Mediagazer: Washington Times Creditors File Bankruptcy Petition on Newspaper Company (Bloomberg)

4:35 PM ET, October 21, 2010

Top News:

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.

Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:

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: LA Observed and RealClearPolitics Video Log

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Fired From NPR, Juan Williams Keeps Talking on Fox — Juan Williams was back on Fox News on Thursday morning, a day after he was fired by his other employer, NPR, for comments he made about Muslims on Fox earlier in the week. — But Mr. Williams did not comment on the circumstances around his dismissal …

Discussion: NPR, Romenesko, Broadcasting & Cable, New York Observer, National Media, The Wrap, Mediaite, The Awl, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Washington Wire and ThinkProgress

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:

Discussion: Huck PAC, The Huffington Post, Romenesko, The Daily Beast, Poynter Online, Mediaite, TVNewser, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Media Matters for America, Chickaboomer, CNN, Politics Daily and The Daily Dish

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 and Free Press

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

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

Discussion: Stop Big Media News and Gothamist

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, Poynter Online, Fortune, NetNewsCheck Latest and MarketingCharts, more at Techmeme »

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: Das Krapital

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: 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: NewTeeVee, Company Town, Silicon Alley Insider, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat, New York Magazine, Online Video News and Media Money …, more at Techmeme »

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

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, Deal Journal, Boston Herald, WPRI.com Blogs, Mixed Media and New York Times

Robert Gavin / Boston Globe:
Local group says it wants to buy The Boston Globe

Discussion: New York Observer, New York Magazine, Romenesko, MediaPost, Media Decoder, DealBook, paidContent and Hubbub

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

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

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.

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Cable may double Internet access bills — Tweet — Cable subscribers should brace for ballooning Internet bills. — A new report suggests that cable companies will have to double charges for Internet service if “cord cutting” — opting to watch shows online instead of through traditional TV — catches on with consumers.

Discussion: mediabistro.com and The Wire

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

Josh Kosman / New York Post:

Zell on the hot seat — Tweet — Tribune creditors plan to ask a judge tomorrow to rule on whether they have the right to sue Sam Zell and others who had a role in the $11.7 billion buyout of the newspaper publishing company that ended in bankruptcy, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Media Maverick, Creative Loafing Atlanta and ClickZ

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

Life With Google TV: My First Day Review & Impressions — Google TV has finally arrived, not just for pre-order but as an actual device you can get in a retail store. And so I did, hitting Best Buy yesterday and walking out with a Sony Blu-ray player that is Google TV-capable.

Discussion: Google Webmaster Central Blog and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »