Mediagazer: Search-neutrality? Can Google's algorithm substitute editorial judgement? (Steffen Konrath/Future of Journalism)

2:15 PM ET, March 27, 2011

Top News:

The editorial search engine — [Updated 27 March with more material on social curation, Bill Joy's maxim, and other good bits.] — It's impossible to build a computer system that helps people find or filter information without at some point making editorial judgements.

Steffen Konrath / Future of Journalism:

Search-neutrality? Can Google's algorithm substitute editorial judgement? — Google's algorithm changes comes at a time where critics are wondering whether its search quality has flagged. Steven Levy delved into the mysteries of the search engine had breakfast with Google's search-quality …

Sridhar Pappu / New York Times:

Washington's New Brat Pack Masters Media — ONE winter evening, Brian Beutler, 28, a reporter for the online publication Talking Points Memo, sat with his friend and roommate Dave Weigel, 29, a political reporter for Slate and a contributor to MSNBC, at a coffee shop on U Street.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Mediaite and On Media's Blog

Ann Friedman:

Washington's Lady Journos Have Been Here All Along — Lady journo Ann Friedman, now the executive editor of GOOD magazine, at work on an angry blog post. — One sweltering DC evening many months ago, Ann Friedman, 29, then an editor for The American Prospect, sat with her friends Annie Lowrey …

Felix Salmon:

Bill Keller vs openness and transparency — Bill Keller has now written two three columns for Hugo Lindgren's NYT Magazine, and both of them the last two have taken aim at the Huffington Post. — The first one didn't go so well: not only did it have an opening paragraph of astonishing braggadocio …

Bill Keller / New York Times:

Traditional News Outlets — Living Among the Guerrillas — Has anyone actually seen James O'Keefe and Julian Assange together? Are we quite sure that the right-wing prankster who brought down the leadership of National Public Radio and the anarchic leaker aren't split personalities of the same guy …

Discussion: the nytpicker, Media Myth Alert and Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard

Jon Bruner / Datanaut:

Tim O'Reilly on Piracy, Tinkering, and the Future of the Book — Tim O'Reilly has removed anti-piracy measures from his e-books. “We're delighted when people who can't afford our books don't pay us for them, if they go out and do something useful with that information,” he says.

Discussion: TeleRead

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Katie Couric Plots CBS Exit — The CBS Evening News anchor is very likely to leave in June and Scott Pelley is a top contender to replace her but CBS is looking both within and outside the network, Howard Kurtz reports. — The search is on for Katie Couric's successor.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Mediaite and Chickaboomer

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

The Book Deal May Be Dead, But Google Is Still Right — The Google book settlement — which the search giant signed with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers in 2008, after a dispute over the company's scanning of books — was struck down by a judge this week as too far-reaching …

Discussion: TeleRead, Thanks:mathewi

Tim Carmody / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Lessons for journalism from the Google Books decision, across Europe and here in the US

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

Libyan Woman Struggles to Tell Media of Her Rape — TRIPOLI — A Libyan woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli Saturday morning and fought off security forces as she told journalists that she had been raped and beaten by members of the Qaddafi militia.

Discussion: Reuters, Guardian, New York Magazine, Global Voices in English, The Lede and Telegraph

Kirk Johnson / New York Times:

Inundated With News, Many Find It Difficult to Keep Up on Libya — DENVER — Talk about the fog of war. — Many Americans find themselves scratching their heads about America's military intervention in Libya, and part of the reason, they say, can be summed up in one word: overload.

Discussion: Political Punch

Jim / Gannett Blog:

Document: GCI paid $52K to insure Dubow's life; loads of pricey benefits for other top brass, too — Last year, Gannett gave CEO Craig Dubow a platinum package of extra benefits — including use of the company jet, plus personal legal and financial services — worth nearly $160,000.