Mediagazer: The Media Industry's Biggest Fear: How Do We Know Next Year Apple Won't Be Taking 50%? (Erick Schonfeld/TechCrunch)

8:25 AM ET, February 17, 2011

Top News:

Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:

With Google's One Pass, Two More Newspaper Chains Join The Paywall Brigade — Included in the announcement of Google's long-expected One Pass paid content system for publishers is news that two more U.S. newspaper chains are planning to put up online paywalls at some of their newspaper sites this year …

Discussion: Burst Media Company Blog, Media Buyer Planner, NetNewsCheck Latest and WebNewser

Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:

Dueling Paywalls: Brill & Crovitz's Journalism Online vs. Google's One Pass — One company set to face new competition now that Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is rolling out its paid content system is Journalism Online, which to date has helped roughly 24 publications, predominately smaller-circulation newspapers …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and Future of Journalism

The Official Google Blog:
A simple way for publishers to manage access to digital content

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
Media General to use Google One Pass in Virginia, Journalism Online metered model in N.C.

Discussion: Editors Weblog and New York Times

Edmund Lee / AdAge:
Google Outbids Apple — Offers Publishers 90% Cut on Tablet Subs

Discussion: Trends in the Living Networks, memeburn, The Big Picture, ReadWriteWeb, eMedia Vitals, GigaOM and The Next Web

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Why Elle, Nylon and Pop Sci Said Yes to Apple's iPad Subscription Terms — Nylon Thinks Subscribers Will Share Data, but Will Settle for Their Money if Not — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Many magazines are staying away from Apple's new iPad subscription system, which threatens to keep publishers …

Newsosaur / Reflections of a Newsosaur: iTunes subscriptions won't stop free news

John Gapper / John Gapper's blog:
Apple's battle for control with Amazon

Discussion: Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Zatz Not Funny!, NAA Community, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, thebookseller.com/news … and AdAge

Taimur Khan / GQ:

How I Survived an Attack in Cairo — On the front lines, in the middle of the action, at the tip of the spear—that's where reporters like Fox News correspondent Greg Palkot always want to be. But what happens when you find yourself a little too close to the story, caught up in a melee …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Mediaite, Inside Cable News, TVNewser and Politics Daily

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Is It Possible to Make Dangerous Reporting Safe? — Michael Kelly was killed in a Humvee accident in Iraq. Bob Woodruff was blown up by an I.E.D. Damn near every reporter covering the Egyptian revolution was assaulted one way or another, including Lara Logan, in the most awful possible way.

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable:

Google Penalizes Forbes For Selling Links, Again — Forbes.com, the extremely popular magazine web site, has been notified by Google that they have been penalized for selling links on their web site. — Denis Pinsky, the Digital Marketing Manager at Forbes.com, posted a Google Webmaster Help thread with the notification warning.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, more at Techmeme »

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Forbes Accused Of Link Spam, Plays Dumb, But Forgets To Delete All The Links

Discussion: Search Engine Land

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

NYT says it's seeking ‘a modern contract’ with the guild — Romenesko Misc. — Shortly after the Newspaper Guild of New York's contract talks release was posted here, the Times sent statement saying that it's “seeking a modern contract with the Guild that addresses the new realities …

Discussion: Future of Journalism and FishbowlNY

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

Newspaper Guild of NY ready to launch $1 million campaign against NY Times — The Newspaper Guild of New York said Wednesday it is prepared to spend $1 million on a campaign to “rally public support for journalists and other unionized staff” facing compensation cuts at The New York Times.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Hugh Hefner Is No Longer on Top at Playboy — Hugh Hefner may not be the big dog at Playboy anymore, but he still enjoys certain perks. Image via Wikipedia — Last month, Playboy Enterprises announced that “a limited partnership controlled by Hugh M. Hefner” had made a $207 million deal …

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlNY, Thomson IR and MediaPost

A.J. Daulerio / Deadspin:

