Mediagazer: WHO'S FULL OF CRAP? GE, The New York Times, And The Hazards Of “Tweeting The Record Straight” (Henry Blodget/The Wire)

12:45 PM ET, March 29, 2011

Top News:

Danny Sullivan / Daggle:

A Better Letter To New York Times Readers About Digital Subscriptions — Today, the New York Times is taking a major step forward as we introduce digital subscriptions in the United States and the rest of the world. Since we first announced the plan 11 days ago, we've heard from so many of you, our readers.

Discussion: New York Times and Internet News

Robert Andrews / paidContent:UK:

UK Times Claims 79,000 Digital Subscribers — Frequently besmirched since it started charging online eight month ago, News International has, as it promised it would, issued a second set of numbers for Times Newspapers' progress since then. — It claims 79,000 monthly digital-only subscribers …

Discussion: Media Week and The Next Web

Joe Mullin / paidContent:

Ex-Googlers Launch ‘NYT For A Nickel’ As Publicity Stunt; NYT Not Amused — Calvin Young and his partner Noah Ready-Campbell (pictured at left) left Google (NSDQ: GOOG) two months ago to start Minno, a company dedicated to reviving the idea of micropayments as a way to monetize content on the web.

Discussion: The Next Web and Poynter

Lauren Indvik / Mashable!:

How To Hack the New York Times Paywall ... With Your Delete Key — Frustrated by the idea of paying for what was once free, some New York Times readers have devised widely publicized methods for subverting its newly erected paywall. Their efforts, it turns out, may have been for naught.

Discussion: paidContent, Newspaper Death Watch, Search Engine Land, digiday:DAILY and Reflections of a Newsosaur, more at Techmeme »

John Cook / GeekWire:
Kindle readers of The New York Times to get free access of the newspaper's Web site

Discussion: Business Wire, VentureBeat, Nieman Journalism Lab and Poynter

New York Times:
A Letter to Our Readers About Digital Subscriptions

Jonathan Cooper / Journal Register Company:

Online Veteran To Lead Digital Transformation of JRC Newsrooms — Yardley, PA - Journal Register Company, a leading multi-media company in local news and information, announced today Jim Brady is joining the Company to lead the Digital Transformation of all of its newsroom on all platforms.

Discussion: paidContent, On Media's Blog, Beet.TV and eMedia Vitals

Henry Blodget / The Wire:

WHO'S FULL OF CRAP? GE, The New York Times, And The Hazards Of “Tweeting The Record Straight” — We spent much of this afternoon sparring with GE's public affairs division on Twitter over a New York Times report that GE paid no US taxes last year. — GE had taken to Twitter to blast …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Media Matters for America, mediabistro.com, The Huffington Post, Media Nation, SAI, ThinkProgress, The Beast, Agence France Presse, GE Reports, Gothamist, Tools and The Atlantic Wire

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:
The Atlantic's 2011 hiring spree begins with Richard Florida

Discussion: Poynter

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The power of...listicles? Yahoo Research tackles distribution and longevity data for Twitter — Who says what to whom on Twitter? That's the subject — and the title — of a just-released report from Yahoo Research. (You can read the abstract, and download the report's pdf, here.)

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and The Wire

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Twitter as Media: Yes, Celebrities and Brands Still Matter

Discussion: SAI, Mashable!, Media News, Digital Trends, thinq_, Future of Journalism, ReadWriteWeb and AdAge

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Dispute Over Time Warner Cable's Streaming to iPad Bursts Into the Open — Companies like Time Warner Cable and Cablevision buy the rights to beam channels to customers' television sets. But do those rights extend to iPads? — That question has divided the television industry in recent weeks …

Discussion: Media Buyer Planner and Lost Remote

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Before Libya, White House Must Negotiate With ABC — President Obama had a message for the American people Monday night, an explanation of the government's intentions in Libya, one that he believed was important enough to request air time from the broadcast networks as well as the cable news networks.

Discussion: The Wrap, Mediaite, The Wire, The Huffington Post, Free Press, Media Matters for America, Salon, The Daily Beast and Gawker

Ethan Smith / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon Planning Online Media ‘Locker’ — Amazon.com Inc. is planning to start a service that would let people store music and video online and access it from various digital devices, people familiar with the matter said. — The company could announce the effort as early as Tuesday, the people said.

Discussion: Amazon.com, hypebot, MediaMemo, All Things Digital, CNET News, ReadWriteWeb, Fox News, SAI, GeekWire, Geekosystem, Electronista, Digits and parislemon, more at Techmeme »

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Video Advertising Company Adap.tv Raises $20 Million — Video advertising company Adap.tv has raised $20 million in funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with Gemini Israel Funds, Redpoint Ventures and Spark Capital also participating in the round. This brings Adap.tv's total funding to $43 million.

Discussion: AdExchanger.com, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Survey Asks Huffpo Bloggers: Do You Feel Exploited? — Is she running a platform or a plantation? That's for her bloggers to say. Image by Getty Images for AOL via @daylife — The Newspaper Guild says the Huffington Post is taking advantage of its unpaid bloggers.

Discussion: Mediaite

Ben Huh / Cheezburger Company Blog:

Know How To Pronounce “Meme” — Does “meme” rhyme with “Mimi”? Or is it like “mem” in “memory”? Well, it turns out, it has a silent “k” in front, as in “Know Your Meme”. — I'm very happy to announce that Cheezburger has acquired Know Your Meme. In addition to acquiring the popular site …

Discussion: VentureBeat, The Next Web and Know Your Meme Blog

Marc Hustvedt / Tubefilter:
‘Know Your Meme’ Acquired By Cheezburger in Seven-Figure Deal

Discussion: paidContent, Digital Trends, CNNMoney.com, GigaOM, Dembot, PE Hub Blog, TechFlash, USA Today, CNET News, SAI, The Seattle Times, GeekWire, NetworkEffect, Geekosystem and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Michael Shain / New York Post:

Couric offered ‘60 Min’ — Katie Couric may finally get the chance to become a regular on “60 Minutes,” now that she is apparently stepping down from the nightly news anchor job. — An offer to become a regular correspondent for the prestigious Sunday night TV magazine is part of the package …

Discussion: The Wrap, PopWatch, TVNewser, TVWeek.com and Wall Street Journal

Dawn Chmielewski / Company Town:

News Corp. approaches Vevo about potential Myspace joint venture — As News Corp. aggressively explores its options for Myspace, another name has surfaced in connection with its efforts to offload the struggling social network. — New York investment bank Allen & Co. approached music website Vevo …

Simon Owens / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Geico Gecko meets The AOL Way: Are display advertisers too obsessed with click-through rates? — Late last year, AOL announced it would be revamping its ad platform, shrinking the number of ads it serves and expanding the sizes of those ads. In some cases the ad units would be four times larger than they were before.