Mediagazer: That was quick: Four lines of code is all it takes for The New York Times' paywall to come tumbling down (Joshua Benton/Nieman Journalism Lab)

10:05 AM ET, March 22, 2011

Top News:

That was quick: Four lines of code is all it takes for The New York Times' paywall to come tumbling down — The New York Times paywall is costing the newspaper $40-$50 million to design and construct, Bloomberg has reported. — And it can be defeated through four lines of Javascript.

Discussion: Daring Fireball, The Buttry Diary, Mixed Media, Magazines Online, Associated Press, Technologizer, Gizmodo, broadstuff, @chanders and Euri.ca Blog, more at Techmeme »

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

NYTimes Paywall Limit To Extend Beyond Google To “All Major Search Engines” — more info (via: Wylio)When the details of the New York Times paywall/fence were announced on Thursday, Times PR representatives told press that it would be placing a five article a day limit on Google referrals, and only Google referrals.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, MediaMemo, @dannysullivan, eMedia Vitals, Fast Company, Search Engine Land, Betabeat, MediaNama, @dannysullivan and @pkafka, more at Techmeme »

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:

Nine Questions as the NYT's Pay Fence Gets Ready to Go Global — We'll undoubtedly look back at great Pay Wars offensive of 2011 with great laughter. We'll likely be gloriously right or wrong about news media's ability to charge for digital access. — There's little laughter now.

Discussion: The Wire

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

Discussion: FishbowlNY, THE DRUM, Seeking Alpha, ReveNews, The Atlantic Wire and New York Times

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

Lauren Indvik / Mashable!:

Hyperlocal News Source EveryBlock Relaunches As Community Site — EveryBlock, a hyperlocal news site acquired by msnbc.com in August 2009, unveiled a new version Monday designed to encourage conversation and collaboration among neighbors. — “We're shifting from a one-way newsfeed …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, 10,000 Words and Lost Remote

Adrian Holovaty / The EveryBlock Blog:

EveryBlock's first major redesign — We've just launched the first major redesign of EveryBlock. — Driven by the feedback we've been getting over the past year, we've not only changed the way the site looks, we've also changed the site's focus. In short, we're shifting from being a news feed …

Discussion: Poynter

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Freed Times Journalists Give Account of Captivity — The Libyan government freed four New York Times journalists on 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 …

New York Times:

A Dangerous Pursuit — In a world where most people consume their news safely, perhaps in a comfortable chair on some electronic device, it is worth remembering how dangerous news-gathering has become. Monday's release of four New York Times staff members in Libya was a powerful reminder …

Discussion: Press Gazette, The Wire and New York Magazine

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

If You Love Something, Set It Sort-Of Free: Condé Nast Mulling Reddit Spin-Off — Condé Nast, which bought Reddit five years ago, is considering spinning out the social news site. — The publisher would continue to own the site, but it's talking to investors about selling a stake.

Discussion: CNET News and The Next Web

Los Angeles Times:

News Corp. exec's new rallying cry: Pay up — A likely successor to CEO Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. president Chase Carey has moved fast to secure new revenue streams for the media giant. — In Chase Carey's first stint at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., he was instrumental in reinventing Fox …

Discussion: On Media's Blog

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Warning Shots? Glenn Beck To Poach Fox News Bigwig, Suggesting Big Plans — It would be fair to say that the relationship between Fox News and Glenn Beck is being...tested. A recent NY Times column that suggested that Fox News was considering life without its controversial star has led …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Deadline.com, TVNewser, The Atlantic Wire, Inside Cable News and The Wire

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Jennifer 8. Lee, Matt Thompson join CPI Board — Romenesko Misc. — Former New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee “thinks and works at the cutting edge of our digital 21st century journalism,” says Center for Public Integrity executive director William E. Buzenberg.

Joe Mullin / paidContent:

Some More Bad News For Copyright-Enforcer Righthaven — Righthaven, a company that has garnered controversy by suing 250 different blogs and websites over newspaper copyrights, has lost its second case. The company lost a lawsuit on Friday in a ruling that, if upheld on appeal …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, MediaPost, PlagiarismToday and Techdirt

Kunur Patel / AdAge:

Why Media Companies Will Feel the Pinch if AT&T and T-Mobile Seal the Deal — Over Time, Merged Telecom Will Lower Spending, but Ad Battle With Verizon, Sprint Could Be Boon for Marketplace — When the No. 3 U.S. ad spender, AT&T, makes a bid to acquire a marketer that spends $500 million-plus domestically …

Discussion: VentureBeat and Media Money …

Lauren A. E. Schuker / Wall Street Journal:

Tiny Channel's Big Gamble — For one struggling cable channel, the controversial miniseries “The Kennedys” is a high-stakes bet to put itself on the map—a playbook that's increasingly common among fledging cable networks. — In February, the low-rated network ReelzChannel bought …

Discussion: Speakeasy and New York Observer

Robinsloan / Twitter Media:

The #TrumpRoast record — Last week, Comedy Central scored two records: — First, it had the highest-rated Tuesday night in its history, driven by the Roast of Donald Trump. — Second, the roast featured the single deepest integration of a Twitter hashtag on air—ever.

Ben Smith / @benpolitico:

Some media news: @ariannahuff just mentioned she'd hired libertarian investigative reporter @radleybalko

Discussion: @ariannahuff

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

Kadafi, Gaddafi, Qaddafi: In The Age Of Search, News Publications Still Struggle With Libya Leader's Name — A decades-old dispute involving Libya remains unresolved. How do news organizations spell the name of Libya's leader, Muammar Gaddafi? The exact spelling has a bigger impact these days, where people search for news.

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

INM discovers the digital world... Independent News & Media (INM), the Irish-based company that once owned The Independent and seemed less than enamoured with the interweb, is certainly going digital now. — The company has announced what it calls “four significant developments …

Discussion: Media Week and The Irish Times

Ethan Klapper / mediabistro.com:

Meet ‘Producer Matthew’ Keys: Aggregation Journalist — Uprising in Egypt. Earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Missile strikes in Libya. — Major news has broken in every corner of the world during the past few weeks. In that time, Matthew Keys has proven himself to be a must follow for the latest from these hot spots.

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

Foreign journalists used as human shields outside Gadhafi compound? — As Western forces wage a unified attack on key targets of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi, the international community remains concerned that the unhinged strongman may put civilians in harm's way as a defense mechanism.

Discussion: Fox News, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY and Inside Cable News