Mediagazer: The Autocrat's Algorithm — Is Google News helping to spread propaganda? (Joshua E. Keating/Foreign Policy)

5:05 AM ET, November 20, 2010

Top News:

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

MSNBC suspends Scarborough for campaign donations — MSNBC said Friday that it is suspending “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough for two days after he acknowledged giving eight previously unknown $500 contributions to friends and family members running for state and local offices during …

Associated Press:

Palin's publisher sues Gawker over book excerpts — NEW YORK (AP) — The publisher of Sarah Palin's forthcoming book filed a lawsuit against Gawker Media on Friday for leaking pages of “America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag” before its release next week.

Emily Gould / The Awl:

An Open Letter to Tavi Gevinson and Jane Pratt — First I just wanted to say the same thing that I imagine hundreds if not thousands of people have already said, which is that I am a big fan of both of yours. I've admired the way that Tavi has gracefully handled a lot of flak from jealous haters …

Paul Hoffman / Editors Weblog:

Mail Online is 2nd biggest newspaper website worldwide: is Facebook responsible? — It would be tempting to assume, especially given the unsurprising fact that the New York Times website ranks number one in terms of worldwide usage, that all of today's most viewed news websites have sprouted …

Joshua E. Keating / Foreign Policy:

The Autocrat's Algorithm — Is Google News helping to spread propaganda? — On Nov. 18, I used the enormously popular news aggregator Google News to search for information about the Russian alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout, recently extradited from Thailand to the United States.

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: The battle for NPR's public's funding — (Jennifer S. Altman, For The Times / September 28, 2006) — Republicans, who will control the House, have already tried one procedural gambit, with more likely to come. — “Dignified” is not a word often associated …

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Another Publisher Out at Entertainment Weekly — Ray Chelstowski Exit Reminds Us That Weeklies' Drama Isn't All About Newsweek — New York (AdAge.com) — We're paying a lot of attention to news weeklies on the order of Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report these days, but even pop culture weeklies have their troubles.

Discussion: The Wrap, MinOnline and MinOnline

Lauren Dugan / mediabistro.com:

The National Post: How One Newspaper is Embracing Twitter [Interview] — The National Post is a large Canadian newspaper that's embracing social media as an extension of its newsroom. We had the opportunity to chat with Chris Boutet, the Senior Producer of Digital Media at the Post …

Discussion: Cision

Alan Rusbridger / Guardian:

The splintering of the fourth estate — Media organisations are trying various routes to the future - the Guardian's is firmly an open and collaborative one — Back in June, I was invited to speak in Amsterdam at a “Royal Symposium”. It turned out I was sharing the platform with a writer …

Discussion: Reportr.net, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, Press Gazette, Romenesko, ABC News, Journalism.co.uk and Editors Weblog

New York Post:

Cathie Black's book is hot — Tweet — Sales of Cathie Black's business memoir, “Basic Black,” have spiked since Mayor Mike Bloomberg unveiled his decision last week to tap the media executive as the new chancellor of the Department of Education. — “There's no question her appointment …

Discussion: New York Observer, iMedia Connection, iMedia Connection, Romenesko and mediabistro.com

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Tumblr dives into a boatload of money — Tumblr, the lightweight blogging company, has raised between $25 million and $30 million in new VC funding, Fortune has learned. The valuation is in the ballpark of $135 million. — BusinessInsider first reported on the existence of a new round last week …

Discussion: New York Observer, TechCrunch, GigaOM, MediaMemo, Soup, Scripting News, The Awl, SAI and WebNewser, more at Techmeme »

Sense About Science:

Bloggers and Libel Law — “So you've had a threatening letter. What can you do?” — A new guide to the libel laws for bloggers is being published today. — The guide, entitled 'So you've had a threatening letter. What can you do?', is published by Sense About Science in association …

Discussion: Online Journalism Blog, consider, evaluate, act, ZDNet and Guardian

Appolicious ™ App Directory:

paidContent founder Rafat Ali on touchscreens and the future of media — After selling digital news site paidContent for $30 million to Guardian Media in 2008, Rafat Ali in July left The Guardian and is now planning his next entrepreneurial journey. — The future of media, says Ali, will revolve around touchscreen devices.

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Bo Peabody / Money Game:

DOWN ON THE (CONTENT) FARM: Here's Why I Would Never Invest In Demand Media — Demand Media filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC four months ago and is now attempting to sell its stock offering. — Demand is the first media company in the post-bust era of the Internet …

Discussion: The Awl and SAI

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Covering a crisis more like molasses than quicksand — How do you cover a crisis that is not a crisis in the way we generally think of one — sudden, frenzied, tragic — but rather a tragedy that builds, slowly, over time? From the BP oil spill to Haiti's pre- and post-earthquake heartbreaks …