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

2:30 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.

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: The Wrap, The Awl, New York Observer, Romenesko, Washington Wire, Hit & Run, Mixed Media and The Daily Caller

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: Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, Writing / Editing, Media Matters for America, Hot Air, Chickaboomer, CNN, Romenesko, 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: Stop Big Media News, Broadcasting & Cable, Company Town and Gothamist

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

Discussion: Stop Big Media News and Gothamist

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

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, VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb, 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

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: MTV Movies Blog, Splitsider and New York Magazine

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 SAI

Hollywood Reporter:

Viacom Hires Superstar Lawyer to Handle YouTube Appeal — EXCLUSIVE: Earlier this year, Viacom suffered a major defeat at the hands of Google when a New York district court judge ruled that YouTube qualified for “safe harbor” from claims of direct and contributory copyright infringement.

Discussion: MediaMemo and Techdirt, more at Techmeme »

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 …

Ron Mwangaguhunga / eMedia Vitals:

3 ways Vogue could improve their Tumblr blog — Vogue magazine, usually fashion forward, is a bit late to the media Tumblr blogging trend that reached fever pitch earlier this summer. Vogue's Tumblr blog, which appears to be an experimental, manicured toe dip into the crowded microblogging waters …

Lucia Moses / Mediaweek:

ASME Releases Updated Ad Guidelines — With ads popping up on covers, traipsing across editorial white space and woven into magazines in otherwise unusual ways, the American Society of Magazine Editors' guidelines—which say how to keep ads and editorial content separate—haven't always kept up.

Discussion: Romenesko, Gawker, MPA, mediabistro.com and FishbowlNY

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, more at Techmeme »

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 and ClickZ

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

NFL Investigating ESPN Over ‘Monday Night Football’ Timeouts … The NFL said Tuesday that it is investigating allegations that coaches during Monday Night Football were asked to call timeouts so that ESPN could squeeze in some TV commercials. — The situation had NFL purists …

Discussion: MediaPost and Company Town