Mediagazer: We Got the Betabeat! ‘The Observer’ Tech Site Launches Tomorrow (New York Observer)

8:55 PM ET, March 15, 2011

Top News:

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

AOL Asks Us If We Can Tone It Down — Earlier this week I interviewed Duncan Jones and Jake Gyllenhaal at SXSW, at the press junket for their movie The Source Code. While the film doesn't have a huge tech angle other than the title, I thought it might be good video content for TCTV …

Discussion: Poynter, The Wrap, @jeffjarvis, @jayrosen_nyu, Runnin' Scared, The Awl, Kempton and @poniewozik, more at Techmeme »

Scott Weinberg / @scotteweinberg:

Effective immediately, I no longer work for @moviefone. Here's why: http://tcrn.ch/eLmTwi I will always love @cinematical.

Discussion: @alexia and @erikmal

Patricia Chui / The Moviefone Blog:

Moviefone's Response to the TechCrunch Post — By now you may have read the recent post in TechCrunch regarding that site's SXSW coverage of the film ‘Source Code.’ A representative from Moviefone, who set up the interview with Summit Entertainment, received some feedback from the studio …

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

Chris Lehmann to lead Yahoo's news blogs network — Andrew Golis is leaving his post as managing editor of The Upshot network of news blogs at Yahoo! to become director of digital media and senior editor at “Frontline,” the PBS investigative documentary series.

Discussion: SAI, paidContent, Poynter and New York Magazine

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:

Netflix To Enter Original Programming With Mega Deal For David Fincher-Kevin Spacey Series ‘House Of Cards’ — EXCLUSIVE: Video streaming juggernaut Netflix is becoming an original series player. In what is probably the biggest gamble in its 14-year history, I hear Netflix …

Discussion: SAI, Fast Company and GigaOM, more at Techmeme »

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Here's a Washington Post Story With All the Editor's Notes In It — If you spend more than five minutes talking to an editor, you're sure to hear about how some story or other was a total piece of s**t before said editor got his hands on it. Now you can judge for yourself!

Discussion: Poynter and CJR

Paige Albiniak / Broadcasting & Cable:

EXCLUSIVE: Couric Talker Looking Likely for 2012 — Former NBCU Distribution head Ed Wilson advising anchor — A syndicated talk show featuring Katie Couric is looking increasingly likely for fall 2012. — Couric's $15 million annual contract to anchor the CBS Evening News expires this June …

Discussion: The Wire, TVNewser, Company Town, Yahoo! News, Mediaite and On Media's Blog

New York Observer:

We Got the Betabeat! ‘The Observer’ Tech Site Launches Tomorrow — We're excited to announce the launch of our New York tech scene site, Betabeat (BETABEAT.com). Beginning tomorrow, Betabeat will deliver insider information on the latest ventures, startups and investments in Silicon Alley …

Discussion: Talking Biz News and WebNewser

Robert Quigley / Old Media, New Tricks:

The ‘gamification’ of news, and how it can be relevant — One of the somewhat-obnoxious buzzwords going around the South by Southwest Interactive Festival is the “gamification” of, well, everything, including the news. In a nutshell, that means taking video-game style processes and applying …

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Netflix Crushing the Digital Movie Competition — If you're going to pay for a movie over the Web, you don't have to use Netflix. But there's a very good chance you'll do just that: A 60 percent chance, says NPD. — The consumer tracking outfit says Reed Hastings' company owns 61 percent …

Discussion: Ars Technica, more at Techmeme »

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:

NYT's Good Timing on Pay Launch, Amid News Chaos — Timing may not be everything, but it's a lot in life, and the New York Times could have not have picked a better time — soon - to launch both its new paid plans and new tablet product. — Why? Well, the world's conspired to wait …

Discussion: Poynter

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:

Cable News Viewership Declines Double Digits in 2010 … After years of audience growth, cable news may have hit a wall. — According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual State of the News Media report, cable news viewership for CNN, MSNBC and Fox News fell substantially in 2010 …

Discussion: Most Recent Home Page Posts …, TeleRead, The Atlantic Wire, paidContent, TVNewser, Reportr.net, Editors Weblog, Kirk LaPointe's …, Yahoo! News, MediaPost, Inside Cable News, FishbowlNY and J-Source

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

A very important matter: Should ebook titles be in quotes or italics? — We've been writing quite a bit lately about ebooks and their potential as a distribution mechanism (and maybe even revenue driver) for journalism. Whether it's Foreign Policy, The New York Times, ProPublica, or N+1 …

Damon Kiesow / Poynter:

Highlights from SXSW: 7 steps to building trust and credibility with an online audience — Doreen Marchionni spent the last four years studying how journalists can boost their credibility and engagement with digital audiences. She found the simple secret: Interact online and be human.

Discussion: RJI

Babbage:

Journalistic nuclear physics — A LARGE chunk of SXSW is about the future of journalism, and one theme over the past couple of years has been the attempt to blast what is currently the atomic unit of journalism, the article or “story”, into its constituent quarks, and reassemble them as something else.