Mediagazer: BREAKING: Newspaper Quietly Launches Hyper-Local Location-Based App (Jason Falls/Social Media Explorer)

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is What WikiLeaks Does Journalism? Good Question — While the U.S. government tries to determine whether what WikiLeaks and front-man Julian Assange have done qualifies as espionage, media theorists and critics alike continue to debate whether releasing those classified diplomatic cables qualifies as journalism.

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Does the FCC Want to Kill Hulu? — One of Washington's proposed conditions on the Comcast-NBC U deal will force the merged company to offer NBC's shows to any Web competitor. — So what does that mean for Hulu, which has already locked up exclusive rights to NBC's Web video?

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Company Town, Electronista, Media Decoder, DailyFinance, MediaPost, SAI, Los Angeles Times, MediaPost, New York Magazine, The Wire and The Consumerist, more at Techmeme »

Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:

Google Woos Local Advertisers — Google Inc., which helped popularize the idea of automated ad sales on the Web, has been quietly turning to an old-fashioned tool—phone calls—to compete in the hot market for local business advertising. — The Internet-search giant this year …

Discussion: SAI, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Gannett Blog and Search Engine Land

scienceblog.com:

Ben-Gurion U researcher reveals newspapers' historic resistance to granting reporters' bylines — A new study by Dr. Zvi Reich, a researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beer-Sheva, Israel, documents the process through which journalists at major newspapers fought …

Discussion: International Business Times

Jason Falls / Social Media Explorer:

BREAKING: Newspaper Quietly Launches Hyper-Local Location-Based App — It appears the Cincinnati Enquirer is about to take yet another step along the scale of social media innovation by a traditional media member to help increase reader loyalty, advertiser commitment and continued relevance …

Discussion: Poynter, Thanks:jspepper

Irina Slutsky / AdAge:

Why Google Dropped Groupon and Local Just Doesn't Scale — Ad Age Talks to Infectious Greed Blogger and Tech Investor Paul Kedrosky — SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) — Prolific tech business analyst Paul Kedrosky made a name for himself as the founder of longtime blog Infectious Greed …

Discussion: MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Los Angeles Times:

Theater operators fight studios' plan to release movies in homes earlier — The chains are trying to build support for preserving ‘theatrical windows.’ — Theater operators are mounting a challenge to plans by Hollywood studios to release movies in the home when they are still in theaters.

Discussion: The Wrap, Media Maverick and Company Town

Kimberly Turner / Regator:

Why Blogs (Still) Aren't Dead...No Matter What You've Heard — Stan Schroeder of Mashable recently published a post based on research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The post was originally titled: “Everyone Uses E-mail, But Hardly Anyone Blogs Anymore.”

Blake Farmer / NPR:

‘Street Papers’ Sold By Homeless Are Thriving … Homeless newspapers around the country have grown by double digits over the past few years, even while most printed publications struggle to keep their paying customers. The so-called street papers create jobs for homeless people, who buy the papers at cost and sell them for a dollar.

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Anyone Notice That Sites Don't Have To Rely On Google So Much For Traffic Any More? — One of the driving forces behind some of the legal attacks on Google is that Google is the defacto monopoly on being found online. We've heard over and over again a claim along the lines of “if you're not in Google, you're not online.”

Gary Levin / USA Today:

In 2010, cable TV's ratings put networks on notice — Cable networks have been challenging broadcasters' hold on TV viewers for years, but the big networks' lackluster fall is proof of a new parity. — Nielsen figures show the Big 4 and basic cable gained 1% in 2010 as overall viewing continues to rise to a record 34 hours a week.

Discussion: TVWeek.com

Jackie Cohen / All Facebook:

Facebook Drives More Video Traffic Than All But Google — Facebook has surpassed Yahoo in the amount of traffic sent to video destinations, although Google still has the lead in this regard. — This comes from a report by Brightcove and TubeMogul based on data what the two call aggregate media sites …

Discussion: Fast Company and MediaPost