Mediagazer: Freedom Communications releases social media policy to staff (Jim Romenesko/Poynter)

10:25 AM ET, February 16, 2011

Top News:

Apple's Subscription Rules Raise Possible Antitrust Issues — Apple Inc.'s new subscription service could draw antitrust scrutiny, according to law professors. — Apple will allow magazines, newspapers and other publishers to sell subscriptions of varying lengths to users of Apple's popular iPad, iTouch and iPhone products.

Discussion: New York Observer, SAI, Engadget, Fortune, TechCrunch, eMedia Vitals, Poynter, MacStories, Between the Lines Blog and CNET News, more at Techmeme »

Antony Bruno / Billboard.Biz:

Apple's New Subscription Rules Could Kill Streaming Music Services — Apple today introduced the ability to let app developers charge for in-app content on a subscription basis. While this development is a major boon for developers looking for new ways to monetize their products …

Discussion: hypebot, SAI, MacRumors and Mixed Media, more at Techmeme »

John Gapper / John Gapper's blog:

Apple's battle for control with Amazon — Apple's new regime for subscriptions to newspapers, magazines and books on the iPad will take many publishers aback but the most interesting standoff is with Amazon. — The two companies have been battling for supremacy on electronic tablets …

Discussion: Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com and thebookseller.com/news …

Nat Ives / AdAge:
Popular Science Accepts Apple's Terms, Starts Selling iPad Subscriptions

Discussion: MediaMemo, eMedia Vitals, Nieman Journalism Lab, FishbowlNY and MacStories

Robert Andrews / paidContent:UK:
Updated: Apple's Subs Rules Could Suck $1 Million From Financial Times

Discussion: Future of Journalism, AdAge and New York Observer

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:
What Apple's new subscription policy means for news: new rules, new incentives, new complaints

Discussion: paidContent, Reflections of a Newsosaur, Poynter, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, The Atlantic Wire, GigaOM, Faster Forward, AppAdvice, Computerworld, AOL News, Media Buyer Planner and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Trudy Muller / Apple:
Apple Launches Subscriptions on the App Store

CBS News:

CBS News' Lara Logan Assaulted During Egypt Protests — CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Separated From Her Crew And Brutally Assaulted on Day Mubarak Stepped Down — On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering …

Foster Kamer / Esquire:
Lara Logan Assaulted in Egypt: Notes from the Night Before

Discussion: Media Decoder, Mediaite, Yahoo! News and PopEater

Dan Duray / New York Observer:

From Mudslinger to Maverick! The Transformation of Kenneth Lerer — Just trust me. It's Kenneth Lerer's favorite line, and the 58-year-old general partner at Lerer Ventures and co-founder of the Huffington Post—"Kenny," as he's known to friends—employs it convincingly.

NPR:
Is Writing Online Without Pay Worth It?

Discussion: Metamedia, MediaPost, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard and Burst Media Company Blog

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
It's not all about content and work

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Huffington Post, Public Knowledge and Techdirt

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: Facebook Grabs Microsoft Global Ad Head Carolyn Everson — Apparently, it's not only in Google's pond where Facebook fishes for talent-the social networking giant has recruited Microsoft's global advertising head Carolyn Everson as one of its top sales execs.

Discussion: Beet.TV, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, AdAge, CNET News, paidContent and ClickZ, more at Techmeme »

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: Is a not-for-profit news website in the cards for L.A.? — Venture capitalist and former Times Mirror executive Tom Unterman is ‘very hopeful’ about launching the venture. First hurdle: $10 million. — I've been wondering for a couple of years whether someone would bring Los Angeles …

Discussion: Reuters and Poynter

Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:

WPP to Unveil Interactive Ad Network — Advertising giant WPP PLC is preparing to unveil a new interactive ad agency network called Possible Worldwide, part of a broader push to reposition its business to tap global growth in digital ad dollars. — The network will stitch together four digital ad agencies …

Discussion: AdPulp

Kunur Patel / AdAge: WPP to Roll Up Digital Agencies Into New Unit

Andrew Adam Newman / New York Times:

Competing for the Cover of the Rolling Stone — AS Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show famously sang in 1973, getting “your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone” signaled that a band had officially arrived. But for the first time in its 44-year history, Rolling Stone editors are ceding …

Discussion: FishbowlNY and eMedia Vitals

Joe Mullin / paidContent:

Have Media Companies Destroyed Their Copyrights With The ‘Share’ Button? — Righthaven has become controversial by taking a sue-first-ask-questions-later approach to copyright enforcement on behalf of its newspaper clients, which include MediaNews Group as well as the smaller chain that owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Freedom Communications releases social media policy to staff — Romenesko Misc. — The Orange County Register parent says it “encourages its associates to participate in these [social] media as a means of generating interest in the Company's products and services and creating business opportunities …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, @jayrosen_nyu and WebNewser

The Official Google Blog:

A simple way for publishers to manage access to digital content — (Cross-posted on the Google News Blog) — At Humboldt University in Berlin today, Eric Schmidt announced Google One Pass, a service that lets publishers set their own prices and terms for their digital content.

Discussion: @zseward and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Andrew Wallenstein / paidContent:

Premium VOD Is Doomed If This Piracy Study Is Correct — A new PricewaterhouseCoopers study casts serious doubt on consumer willingness to pay for movies on digital platforms. Warning: Film-industy executives interested in reading further may want to first increase dosage of any anti-depressants they might be taking.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Maureen Tkacik / New York Observer:

The O'Donnell Factor: A Hill Hack Goes Prime-Time Wacko — Last week, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell devoted an unseemly share of his airtime to blasting Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly for his “relentless barrage of interruptions” of Barack Obama during Mr. O'Reilly's pre-Super Bowl interview with the president.

Discussion: Journalism.org

Andrea Morabito / Broadcasting & Cable:

Panelists Tout Addressable Ads As Industry's ‘Holy Grail’ — But with implementation years off, 2011 will be the year of interactivity — New York — While the “holy grail” of advertising, addressable television, may be years off from becoming mainstream, it seems 2011 is going to be the year of the interactive ad.

Discussion: Multichannel

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Want To Buy Into A Hollywood Movie? Now You Can — A company called Audience Productions has filed to go public with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and are selling $10/share preferred stock to people who want to invest in the movie they're creating. — The movie is called “Lydia Slotnick Unplugged”: