Mediagazer: Hyperlocal News Can't Be Monetized And Other Lies You Heard This Week About TBD.com (Jxpaton/Digital First)

6:25 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.

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, CNNMoney.com, NetNewsCheck Latest, BoomTown, TechCrunch, eMedia Vitals, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Search Engine Land, Techland, paidContent, New York Times and SAI, more at Techmeme »

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

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Google's Content Farming: Good for Consumers or Good for PR?

Discussion: broadstuff, more at Techmeme »

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:

Feds spy on reporter in leak probe — Federal investigators trying to find out who leaked information about a CIA attempt to disrupt Iran's nuclear program obtained a New York Times reporter's three private credit reports, examined his personal bank records and obtained information …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Poynter, Salon, The Raw Story and Yahoo! News

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: Newspaper Death Watch, CJR, GigaOM, mediabistro.com, Poynter, The Politico and Reflections of a Newsosaur

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

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

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 …

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

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:
Could Facebook become a better news reporting tool than Twitter?

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Twitter's Ad Team Runs Into the Learning Curve, and Promoted Tweets Take a Step Back — Another sign that Twitter's advertising plans are very much a work in progress: The company is playing down Promoted Tweets, the first ad units it introduced last year. — Instead, Dick Costolo's sales force …

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: Poynter and New York Observer

Jessica Deahl / American Journalism Review:

The 40-Year-Old Startup — Long known and respected for its pricey, in-depth analysis of government policy, National Journal retools for the Internet era. Posted: Fri, Feb. 25, 2011 — Jessica Deahl (jessica.l.deahl@gmail.com) is a journalist based in Washington, D.C.

Discussion: Online NewsHour, @romenesko and Cision

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

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, Techland and TeleRead

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.

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