Mediagazer: TV Guide Site Partners With ABC for ‘Check-In’ Feature (Mike Shields/Mediaweek)

9:50 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, NPR, The Buttry Diary, Fox News, Poynter Online, Tuned In, Daily Kos and Inside Cable News

Alicia Shepard / NPR:

NPR's Firing of Juan Williams Was Poorly Handled — Juan Williams once again got himself into trouble with NPR for comments he made at his other job, at Fox News. And NPR's reaction has unleashed an unprecedented firestorm of criticism directed not at Williams - but at NPR.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Romenesko, NPR Topics, Scripting News, Big Journalism, Rhetorica, The Nation, GroundReport.com and Speakeasy

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: Bits, TechCrunch, Lost Remote, CNET News, The New Yorker Blog, Both Sides of the Table, Search Engine Land, NewTeeVee, Reuters and Engadget, 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, SAI and CNET News, more at Techmeme »

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Life With Google TV: My First Day Review & Impressions

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

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Rupert Murdoch Admits He Can't Compete With Google — News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch has likely never acknowledged (at least not publicly) that he has failed at something, particularly when it involves a market worth billions of dollars, but he appears to have conceded defeat in his attempt to build a competitor to Google News.

more at Techmeme »

Reuters: News Corp ices Alesia digital newsstand plan-source

Robert Quigley / Old Media, New Tricks:

Newspapers on Twitter, ranked by followers — Inspired by this interesting but flawed effort to measure U.S. newspaper Twitter followers, I scoured the Twittersphere to come up with an exhaustive list of Twitter followers for as many U.S. newspapers as I could. I ended up with 200, but I think I'm the only one exhausted.

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:
Tweet This: The Top 25 Magazines on Twitter

Discussion: SocialTimes.com, Thompson on Hollywood and Romenesko

Scripting News:

New blogging techniques — What I call paragraph-level permalinks have made an appearance in Jay Rosen's blog, thanks to the innovative design work of Lauren Rabaino. — Nieman Lab calls out the feature. — And this got a geek going, Daniel Bachhuber, whose new (today) …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab and Lauren Michell Rabaino

Ryan Tate / Gawker:

R.I.P. Chatroulette: A Sad Tale of Missed Opportunity — Remember Chatroulette? It's hard to believe that barely eight months ago the anonymous video chat site had everyone captivated. Venture capitalists clamored to invest, journalists tripped over one another to profile—and now Chatroulette is dying, unused and unloved.

Discussion: Social Culture …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

How US newspapers are coping with abusive commenters — What's to be done when readers' online comments tip over from the critical into the abusive? That problem has been faced by several newspapers in the US. — In the latest example, the Portland Press Herald shut down its comments service …

Damon Kiesow / Poynter Online:
Comments return to the Portland Press Herald

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab and Shaping the Future …

Mike Shields / Mediaweek:

TV Guide Site Partners With ABC for ‘Check-In’ Feature — TVGuide.com has partnered with ABC to help kick start its new TV Check-In feature—the site's answer to the slew of startup social apps, which encourage users to tell their friends what they watch or are planning to watch on TV.

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.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Guardian, Crikey and paidContent

Wall Street Journal:

Tribune Creditor Proposal Expected Friday — Tribune Co. on Friday is expected to file a bankruptcy-exit plan that has support from its leading creditors. The filing comes as creditors are sounding out candidates to run the company post-bankruptcy, including former News Corp. executive Peter Chernin.

Josh Kosman / New York Post:
Zell on the hot seat

Discussion: Technology News and Creative Loafing Atlanta

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

ATD Gets Social With Liz Gannes (In Other Words, We Hired Her) — A few days ago, All Things Digital announced CNET senior writer Ina Fried was joining the staff to cover mobile for the site. — Today, we complete a one-two punch with the hiring of Liz Gannes, who will be covering the critical social beat.

Discussion: omis.me

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Vevo Turns Up Heat on MTV in Online Video Dispute — Upstart Is Top in Video Views and It's Targeting TV — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Music videos barely appear on TV any more, but the battle to control them online — and sell them to marketers in turn — is becoming a full-fledged spectacle …

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: MinOnline, MPA and Canadian Magazines