Mediagazer: Journalists ‘cautiously pessimistic’ about Patch (Robert Hernandez/Online Journalism Review)

Blank Slate: Jacob Weisberg Was a Web Pioneer. But He Doesn't Much Care for What Works on the Web Now. Can Slate Recover? — Slate, the Web site, is 14 years old, an eternity on the Internet. During that span, its New York offices have moved nine times.

Discussion: The Awl and Romenesko

Weisberg: NYO wrong; Slate's ‘going gangbusters’ — Slate Group editor-in-chief Jacob Weisberg's note to staff about today's New York Observer story — You may have seen the story about Slate that's up on the New York Observer website today. I wanted to take a minute to respond …

Discussion: Mediaite and New York Observer

Nick Summers / New York Observer:

Slate's Traffic Is Gangbusters, Except When It's Not — Slate Group chairman Jacob Weisberg wrote a memo to his staff today in response to this week's Observer cover story, a look at how the 14-year-old site is faring against new and ferocious competition. He takes exception to our piece …

Joe Flint / Company Town:

Lou Dobbs joining Fox Business Network — Just about a year to the day that he left CNN, Lou Dobbs is returning to cable news, this time as host of his own show on News Corp.'s Fox Business Network. — Fox Business Network is expected to announce that it has signed Dobbs as early as Wednesday afternoon.

Discussion: Romenesko, Media Decoder, Gawker, Business Wire, Talking Biz News, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, The Wire, Politics Daily and TVNewser

Ryan Kearney / TBD All News:

Why did Gawker publish, then retract, a gruesome murder photo? — Recently, Gawker did something unusual: It removed a photo that was upsetting people. The photo showed the body of Christopher Jusko, a 21-year-old graffiti artist who was stabbed to death in New York's East Village on Oct. 25.

Discussion: New York Observer, The Awl and Romenesko

Robin Sloan / Snarkmarket:

Escape from Thunderdome — Here's the tick-tock: Marc Ambinder writes a terrific, thought-provoking post titled I Am a Blogger No Longer. Here at Snarkmarket, it strikes us all so well and so deeply that we decide to dive in: — Matt goes first, and he talks about what “ego-driven reporting” might or might not be.

Tim Carmody / Snarkmarket: Blogger, Reporter, Author

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Eisner's Studio and AOL Pair Up for Web Series — In a deal to be announced Wednesday, Michael D. Eisner's Web studio, Vuguru, will produce half a dozen scripted Web video series for AOL. — The partnership is the latest attempt by AOL, which has been struggling, to infuse its home page and its Web sites with original video.

Discussion: TVWeek.com, The Huffington Post and WebNewser

Alan Rusbridger / Poynter Online:

Openness, Collaboration Key to New Information Ecosystem — In 2009 you could smell the fear. As banks crashed and the recession hit, even the grandest media companies trembled a little. We had all known for some time that the revolution we're all living through would at some stage get really tough.

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Schools Chief Has Much in Common With Boss — Cathleen P. Black earned a reputation in publishing as a tough-minded chief executive who never left her employees guessing what she wanted. A student of management, she wrote a book about strategies for success in the corporate world.

Discussion: Media Decoder, nyc.gov, Capital New York, Salon, This Just In, Styleite, Mixed Media and The Atlantic Online

Wall Street Journal:
Schools Chancellor Klein to Join News Corp.

Discussion: Media Decoder, City Room, Gothamist, Mixed Media, Romenesko and Hit & Run

ProPublica:

Read the Leaked P.R. Plan to Spin Our Dialysis Investigation — Update (2:39 p.m.): Kidney Care Partners released an official statement. — The umbrella group Kidney Care Partners (KCP), an advocacy and lobbying organization for dialysis providers, patient groups, drug companies and others …

Discussion: MinnPost and LA Observed

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Romenesko, MinnPost and mediabistro.com

Post by Venkat / Technology & Marketing Law Blog:

Twitter Clarifies Usage Rules, but AFP Still Claims Unbridled Right to Use Content Posted to “Twitter/TwitPic” — Twitter recently issued new guidelines regarding use of the “Twitter” and “Tweet” marks, and use of the underlying tweets by users and third parties as well: “Guidelines for Use of the Twitter Trademark.”

Media Week:

‘Electricity in the newsroom’: the rise and rise of the iPad — The iPad has brought the greatest excitement to the media industry since the dotcom boom. Alexandra Jardine reports how newspaper and magazine publishers are swelling audiences and ad revenue through launching apps on the revolutionary new platform

Discussion: Poynter Online

Robert Hernandez / Online Journalism Review:

Journalists ‘cautiously pessimistic’ about Patch — By Robert Hernandez: The topic of AOL's Patch has been on journalists' minds before I asked the question at the Online News Association conference in D.C. — It has sparked debate and open conversation about whether this hyperlocal venture …

Discussion: WebNewser

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

DealBook relaunch triggered N.Y. Times blog shutdown — Something strange happened Tuesday night on the New York Times' website: All 58 of its blogs went dark. — “We're working hard to get our blogs back up and running,” the Times tweeted around 7 p.m. “Stay tuned.”

Discussion: the nytpicker, Talking Biz News, Romenesko and New York Observer

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:

The View from Nowhere: Questions and Answers — “American journalism is dumber than most journalists, who often share my sense of absurdity about these practices. A major reason we have a practice less intelligent than its practitioners is the prestige that the View from Nowhere still claims...”

Discussion: The Politico

David Schlesinger / Reuters:

Our need to be in the midst of danger — Below is the keynote speech Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger delivered today to the International News Safety Institute — Death came screaming out of the sky on July 12, 2007. — Two Apache helicopter gunships operating more than 500 metres away …

Jon Friedman / MarketWatch:

ESPN's Skipper: iPad is not print's savior — Commentary: It's all about finding medium's best use of content — NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — John Skipper understands the iPad — and a good deal of ESPN's future rests in his hands. — Skipper, ESPN executive vice president for content …

Discussion: Poynter Online

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Playboy Goes Geo-Local With Scout App, Even as Iconic Media Company Attempts Turnaround — How about some check-ins at the Playboy Mansion? — That's not exactly on the menu for a new mobile application being launched by the iconic adult-oriented media company today, called Scout (although BoomTown wishes it were).

Discussion: New York Observer

CJR:

Launch Pad: Portland, Oregon — Two news entrepeneurs explain why they struck out on their own … Michael Andersen: Hi, Barry! Thanks for agreeing to team up on this Launch Pad stint. I love that CJR is trying to document and encourage the entrepreneurial journalism movement …

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

When The News Lets Everyone Really Participate, It Changes The Way News Works — When we talk about things like “participatory journalism,” or “news as a community,” we've had traditional newspaper people insist they “get it.” They say that they've “added comments” to their website, so it's now participatory.