Mediagazer: On the Media: Patch.com's Newark plan smells of conflict (James Rainey/Los Angeles Times)

11:05 AM ET, March 16, 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: The Atlantic Wire, Gawker, Marketing Pilgrim, Nieman Journalism Lab, Bloggasm, Poynter, Guardian, Soshable, @dannysullivan, @hblodget, The Wrap, Runnin' Scared, @jeffjarvis, @jayrosen_nyu, Kempton, @poniewozik and The Awl, more at Techmeme »

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 …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Poynter, The Awl, NetNewsCheck Latest, LA Observed, Soup and The Atlantic Wire

Scott Weinberg / @scotteweinberg:

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

Discussion: @scotteweinberg, @alexia and @erikmal

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 …

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Quake Coverage Draws Viewers to CNN — CNN once again proved its appeal to viewers of breaking news last Friday through Monday night, with coverage of the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. — Friday's audience for the total day, 2.273 million, was CNN's largest since the Inauguration in January 2009.

Discussion: Mediaite, TVWeek.com, Poynter and rbr.com

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: Patch.com's Newark plan smells of conflict — Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington (Jason Kempin, Getty Images For IMG / March 16, 2011) — The AOL hyper-local news operation, now under Arianna Huffington, enters a partnership with a New Jersey mayor that doesn't seem journalistically sound.

Discussion: On Media's Blog

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

Bob Woodward: ‘You get the truth at night, the lies during the day’ — During a visit to Poynter on Tuesday, Bob Woodward talked about why he likes his iPad, what he thinks about the future of long-form journalism and what he considers to be the best time of day to access hard-to-reach sources.

Dave Winer / Scripting News:

Will we see the NY Times paywall soon? — Amid revolutions and huge earthquakes and nuclear meltdowns, we're reminded that we might see a NY Times paywall any day now. — I've always said that the Times likes to talk about a paywall, and they've been doing that for a long time …

CNN:

RNC considers selling TV rights of presidential primary debates — Washington (CNN) — The Republican National Committee is considering sanctioning the GOP presidential primary debates and then selling the broadcast rights to news outlets, two Republicans with knowledge of the idea tell CNN.

Discussion: TVNewser and Politics Daily

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Facebook Takes Another Swing At Web Video: Live Streaming Major League Baseball — Last week, you could rent a movie on Facebook. Today, you can watch a live pro baseball game on the site. — Still think Facebook can't be a big player in Web video? — You can watch the game …

Discussion: paidContent and San Francisco Chronicle, more at Techmeme »

Los Angeles Times:

Reel China: Hollywood tries to stay on China's good side — Without Beijing even uttering a critical word, MGM is changing the villains in its ‘Red Dawn’ remake from Chinese to North Korean. It's all about maintaining access to the Asian superpower's lucrative box office.

Discussion: Company Town

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: After Ad Changes, Yahoo Media Unit Gets a Management Shakeup — Last week, Yahoo's advertising unit got the once-over from its new sales head Wayne Powers. And, this week, its new Audience unit head Mickie Rosen is making a series of executives moves.

Discussion: mroth.info, VentureBeat, paidContent and SAI

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, Yahoo! News, TVNewser, Company Town, Mediaite and On Media's Blog

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

Publisher Limits Shelf Life for Library E-Books — Imagine the perfect library book. Its pages don't tear. Its spine is unbreakable. It can be checked out from home. And it can never get lost. — The value of this magically convenient library book — otherwise known as an e-book …

Discussion: New York Observer and Engadget