Mediagazer: The Future Tense (Ben Zimmer/New York Times)

10:05 AM ET, February 27, 2011

Top News:

Dan / Xark!:

Advertising is not enough — The ongoing death throes of TBD, a Washington-based local news site that launched in April, attract my attention because a talented friend of mine joined the venture last spring. I remember wishing him well in a coffee shop 11 months ago while thinking “I've got a bad feeling about this.”

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is Hyper-Local News Doomed, or Did TBD Just Get Sandbagged? — As a journalism startup run by a widely-admired former Washington Post online veteran, TBD.com had a lot of high hopes riding on it. Among other things, it looked like the site could help to pave the way for other smart …

Discussion: J-Source, CJR, ReJurno and Newspaper Death Watch, Thanks:torodneptune

Emily Bell / Guardian: Spotlight falls on media management psychology as lights go out at TBD

Ben Zimmer / New York Times:

The Future Tense — “Eureka!” That was the cry of the New York Times executive editor A. M. Rosenthal in early 1979, when he hit upon an idea for a new column to run in the front of the magazine. Rosenthal tapped William Safire, then a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The Times …

Discussion: Media Myth Alert, The Wrap, FishbowlNY and Poynter

NPR's On the Media:

The Formula for a Most-Emailed Story — What motivates people to want to share a newspaper article with a friend, co-worker or grandma? What makes some stories climb to the top of the “most e-mailed list”? Professors Katherine Milkman and Jonah Berger studied The New York Times …

Discussion: TeleRead

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

Why women don't contribute to opinion pages as often as men & what we can do about it — Women have made the case for years that there aren't enough female voices in the opinion pages. The root of the problem, though, isn't so much that news organizations aren't featuring female contributors …

Discussion: mediabistro.com

John Temple / The Atlantic Online:

Life After Death: Two Years Since The Demise of My Newspaper — Two years ago, on Feb. 26, 2009, journalists at the Rocky Mountain News learned their fate. E.W. Scripps President Rich Boehne told them the edition they produced for the next day would be the Denver newspaper's last.

Discussion: TEMPLE TALK, The Atlantic Wire, Poynter and JackLail.com

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Journalists Tiptoe Inside Forbidding Libya — Despite threats by the embattled Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, journalists are finding ways to report and broadcast from parts of Libya, one of the least hospitable places in the world for news organizations. — The host of foreign journalists …

Discussion: Hot Air and Political Punch

Ellie Behling / eMedia Vitals:

The New York Times talks Twitter — Not having a draconian Twitter policy has helped The New York Times thrive, according to a panel of reporters speaking at an Online News Association event in New York. The panelists said they use the social media platform for a variety of pretty common reasons …

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:

HBO Not Going Ahead With ‘Tilda’ Comedy — HBO has passed on the comedy pilot Tilda, which starred Diane Keaton as a powerful and reclusive Hollywood blogger (not unlike Deadline's Nikki Finke). The hot pilot had a great pedigree - co-written by Bill Condon and Cynthia Mort, directed by Condon …

Discussion: The Wrap and LA Observed

Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:

The (Ex) Voice of the Village — WAYNE BARRETT wants to say nice things about people. He wants to, but he finds it so hard. — “We haven't had bad mayors,” ventured Mr. Barrett, the muck-raking investigative reporter who has made a career of hounding New York City's chief executives.

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlNY and AAN

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: The Huffington Post, Salon, Mediaite, The Raw Story, Yahoo! News, Poynter and New York Observer

Sam Gustin / Danger Room:

Zimbabwe Prof Arrested, Tortured for Watching Viral Vids — Munyaradzi Gwisai, a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe's law school, was showing internet videos about the tumult sweeping across North Africa to students and activists last Saturday, when state security agents burst into his office.

Discussion: Techdirt