Mediagazer: Russian Billionaire Will Launch U.K. Newspaper i Next Week (Emma Hall/AdAge)

12:00 AM ET, October 22, 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.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Williams Episode Shows 2 Versions of Journalism — NPR's decision Wednesday to fire Juan Williams and Fox News Channel's decision to give him a new contract on Thursday put into sharp relief the two versions of journalism that compete every day for Americans' attention.

Discussion: Philly.com, Inside Cable News and The Caucus

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
Juan Williams Fired by NPR For No Particular Reason

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.

Discussion: Lost Remote, TechCrunch, NewTeeVee, Bits, Search Engine Land and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

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

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Hulu Plus, Take Two: How's $4.95 a Month? — Hulu is considering cutting the price of 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: Company Town, The Next Web, Media Maverick and SAI, more at Techmeme »

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 and Canadian Magazines

Lucia Moses / Mediaweek:
ASME Releases Updated Ad Guidelines

Discussion: mediabistro.com and FishbowlNY

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: Creative Loafing Atlanta and Media Maverick

Wall Street Journal: Tribune Creditor Proposal Expected Friday

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.

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

Tweet This: The Top 25 Magazines on Twitter — On Tuesday, the blog Journalistics published a list ranking the top 25 newspapers on Twitter, based their follower counts. The New York Times, with more than 2.6 million followers, is by far the most-followed newspaper brand on Twitter …

Discussion: SocialTimes.com, Romenesko and Thompson on Hollywood

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

Joe Pompeo / SAI: Silicon Alley Insider:

Meet The Old-Media Vets Staffing A Former Newsweek President's Three New Digital Magazines — Newsweek is searching for a new editor-in-chief as some of its veteran journalists flee for jobs in new media. A former president of Newsweek, meanwhile, is luring veteran print journalists to his new digital magazine venture.

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 …

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.

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Aggregator Daylife Looks Beyond News Sites To Social Media For Growth — For the most part, news aggregator startup Daylife has focused on extending print outlets to its news sharing system. But over the past few weeks, it has been reaching out to existing digital publications who might …

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

Media Week:

Rupert Murdoch's full speech at the Centre of Policy Studies — Rupert Murdoch, the founder, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, heaped praise on Margaret Thatcher for ‘expanding the boundaries of freedom’ tonight, before turning to bloggers and why they will never replace journalists.

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

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

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 Atlantic Online and The Wrap