Mediagazer: A Little Less Drama at NBC (New York Times)

12:30 PM ET, January 27, 2011

Top News:

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Demand Media Says It's Getting Along Just Fine With Google, Thank You Very Much — So the first wave of investors has taken a look at Demand Media, and they're buying: The “content creation platform,” as the company likes to describe itself, closed at $22.65 yesterday, up 33 percent on its first day of trading.

Discussion: Poynter, paidContent, ReadWriteWeb, Deal Journal, CNET News, FT tech hub, Money & Company, VatorNews and Black Web 2.0

Keith Richman / AdAge:
Why Demand Media Really Is a Media Company and Its IPO Will Succeed

Discussion: Business Week, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, eMedia Vitals, SAI, Deal Journal and MediaMemo, more at Techmeme »

Shira Ovide / Deal Journal:
New York Times Almost Bought Into Demand Media

Discussion: @rafat, Poynter and NYConvergence.com

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
Congratulations, Demand Media. You're Still Pretty Dumb.

Discussion: CJR, New York Magazine, paidContent, The Wire, The Atlantic Online and Deal Journal

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

The disruptors arrive at Davos — Last year at Davos, I said I was among the disrupted when I preferred to be among the disruptors. — The disruptor arrived last night. Daniel Domscheit-Berg, former spokesman for Wikileaks and founder of the competitive OpenSecrets …

Discussion: Canadian Press

Audrey Watters / ReadWriteWeb:
Localeaks: A Drop-Box for Anonymous Tips to 1400 U.S. Newspapers

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Soup and WebNewser

Wall Street Journal:

Hulu Plots New Script — Just as the digital wave transforms the television industry, Hulu, a pioneer of Internet TV, is in internal discussions to dramatically transform itself. — The free online television service has become one of the most-watched online video properties in the U.S …

Discussion: paidContent, CNET News, The Wire, Post Tech, Mashable!, Black Web 2.0, SAI, SlashGear, Electronista and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Keren Blankfeld / Forbes:

The Optimist — Forbes Magazine dated February 14, 2011 — Undaunted by his Tribune debacle, Sam Zell is now cutting a bold path in emerging markets. — At the turn of each year since late 1994 Sam Zell, the real estate billionaire known as “the grave dancer,” has indulged in a fit of musical fancy.

Discussion: Poynter, The Wrap, @romenesko and @iwantmedia

Bill Keller / New York Times:

Dealing With Assange and the Secrets He Spilled — This past June, Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian, phoned me and asked, mysteriously, whether I had any idea how to arrange a secure communication. Not really, I confessed. The Times doesn't have encrypted phone lines, or a Cone of Silence.

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:
Bill Keller's Clash with Assange

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Gawker, Techdirt, @chanders and The Atlantic Online

Nicholas Carlson / The Wire:

Patch Is A Huge Waste Of Money, And It Has Us Worried About Tim Armstrong's Ability To Run AOL — AOL CEO Tim Armstrong believes that its local blog network, Patch, will be a “major” part of the company's turnaround as it fills one of the largest “white spaces” left on the Internet.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, eMedia Vitals and Change of Subject

David Lieberman / USA Today:

What are Comcast's plans for NBC News operations? — Keith Olbermann may have unwittingly done Comcast a favor last week when MSNBC's most popular commentator startled audiences by announcing that he had just hosted his last show on the cable news network. — Sure, it was awkward for Comcast.

Discussion: Poynter and Company Town

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Forbes' New Changes Mean More Blending of Ads, Editorial — Mag unveils Web redesign that will place ad content on equal footing — Forbes Media took a radical step last year when it started to put advertisers and outside contributors on equal footing with its editorial staffers, in print and online.

Discussion: Noted

Jason Silverman / Underwire:

David Carr Is Journalism's New Superhero in Page One Doc — David Carr, left, chats with The New York Times media editor Bruce Headlam in a scene from Page One. — Photo courtesy Sundance Institute — PARK CITY, Utah — In an attempt to describe the new age of journalism …

Discussion: Cinema Blend Feeds

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

To target Fox News over ‘Nazi’ label, rabbis make use of Murdoch's other media — A coalition of rabbis wants Fox News chief Roger Ailes and conservative host Glenn Beck to cut out all their talk about Nazis and the Holocaust, and it's making its views known in an unusual place.

Discussion: Guardian, The Wire and On Media's Blog

New York Times:

A Little Less Drama at NBC — On Thursday, from Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center, home of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” the NBC anchor Brian Williams will officially introduce the network's newest boss, Stephen B. Burke, in a closed-circuit presentation to the entire company.

Discussion: Moneywood

The New Republic:

Home News — Today, The New Republic announces that Marty Peretz, who has been editor-in-chief of the magazine for 37 years, will become editor-in-chief emeritus. In addition, he will move from writing his blog, The Spine, to writing a column for the website.

Discussion: @iwantmedia and Salon

Maureen O'Connor / Gawker:

Plagiarizing Editor's Boss: 'Byline Doesn't Take Credit for the Work' — Rodale, publisher of Men's Health and employer of serial plagiarist David Zinczenko, explains why ripping writers' bylines off their work, and slapping Zinczenko's on, is OK: “The byline doesn't take credit for the work, but serves as an overarching tag.”

Discussion: Poynter and @dangillmor

Maureen O'Connor / Gawker:
Men's Health Editor Plagiarizes His Own Writers

Discussion: Regret the Error and FishbowlNY

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Netflix Takes Aim at the Cable Guys, With a Promise to Start Firing Tomorrow — Interesting PR campaign from Netflix, which is fighting with the cable guys and telcos over the cost of delivering all that streaming video to your living room: The company is going to publish a list of broadband Internet providers, ranked by performance.

Discussion: NetworkEffect, Company Town, Multichannel News, SAI, CNET News, GigaOM and brandflakesforbreakfast, more at Techmeme »

David Lipke / WWD Media Headlines:

Memo Pad: GQ's Menswear Finalists... Bill Keller's New Column... THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT: GQ has revealed the finalists for its fourth annual Best New Menswear Designers in America competition, with the talent pool this year including Patrik Ervell, Alexander Wang for his T by Alexander Wang line …

Sarah Schneider / Splitsider:

Why More Women Should Write Comedy: A Mathematical (But Not Boring) Study — The notion that women aren't funny is as old as the people still bringing it up. These days in comedy, funny women are everywhere. And yet the men writing comedy still outnumber the women by a wide margin.

Nick Davies / Guardian:

NoW accused of phone hacking within last year — Kelly Hoppen, Sienna Miller's stepmother, is suing the NoW for ‘accessing or attempting to access her voicemail’ — Follow the latest developments in our live blog — The crisis at the News of the World intensified today with the release …

Discussion: BBC and Press Gazette