Mediagazer: What newsrooms can learn from tech startups (Lauren Rabaino/mediabistro.com)

7:50 AM ET, February 22, 2011

Top News:

Mschuler / Marx Layne:

If blogging is dead, then it's living a healthy afterlife — As long as people enjoy writing more than a few sentences at a time, blogging will never die. — I'd contend that if blogging is dead, as this New York Times article suggests, then it's living a healthy afterlife.

Discussion: Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, Stowe Boyd, Adotas and Teds Take, more at Techmeme », Thanks:mattschuler

Matt Mullenweg:

Blogging Drift — The New York Times has a pretty prominent article today called Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter. The title was probably written by an editor, not the author, because as soon as the article gets past the two token teenagers who tumble and Facebook instead of blogging …

Discussion: Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, Trends in the Living Networks, TechCrunch, Twist Image, AdExchanger.com, parislemon, Gatekeeper, Gothamist, toni.org, Mark Evans Tech and SAI, more at Techmeme »

Lauren Rabaino / mediabistro.com:

What newsrooms can learn from tech startups — NYU journalism professor and media critic Jay Rosen recently led a Web Journalists Chat on Twitter around the topic of “radical change in the newsroom” (see the highlights here). One of the reoccurring themes of the chat was that newsrooms need to radically revamp their culture.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and mediabistro.com

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Libya: journalists prepare for ‘floodgates to open’ — Newspaper journalists and broadcasters descend on Libyan border as uprising threatens Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year rule — Journalists from newspapers and broadcasters across the world, including ITV News and the New York Times …

Discussion: Washington Post, The New Yorker Blog, allAfrica.com, The Atlantic Wire, On Media's Blog, The Daily Dish and hrw.org

Jack Shenker / Guardian:
Egypt's media undergo their own revolution

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Jon Williams / BBC:
The difficulty of reporting from inside Libya

Discussion: MIJE.org, Epicenter, Guardian and Mediaite

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The NYT's journalistic obedience — Earlier today, I wrote in detail about new developments in the case of Raymond Davis, the former Special Forces soldier who shot and killed two Pakistanis on January 27, sparking a diplomatic conflict between the U.S. (which is demanding that he be released …

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian, Boing Boing, AOL News, Gawker and The Daily Caller

Echo:

[VIDEO] TV Industry Taps Echo to Keep Viewers' Attention — Over on the NYtimes yesterday, Brian Stelter writes about the TV industry's push to build real-time two screen experiences for audiences using Social Media content. — He writes: … He couldn't be more correct.

Discussion: WatchingTV Online and New York Times, Thanks:chrissaad

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Telegraph plans some digital content charges from September — Payment system described as ‘very light touch’, with a ‘very generous allowance’ before users forced to pay — Telegraph Media Group is understood to be planning to introduce charging for some of its digital content from September.

Discussion: Jon Slattery, Press Gazette and Editors Weblog

David Folkenflik / NPR:

U.K. Papers' Paywalls A Test Of Relevance — Conventional wisdom says readers are only willing to pay for online news that fuels their passion or helps them make money. Across the Atlantic, however, a pair of leading daily newspapers have ignored that conventional wisdom …

Discussion: Guardian, paidContent:UK, @tolles, @davidfolkenflik and @davidfolkenflik

Wall Street Journal:

No More Mr. (Or Ms.) Nice Guy — As The Journal Drops ‘Courtesy Titles’ From the Sports Pages, It's Modernity Over Gentility — Joe Torre (left) and Derek Jeter after a 2001 playoff game. — Athletes get called many things, fairly and not. Great ones are often described as “amazing …

Judy Battista / New York Times:

N.F.L. Labor Dispute Plays Out on Twitter — A few hours after N.F.L. owners filed a complaint against the players union last week alleging that it was not bargaining in good faith, Houston Texans right tackle Eric Winston took to his keyboard to react. — “The NFL has reached that point …

Trevor Butterworth / The Daily:

In the age of Google, knowledge is still hard to come by — “History,” says Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, “has shown a correlation between the amount of information available to the average citizen and economic growth.” So true! History, it must be said, also shows …

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:

Books Beyond Borders — Now that Borders has declared bankruptcy, matters are progressing rapidly. Borders has already started the process of liquidation at 200 stores across the country. This is going to leave giant holes in prime spots at shopping malls, which will be hard for developers …

Discussion: Washington Post

Dirk Johnson / New York Times:

Book Lovers Fear Dim Future for Notes in the Margins — CHICAGO — Locked in a climate-controlled vault at the Newberry Library here, a volume titled “The Pen and the Book” can be studied only under the watch of security cameras. — The book, about making a profit in publishing, scarcely qualifies as a literary masterpiece.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Personanondata and Latest Open Salon Blog

Ben Fritz / Company Town:

Blockbuster to be sold; opening bid set at $290 million — Home video chain Blockbuster Inc., in bankruptcy, has opted to put itself up for sale after creditors were unable to agree on a recapitalization plan. — The Dallas-based company said Monday that it has submitted a plan …

Discussion: paidContent, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, parislemon and LAist

Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:

Philo: Star power is the key to social TV — Social TV startup Philo tells me user numbers are “through the roof” right now, thanks in large part to copying a strategy from traditional TV — bring in the stars. — What kind of stars? Well, basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, for one.