Mediagazer: British Libel Law: Its Ripple Effect on Journalists Worldwide (Jonathan Seitz/Nieman Reports)

4:20 PM ET, March 17, 2011

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

The Times Announces Digital Subscription Plan — The New York Times rolled out a plan on Thursday to begin charging the most frequent users of its Web site $15 a month in a bet that readers would pay for news they have grown accustomed to getting free. — Beginning March 28 …

Discussion: New York Times, MediaMemo, The New York Times Company, Nieman Journalism Lab, Felix Salmon, The Wire, The Wire, SteveOuting.com, paidContent, Mediaite, Recovering Journalist, Yahoo! News, Mashable!, CJR, paidContent, VentureBeat, Mashable!, Poynter, MediaFile, Mixed Media, The Wrap, RJI, Change of Subject, Yahoo! News, WebNewser, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Deadline.com, AdAge, Vanity Fair, Online Journalism Blog, @rafat, TVbytheNumbers, @pkafka, FishbowlNY, Gawker, @howardkurtz, @penenberg, yelvington.com, Gannett Blog, eMedia Vitals, TUAW, @dannysullivan, The Register, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Dish, CNNMoney.com, @natives, @learmonth, Tuned In, Technologizer, @iwantmedia, Electronista, Switched, @tim, NPR, @chanders, Gizmodo, @cressman, ReadWriteWeb, Understanding Google …, @stevenjayl, Pulse2, Gothamist and Joho the Blog, more at Techmeme »

Cory Doctorow / Boing Boing:

New York Times paywall: wishful thinking or just crazy? — The New York Times just announced a new paywall that will let you see 20 articles a month and thereafter redirect you to a signup for paid access. However, if you follow a NYT link from some search engines and services like Twitter …

Discussion: GalleyCat and @scottros, more at Techmeme »

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of The New York Times' pay fence — Editor's Note: Each week, Ken Doctor — author of Newsonomics and longtime watcher of the business side of digital news — writes about the economics of news for the Lab. — It's official — and the world still turns.

Discussion: New York Times, Techdirt, TechCrunch, rbr.com, The Wire, Yahoo! News, The Atlantic Wire, Poynter, Editors Weblog, Switched, DealBook, Signal vs. Noise, New York Magazine and Technologizer, more at Techmeme »

Dave Winer / Scripting News:

Comments on NYT paywall announcement — I had a pretty good idea the paywall announcement was coming soon when I wrote the piece about the Times paywall yesterday. Just a good guess, a feeling it was the time. — Now that I've had a chance to read the actual announcement, here's the main problem.

Discussion: Guardian, The Huffington Post, PC Magazine, GigaOM and Scripting News, more at Techmeme »

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

All You Need To Know About The NYTimes.com Paywall — The New York Times has just put up more information about its much awaited paywall. The digital subscription model was initially announced in January 2010 as an effort to create a second revenue stream while still preserving the newspaper's advertising business.

Nat Ives / AdAge:

New York Times CEO on Pay Meter: Possible Slight Dip in Traffic Will be Short Term — About 15% of Times Online Visitors Will Hit Gate, Janet Robinson Says in Q+A — The New York Times on Thursday announced its long-gestating plan to charge the heaviest users of its web site …

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlNY, Epicenter and @johngapper

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

The Google Loophole Has Become The Facebook/Twitter Loophole — There are a lot of interesting angles to the news this morning about The New York Times' new paywall. Top news will remain free, a set number of articles for all users will remain free, there will be different pricing tiers …

Discussion: CJR

Washington Post:

Editor's Note: An apology — Two articles published by The Post online and in its print editions earlier this month contained substantial material that was borrowed and duplicated, without attribution, from The Arizona Republic newspaper. — The articles described an indictment …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Poynter, The Awl, The Wire, Editors Weblog, NetNewsCheck Latest, The Huffington Post, The Wrap, Gannett Blog, Kirk LaPointe's …, Regret the Error, The Daily Caller and New York Magazine

Ray Wert / Jalopnik:

How The Detroit News Sold Its Soul — Scott Burgess resigned today as The Detroit News auto critic after his editors bowed to a request by an advertiser to water down his negative review of the Chrysler 200. This is why we can't have nice reviews anymore. UPDATE More »

Discussion: AdFreak, Poynter and Talking Biz News

Stuart Elliott / Media Decoder:

Last Year Was a Good Year for Ad Spending, Report Finds — The recovery in advertising spending continued in the fourth quarter last year, according to a report that is to be released on Thursday morning, resulting in a solid full-year gain compared with the results of 2009.

Discussion: AdAge and Poynter

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

Viral Videos Catch On That Only Hint at a Sponsor's Purpose — Can a man with a tiny electronic device hack into the multitude of jumbo screens in Times Square and play videos from his iPhone? Maybe, if you believe a YouTube video that has been watched by more than half a million viewers in the last four days.

Discussion: BoomTown, MarketingVOX, Switched, Gothamist, Gizmodo and Techland

Chicago Sun Times:

Sun-Times Media, Mesirow Financial chief Jim Tyree dies at 53 — James C. Tyree, chairman and CEO of Mesirow Financial and the chairman of Sun-Times Media, died Wednesday afternoon after battling cancer for several months. He was 53. — “With a heavy heart, I am saddened to tell …

Discussion: Poynter

Jonathan Seitz / Nieman Reports:

British Libel Law: Its Ripple Effect on Journalists Worldwide — Germany's Duke of Brunswick was an overweight, autocratic paranoiac who was kicked out of his fiefdom by a peasant uprising. — A statement like that might be the reason why the United Kingdom has come to be considered the libel capital of the world.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

Arab Media & Society:

Can Al Jazeera English Leverage its ‘Egypt Moment’ into an American Audience? — Introduction — Al Jazeera English (AJE)1 entered the competitive global news field in late 2006, claiming to give a “voice to the voiceless” as the “world's first English language news channel to have its headquarters in the Middle East.”

Discussion: TVNewser and Media Network

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:

Houses Passes Bill Stripping Federal Funding for NPR — Vote Was on Party Lines, Democrats Dismissed Bill as ‘Distraction’ and a ‘Political Stunt’ — In a largely symbolic move, the House today voted to block all federal funding for NPR, a week after the embattled public radio station found itself …

Discussion: Washington Post, @teeghman and Political Punch

Terry Heaton / Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog:

To what end? The question that kills media reinvention — There's an old church story about a small parish that brought in a new pastor amid certain bickering among the parishioners. The old pastor had retired, and, after some infighting, the church thought a little young blood would be good for everybody.