Mediagazer: Time Warner, Other Cable Cos. Stake Out Turf in Digital Frontier (Michael Learmonth/AdAge)

5:15 PM ET, March 21, 2011

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Times's Online Pay Model Was Years in the Making — The discussions played out over most of 2009 amid the hum of the third floor newsroom and in the executive suites high above Times Square, consuming what seemed like countless meetings and consultants' recommendations.

Discussion: On Media's Blog, Felix Salmon, Poynter, Mixed Media, Yahoo! News, The Wire, Prof Chris Daly's Blog, Gothamist, Technologizer, TheAustralian, @stevebuttry, Business Week, @dangillmor and paidContent

David Carr / Media Decoder:

Paying for The Times at SXSW — On Thursday, I had lunch with a pal at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, that annual crush of media and technology people that descends on the lovely town of Austin. When he offered to pay, I said, “You don't need to do that.” — “That's all right,” he said.

Discussion: Mixed Media, Big News Network.com, FishbowlNY, The Atlantic Online, Guardian and Soup

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

The Biggest Flaw in NYT Pay Plan: It's Backward-Looking — I didn't get a chance to write about the launch of the New York Times subscription plan last week for a number of reasons (okay, I was on a beach) but I've since read most of what others have written about it, and the general consensus seems …

Discussion: Mediaite, ReveNews and Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, Thanks:mathewi

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
All Blog Links To The New York Times Will Be Freebies. This Could Get Ugly.

Discussion: THE DRUM

Jean-Louis Gassée / Monday Note: The NY Times: Un-Free At Last!

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:
NYTimes' “Fair” Prices

Discussion: Techdirt

Subtraction.com:
What the NYT Pay Wall Really Costs

Discussion: @tummler10

New York Times:

Libya Releases 4 Times Journalists — TRIPOLI, Libya — The Libyan government released four detained New York Times journalists Monday, six days after they were captured while covering the conflict between government and rebel forces in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. They were released into the custody of Turkish diplomats.

Agence France Presse:
Two AFP journalists missing in Libya since Friday

Discussion: nppa.org, New York Observer, Press Gazette, Associated Press and On Media's Blog

Ben Dowell / Guardian:

World Service to sign funding deal with US — Low six-figure investment will aim to help combat censorship of TV and internet services in countries including Iran and China — The BBC World Service is to receive a “significant” sum of money from the US government to help combat the blocking …

Discussion: Editors Weblog, New York Magazine and Media Network

David Carr / New York Times:

The Evolving Mission of Google — Today's quiz: What company derives 96 percent of its revenue from advertising, has a video platform that is currently negotiating with the National Basketball Association, a movie studio and various celebrities, and is developing a subscription service …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Fortune and Noted, more at Techmeme »

Brooks Barnes / Media Decoder:

A Glossy Take on Disney — LOS ANGELES — Ask executives at Disney Publishing to explain why they are trying to build a children's subscription magazine business in the United States, and the answer will involve marketplace analysis this and business model that.

Discussion: MediaPost, FishbowlNY and The Wire

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Rush of Events Gives Foreign News a Top Priority — Propelled by revolution in the Middle East and radiation in Japan, television news coverage of foreign events this year is at the highest level since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks 10 years ago, news executives in the United States say.

Discussion: MediaPost, TVNewser, Poynter, Inside Cable News and The Wire

New York Observer:

Foster Kamer Named Senior Editor of ‘The New York Observer’ — Foster Kamer, currently the online news and features editor for Esquire, will join the staff of The New York Observer as a senior editor and Wall Street reporter. — Prior to Esquire, Mr. Kamer reported on media, culture …

Discussion: http://www.fosterkamer.com/ and FishbowlNY

Nikki Usher / Nieman Journalism Lab:

“News media are targeted but audiences are not”: Herbert Gans on multiperspectival journalism — Herbert Gans, a professor emeritus in Sociology at Columbia University, wrote perhaps the seminal book about news organizations. In Deciding What's News: A Study of CBS Evening News …

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Time Warner, Other Cable Cos. Stake Out Turf in Digital Frontier — IPad App Sets Off Tussle Over Content and Distribution — There's an epic tussle going on over the future of TV, and fusty old cable served notice last week — it won't be left behind.

Discussion: Company Town

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Slip and slide: Newspaper industry increases production of scary charts — You may have come across the chart-making work of blogger Michael DeGusta last month, when he recrunched some numbers on the music business that illustrated that industry's financial decline.

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

What's Killing NPR — It's not the conservative attacks. It's the network's complete lack of a strategy to save itself. In this week's Newsweek, Howard Kurtz describes how NPR reporters are pointing fingers at their own management. — Steve Inskeep, A veteran National Public Radio correspondent …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Daily and The Hill

Rupal Parekh / AdAge:

Groupon CEO: We Placed Too Much Trust in Agency for Super Bowl Ads — Andrew Mason Says Group-Buying Site ‘Turned Off Part of Its Brain’ When Working With CP&B in Aim to Be ‘Edgy’ — Talk about adding insult to injury. — As if CP&B's breakup last week with one of its biggest clients …

Discussion: SAI, AdFreak, Pulse2, Marketing Pilgrim and The Consumerist

Ben LaMothe / 10,000 Words:

Why Newspapers Need Community Managers — The term “community manager” has been around for a while. However with the growth of social media in business, it's turned into more of a buzz term. Do a search online for “Community Manager Job” and you'll get hundreds, if not thousands, of results.

Discussion: eBookNewser