave Itzkoff / ArtsBeat:

Zoolander Is Bringing His Fashion Sense to the Web — Nearly a decade after Derek Zoolander set out to find if there was “more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking,” that obliviously self-centered male model is coming back - this time, as a cartoon character on the Internet.

Discussion: SocialTimes.com, MTV Movies Blog, Splitsider and New York Magazine

Bloomberg:

Washington Times Creditors File Bankruptcy Petition on Newspaper Company — Creditors of Washington Times LLC, filed a bankruptcy petition against the publisher of the Washington Times newspaper, seeking to force the company into a Chapter 11 reorganization.

Discussion: Bloomberg and Das Krapital

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

MuckRock makes FOIA requests easy, but will reporters use it? — Making freedom of information requests can be a daunting task. If it's not an agency dragging its heels on releasing documents or asking for a fee large enough to buy a compact car, then it's the actual process of the, well, process.

Linton Weeks / NPR:

Web Ads Tied To News Photos Pop Up More And More — Just because you can do something doesn't mean, of course, that you should. — With today's technology, for instance, it's possible to give people who read the National Enquirer online a chance to actually buy a zippered-up crewneck sweater that has …

Robert Gavin / Boston Globe:

Entrepreneur planning unsolicited bid for Globe — Wellesley man has group of investors — A Wellesley entrepreneur said yesterday he has put together a group of investors and management specialists who will try to buy The Boston Globe from its longtime owner, The New York Times Co.

Discussion: Bloomberg, FishbowlNY, Boston Herald, Deal Journal, WPRI.com Blogs, Mixed Media and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:

Networks in Rift With Google TV — ABC, CBS and NBC are blocking TV programming on their websites from being viewable on Google Inc.'s new Web-TV service, exposing the rift that remains between the technology giant and some of the media companies it wants to supply content for its new products.

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Books and Video Win on the iPad, and Users Are Buying — Although the iPad is still relatively new, early indications are that a majority of users are willing to pay for content on the tablet — whether it's apps or games — and that books and video are the two most popular forms of media …

Discussion: MediaPost and The Next Web

Emma Hall / AdAge:

Russian Billionaire Will Launch U.K. Newspaper i Next Week — Former KGB Spy Alexander Lebedev Expands His New Role as a Media Baron — LONDON (AdAge.com) — The U.K.'s newest media baron, Russian billionaire and former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev, is launching a new daily next week.