Top News:


New York Times, Houston Chronicle tell different stories of 11-year-old's rape — The New York Times finds itself embroiled in controversy after publishing an article on a horrific gang rape that occurred in Cleveland, Texas. Citizens (most notably young feminist organizer Shelby Knox) …
Discussion:
The Public Editor's Journal, The Huffington Post and The Awl


Cooper, Amanpour among TV journalists to Japan — U.S. broadcast and cable networks, some of which were very short-staffed Friday morning in Japan, are now stepping up efforts to cover the deadly earthquake and tsunami by sending top anchors and correspondents to the region.
Discussion:
mediabistro.com and TVNewser


Excerpt: Maxim Founder Felix Dennis on the Fallacy of Big Ideas — In addition to being a publisher, poet, planter of trees and polyamorist, Felix Dennis, founder of Maxim and The Week magazines, is simply one of the most entertaining people you could hope to converse with.


A WordPress for news orgs: Knight gives Bay Citizen, Texas Tribune $975,000 for open-source CMS — This morning, the Knight Foundation announced a new $975,000 grant to the Texas Tribune and the Bay Citizen, two young nonprofit news organizations, to build an open-source publishing platform designed specifically for news outlets.
Discussion:
paidContent, Strange Attractor, KnightBlog and Free Press
RELATED:

Texas Tribune, Bay Citizen to split $975,000 Knight grant
Discussion:
News for Digital Journalists and Future of Journalism


Twittersphere Slams Itself, and CNN, for Godzilla References After Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami — The Top 10 Trending Topics on Twitter This Week — As I write this late Friday morning, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami have effectively taken over Twitter's Trending Topics list …
Discussion:
Mediaite, kottke.org, Mashable!, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic Wire, TVNewser and Runnin' Scared


Earthquake turns TV networks into print — An 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan yesterday, and a tsunami is spreading, right now, across the Pacific ocean. Thus we have much news that is best consumed live and uncooked. Here's mine, right now: — Not many of us carry radios in our pockets any more.
Discussion:
The Lede, New York Times, BuzzMachine, Tuned In, Guardian, CNET News, Mediaite, Gawker, Poynter, BBC, The Wire, Los Angeles Times, Mashable!, TechCrunch Europe, Future of Journalism, Faster Forward, TVNewser, Online NewsHour, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, NWS West Coast/Alaska …, The Awl, LA Observed, The Daily Dish and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

In Defense of NPR — Come on now: Let's take a breath and put this NPR fracas into perspective. — Just as public radio struggles against yet another assault from the its long-time nemesis — the right-wing machine that would thrill if our sole sources of information were Fox News …
Discussion:
Mediaite and NewsBusters.org blogs


Why AOL Was So Desperate to Hook Up With Huffington Post — When AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced the $315-million acquisition of The Huffington Post several weeks ago, he made the deal sound like a nice strategic add-on for the former web portal's content business — an expansion …
Discussion:
On Media's Blog, rbr.com, mediabistro.com, AdAge, Editors Weblog and Mixed Media

The danger in the doldrums — This morning's day-off multi-tasking: watching coverage of the horrible 8.9 earthquake in Japan while reading my various feeds, which included finally taking on the Bill Keller column about aggregation. It includes this passage in the ultimate graph:
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org blogs, AAN, Editors Weblog, Silicon Valley Watcher and The Wrap


How French Site OWNI Profits by Giving Away Its Content — Business content on MediaShift is sponsored by the weekend MA in Public Communication at American University. Designed for working professionals, the program is suited to career changers and public relations or social marketing professionals seeking career advancement.

And Now, More About Me: The Sorry State Of The News Media — Things have changed in many ways, but few things as dramatically or as insidiously as the manner in which we receive and process information. This is particularly true of the media. — The media—or what was once called the press …


Why Warner's Movie Test on Facebook Is Such Serious Business — It Won't Destroy Netflix or iTunes, but It Will Change the Media Landscape — You could argue Warner Bros.' test to rent, and soon sell, “The Dark Knight” and other films on Facebook is just another promotional deal on the world's largest social network.