Mediagazer: Google ready for action against content farms (Tom Krazit/CNET News)

11:10 PM ET, January 21, 2011

Top News:

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Olbermann Leaves ‘Countdown’ on MSNBC — Updated Keith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC, announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he is leaving “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” immediately. — The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the network for some time …

Discussion: Tower Ticker, The Wire, Mediaite, Moneywood, The Nation, Media Nation, On Media's Blog, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Company Town, Politics Daily, The Daily Beast, TPMDC, Poynter, Conservatives4Palin and The Gateway Pundit

Matt Cutts / The Official Google Blog:

Google search and search engine spam — January brought a spate of stories about Google's search quality. Reading through some of these recent articles, you might ask whether our search quality has gotten worse. The short answer is that according to the evaluation metrics that we've refined …

Tom Krazit / CNET News:

Google ready for action against content farms — Google is ready to fire a shot across the bow of the so-called content farms, willing to acknowledge recent criticism of the quality of its search results but still not quite ready to detail specific remedies.

Discussion: New York Magazine, paidContent and New York Observer

Joe Coscarelli / Runnin' Scared:

Nick Summers Out at New York Observer, Returning to Newsweek For Tina Brown — Just one big, local item on this slushy Friday for the reincarnated Press Clips column: New York Observer media reporter Nick Summers, on the job less than three months after the departure of John Koblin …

Discussion: Poynter, @mlcalderone and FishbowlNY

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

NewsBeast in Final Talks With Union About Merger — Union reps some 90 Newsweek edit staffers — Newsweek and The Daily Beast are in final talks with the Newspaper Guild about staffing issues related to their merger, Adweek has learned. — The union, which represents …

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Bloomberg's New D.C. Operation Gets Showcase — Insert in Businessweek debuts Friday — Bloomberg LP has big plans for BGOV, the government reporting arm it quietly started last year in an effort to compete with established Beltway players. Now the extent of those plans is becoming a little clearer.

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:
Seeking “Influence,” Bloomberg Beats, AOL, CNN, MSN, Forbes …

Discussion: WebNewser

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch set to arrive in UK with News Corp mired in crisis — News Corp chief's London visit next week is timely because no significant decision can be taken at company without him — Rupert Murdoch is due in London next week, just as his company's attempts to close down the phone hacking crisis are in tatters.

Matt Wells / Guardian:
Andy Coulson resigns over phone-hack claims

Discussion: BBC, New York Times, Press Gazette, Journalism.co.uk, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Guardian, The Lede, openDemocracy, Media Week, The New Yorker Blog, Guardian, Yahoo! News, Gawker and The Wire

Lois Beckett / Nieman Journalism Lab:

“There's a lot of pressure to play for the short term”: The Bay Citizen's editor on its $15 million future — Seven months into its bid to reinvent the metro newspaper, The Bay Citizen has built a staff of nearly 30 people, built a strong traffic base (200,000 uniques in November) …

New York Post:

Newsmax Media finds its Coz — Former American Media Ed itorial Director Steve Coz has landed at the fast-growing Newsmax Media as editorial director. — The company, which lost out in the bidding for Newsweek last year in part because of its conservative leanings, is among the few media companies …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Mediaite, Poynter, New York Observer, FishbowlNY and On Media's Blog

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

Antoine Dodson, of ‘Bed Intruder’ Fame, Gets Reality Show Pilot — Hide your kids, hide your wife: Antoine Dodson — star of the viral smash “Bed Intruder” — is shooting a reality TV show pilot. — The pilot, produced by Entertainment One, will follow Dodson and his family as they relocate …

Discussion: New York Observer

Lauren Kirchner / CJR:

Google News is “The Most Efficient System” — Krishna Bharat on how Google helps journalists stay focused — On Wednesday, Google News product manager Krishna Bharat spoke to Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism students about how Google News can help journalists to do what they do best …

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Are Harper's Directors on Board with Publisher's Feuds? — Eric Foner. Image via Wikipedia — Harper's publisher John “Rick” MacArthur may want to check with his board next time he's about to pick a public fight to see if they have his back. MacArthur is currently at odds with his staff …

Amy Gahran / Knight Digital Media Center All-Site Feed:

How missing links hurt online news, part 1 — For nearly 15 years, the internet has been popular with the general public. So it amazes me that so many online news stories still routinely lack the kind of links that online and mobile users find helpful—and that also enhance the transparency, credibility, and shareability of news.

Discussion: newsplexer

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Backstage at the Onion's New TV Show — One day, maybe not that far off, we won't distinguish between video we watch on the Web and the stuff we see on TV. But for now, TV is still the big leagues-the place you go if you want the biggest stage, and the most money.

Discussion: Time, AintItCool and The Onion Sports Network

Andrew Wallenstein / paidContent:

How Radio Vets Rebooted As Podcast Pioneers — Ustream is betting on Adam Carolla to be the live-video streaming service's first pay-per-view partnership. Lucky for them there's another act coming out of Los Angeles radio that is already proving there's a viable subscription business to be had online.

Discussion: LA Observed and Future of Journalism