Mediagazer: Rockville Central: set to become a Facebook-only outlet (Megan Garber/Nieman Journalism Lab)

3:15 PM ET, February 25, 2011

Top News:

Finding more high-quality sites in search — Our goal is simple: to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible. This requires constant tuning of our algorithms, as new content—both good and bad—comes online all the time.

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

Google Forecloses On Content Farms With “Farmer” Algorithm Update — In January, Google promised that it would take action against content farms that were gaining top listings with “shallow” or “low-quality” content. Now the company is delivering, announcing a change to its ranking algorithm designed take out such material.

Discussion: CNET News, GigaOM, Sean Percival's Blog, Techland, Digital Trends and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

Demand Media:

A Statement About Search Engine Algorithm Changes — How our content reaches the consumer - whether it's through direct visits, social media referrals, apps or search - has always been important to and monitored closely by us. We also recognize that major search engines like Google have and will continue to make frequent changes.

Discussion: Mashable!, MediaMemo, BoomTown, eMedia Vitals, TechCrunch, paidContent, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Search Engine Land, New York Times and SAI, more at Techmeme »

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Google's Content Farming: Good for Consumers or Good for PR? — In another significant search announcement yesterday, Google said it was revising its algorithm to target makers of low-quality content. — The search giant has been criticized by many of late for the presence of too much spam in its results …

more at Techmeme »

Jxpaton / Digital First:

Hyperlocal News Can't Be Monetized And Other Lies You Heard This Week About TBD.com — Success has many fathers but failure is always an orphan. — And I would add to that old saw - failure is always something the experts predicted as they revel in their “I told you so” moments.

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

TBD's course raises questions about failure and success on the way to journalism's future — Many journalists in traditional newsrooms have left their jobs in recent years to work for online news startups and help shape the future of journalism. The sacrifices they've made, though, haven't always worked out as planned.

Discussion: Guardian

Newsosaur / Reflections of a Newsosaur:
Hyperlocals like TBD: More hype than hope

Discussion: CJR, Poynter, The Politico and On Media's Blog

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

Breaking: Kathleen Parker Splits From CNN's ‘Parker Spitzer’ — Kathleen Parker, the co-host of “Parker Spitzer,” CNN's four-month-old, ratings-challenged primetime show, is being dropped from the program, according to sources inside the CNN newsroom. Eliot Spitzer, her co-host, will remain.

Discussion: New York Times, New York Post, TVNewser, The Wire, Mediaite, New York Observer, @brianstelter, Yahoo! News, @alexweprin, @howardkurtz, @romenesko, All Things CNN and Inside Cable News

Breaking News:

Libyan gov't: Unauthorized journalists are considered to be al-Qaeda collaborators — WASHINGTON, D.C./TRIPOLI (BNO NEWS) — Libyan government officials have warned U.S. diplomats that journalists who have entered the country illegally to cover anti-government protests are being considered …

Discussion: Mediaite, Editors Weblog, Guardian and The Independent, Thanks:joshhalliday

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News: Libyan government likens journalists to Al Qaida

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Rockville Central: set to become a Facebook-only outlet — Say you run a community news site. In your spare time. And Patch has moved into your neighborhood. How do you, with limited resources but a desire to keep contributing to your community, stay competitive?

Discussion: Lost Remote, New York Observer, Brad Rourke's Blog, Rockville Patch, The Huffington Post and WebNewser

Allan Sloan / Washington Post:

Shareholder money funds Murdoch family deals — The Murdoch family owns only about 12 percent of News Corp., but Rupert Murdoch sure runs the place like a wholly owned family candy store. The company, blurring the distinction between public and family business, makes deals with family members …

Discussion: New York Observer and Poynter

Nathan Gibbs / MediaShift:

How to Integrate Social Tools into the Journalism Classroom — Education content on MediaShift is sponsored by the USC Annenberg nine-month M.A. in Specialized Journalism. USC's highly customized degree programs are tailored to the experienced journalist and gifted amateur.

Discussion: J-Source

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Journal Register's Localized Video News Strategy is Driving Profitability, CEO John Paton — After considerable anticipation and disappointment around the value of video for newspapers, one big publisher has found profitability by utilizing low cost cameras, a decentralized workflow approach and an effective sales strategy.

Discussion: WebNewser

Emily Bell / Guardian:

In the absence of public media funding, the US has outsourced its voice | Emily Bell — While an American BBC is unthinkable, commercial dominance has deprived the country of a culturally specific news medium — If you want to get coverage for public media funding, try turning up at Congress with a puppet on your arm.

Joseph L. Flatley / Engadget:

Android Market adds e-books; movies and music soon to come? — The Android world's been a-buzz this last week over a few new Android Market URLS, including http://market.android.com/music/ and http://market.android.com/movies/. In case you thought there was nothing to this tip, guess again …

Discussion: VideoNuze and TeleRead

Financial Times:

Apple, Google and Spotify race to music market — Related Quotes … Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York and Tim Bradshaw in London, 21:28, Thursday 24 February 2011 — The digital music market is set to be shaken up as soon as this summer as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL - news) , Google …

Discussion: paidContent:UK and MacStories, more at Techmeme »

ESPN MediaZone:

The Poynter Review Project to Launch With ESPN — ESPN and The Poynter Institute today announced a new step in media transparency—The Poynter Review Project—in which a panel of Poynter faculty will review ESPN content across all platforms and publicly comment on ESPN's efforts.

Discussion: The Wire, The Wrap, New York Times, Company Town, Poynter and Broadcasting & Cable

Robert Andrews / paidContent:UK:

YouTube Has No European Movie Rental Plans — A curious NY Post “exclusive” reports: “YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG) is eager to launch an unlimited subscription service for movies similar to Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) and Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) and is considering starting it overseas to cut down on the competition.

Discussion: Faster Forward, more at Techmeme »

Mark Joyella / Mediaite:

Pushing For U.S. Cable, Al Jazeera English Exec Claims They Are ‘Anti-Nothing And Pro-Nothing’ — Al Jazeera English, buoyed by critical acclaim for its coverage of the uprising in Egypt, hopes to convert good reviews for its Middle East coverage into a permanent place on American cable.

Discussion: Media Buyer Planner