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

8:40 AM 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.

Discussion: Guardian, NPR, The Wire, Mediaite, Gawker, main page collection, Big Journalism, Inside Cable News, The Wrap, tony of all media, New York Magazine and The Huffington Post

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: Media Matters for America and Romenesko

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

Los Angeles Times:

News Corp.'s hit and run — By discriminating against Internet users based on the identity of their broadband provider, News Corp. added a troubling element to the debate over Net neutrality. — A rancorous dispute between News Corp. and Cablevision has baseball fans in Long Island missing more playoff pitches than Alex Rodriguez.

Discussion: Gothamist, Stop Big Media News and New York Times

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 …

Robert Gavin / Boston Globe:

Local group says it wants to buy The Boston Globe — A group of more than a dozen investors and management specialists will offer to buy The Boston Globe from its long-time owner, The New York Times Co., the leader of the group said. — Aaron Kushner, an entrepreneur who owns Marian Heath …

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

Keith J. Kelly / NY Post:

Editor McDonell stays put at Sports Illustrated — Terry McDonell, the editor of Sports Illustrated Group, who was flagged as a potential candidate for the top job at Newsweek, has shot down speculation that he is in the running to be the newsweekly's editor-in-chief.

Discussion: The Wrap

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media: Tina Brown on Newsweek Talks and Jack Welch's Role

Danny Sullivan / Daggle:

Fast Company's “Influence Project” - So Lame, Fast Company Ignored Its Own Results — Cast your mind back to July. Fast Company launched its “Influence Project,” a scheme supposedly designed to see who has the most influence online. The results are in! And the winners aren't anyone …

Discussion: Fast Company and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

David Cohen / WebNewser:

The Providence Journal to Post Excerpts Only on Web Site — The Providence Journal will test out an interesting tactic in the “war” between print and online, using its Web site to try to drive readers to purchase the print edition by posting only excerpts of stories on the site, Ted Nesi reported on his WPRI blog.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, WPRI.com Blogs, MediaMemo, eBookNewser and FishbowlDC

Mark Suster / Both Sides of the Table:

The Future of Television & The Digital Living Room — Dana Settle & I are hosting a dinner tonight (10/20/10) with some of the biggest companies in entertainment to talk about the future of television, film & digital media. Michael Ovitz, the co-founder of CAA will be the keynote speaker.

Discussion: A VC, The Wire and NewTeeVee

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:

Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters — Media Matters, the liberal activist group that wages a rhetorical war against Fox News Channel and others in the conservative press, will announce on Wednesday the receipt of a $1 million donation from the philanthropist George Soros.

Discussion: Free Press, The Politico, Hot Air, Mediaite, Romenesko, New York Magazine, New York Observer and Politics Daily

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: Public radio is enjoying boom times — (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times / October 20, 2010) — While its TV counterpart struggles, National Public Radio listenership is up and there are plans to greatly expand its reporting. — Southern California's biggest public television …

Discussion: Romenesko and MarketWatch

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: The Local

Chicago Tribune:

Tribune's top exec poised to resign — Sources: Michaels to exit amid claims of crass behavior — Randy Michaels, Tribune Co.'s embattled chief executive, has decided to resign his post at the Chicago-based media company and intends to leave the company before the end of the week, sources close to the situation said.

Discussion: blogs.vocalo.org, Romenesko, The Wrap, Tower Ticker, New York Observer, Gawker, The Wire, LA Observed and Los Angeles Times

David Kaplan / paidContent:
Tribune CEO Michaels Plans To Step Down; Replaced By Four-Member Council

Discussion: MediaFile and FishbowlNY

Columbia News:

Emily Bell, Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Talks About the Changing News Industry — In advance of the launch event of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism on Oct. 19, director Emily Bell answered questions from Columbia's Facebook community …

Discussion: blogs.journalism.co.uk and Emily Bell