Katie Baker Has Been Poached By Bill Simmons For His Forthcoming Editorial Project — Our great friend and part-time contributor (even though everyone who worked here considered her full-time), has decided to leave the lush life of freelance writing while praying her day job co-workers …

Discussion: The Wire

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

The Media Industry's Biggest Fear: How Do We Know Next Year Apple Won't Be Taking 50%? — At the risk of going on and on about Apple's controversial new subscription billing rules, let me just add one more thing. Yes, these new rules may affect music streaming apps and movie streaming apps …

Discussion: parislemon, Poynter and Electricpig.co.uk, more at Techmeme »

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Wall Street is Bullish on (Its) Online Video Programming and Thomson Reuters is Delivering a Global Audience — WASHINGTON - Many top financial institutions are producing original video programming in-house, from 90-second equity analyst reports to market analysis and extended discussions.

Steve Goldstein / minonline.com:

Access Intelligence Acquires Red 7 Media — min's parent company, Access Intelligence, will close a deal on Friday, Feb. 18, to acquire Norwalk, Conn.-based Red 7 Media, which serves the event industry with its Event Marketer, EXPO, Best Events and Event Design media brands and associated events …

Discussion: paidContent

Peter Lauria / The Daily Beast:

Mark Cuban Shoots Straight — The media and sports billionaire and self-described “all-around troublemaker” opens up to Peter Lauria about the future of content, the state of basketball, and why news may be delivered on a Netflix model. Plus, revisit The Daily Beast chat with Mark Cuban at 2 p.m.

Discussion: SAI and The Daily Beast

Maria Bustillos / The Awl:

Meet the Heroes of Early Scientology Reporting—Plus, a Visit to the Celebrity Centre — Across the street from Scientology's fabled Celebrity Centre, on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, there is a coffee house called The Bourgeois Pig. It is super dark in there but the coffee isn't bad, and you can sit outside.

Discussion: LA Observed and Most Recent Home Page Posts …

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

With RSS Face Down In A Ditch, Lifeless, Pulse Finds A Heartbeat Beyond It — We love the “RSS Is Dead” meme here at TechCrunch. Hell, we started it. And while RSS isn't exactly dead as in gone, it is dead in that the vast majority of people who consume content on the web have absolutely …

Discussion: The Pulse Blog and MacStories

Laura Rich / AdAge:

From Hulu to Google TV, Battle Is on in Distribution Turf War — As Online Video Content, Traditional TV Programming Converge on Multiple Platforms, Who Will Win Attention of Viewers, Advertisers? — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — When it comes to monetizing online video content through advertising, Hulu has been a clear leader.

Harry A. Jessell / NetNewsCheck:

Study Questions Quality Of Local Site Traffic — On average, 55% of the visitors to locally oriented news and information Web sites are neither local nor loyal, but instead are readers from outside of the market and “fly-bys” unlikely to return frequently, according to a new study from Borrell Associates.

Discussion: @ckrewson

DealBook:

Borders Files for Bankruptcy — Borders Group, the beleaguered bookseller, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday after failing to secure agreements with publishers and other vendors about reorganizing its debt. — The bookseller listed $1.29 billion in debt and $1.27 billion in assets …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Wall Street Journal, CrunchGear, Deal Journal, Digital Trends, AOL News, Moral Hazard, Jacket Copy, City Room, The Latest Word, FrumForum, Gawker and Gothamist

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Dataviz, democratized: Google opens Public Data Explorer — Two years ago, Google acquired Gapminder, the Swedish graphics-display company whose Trendalyzer software specializes in representing data over time. (You may recall the company from this awesome and much-circulated TED talk from 2006.)

Discussion: The Official Google Blog, O'Reilly Radar, CNET News, ReadWriteWeb, Search Engine Land and Google Labs

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Digits:

AOL and HuffPo Tap Booz, Talk Integration — As AOL and the Huffington Post plan their marriage, they've tapped Booz & Co. for help, according to people familiar with the matter. — The consultants are sitting in on an array of planning meetings over how to unite the editorial, product and sales staffs of the two organizations.