Mediagazer: Paul Begala to Join Newsweek (Chris Rovzar/New York Magazine)

Roger Ailes Plays Nice — THE DAILY BEAST ON: — The Fox News honcho responds to a media drubbing. In the current issue of Newsweek, Howard Kurtz on the liberal antagonist's more complicated side. — Roger Ailes, the combative conservative behind Fox News, is sounding strangely reasonable these days …

Discussion: Adweek, Yahoo! News, New York Magazine, The Atlantic Wire, Mediaite, FishbowlDC, TVNewser, The Wire, The Daily Beast, Guardian, The Huffington Post and The Daily Caller

Debbie Galant / Baristanet:

Coffee With ... David Carr — In a town full of media stars, David Carr still stands out. Media columnist for The New York Times, Carr is also a prolific Tweeter with 324,431 followers and a Klout score of 66. In 2008, he came out with a memoir about his years as an alcoholic and drug addict …

Discussion: The Wire, Talking Biz News and Poynter

Evelyn M. Rusli / DealBook:

A Force Behind Lady Gaga Inc. — Soon after Apple started its music-centric social network Ping last year, Steven P. Jobs reached out to Lady Gaga and her business manager, Troy Carter, for feedback. — At the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Lady Gaga peppered Mr. Jobs …

Discussion: Adweek, Betabeat, CNET News, TechCrunch, Media Buyer Planner, thinq_, WebProNews, Stowe Boyd and Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, more at Techmeme »

Bill Carter / New York Times:

For Couric, ABC's Pitch Proved Best — On Feb. 8, executives from NBC, including Steve Burke, the new chief executive, and Steve Capus, the president of news, made their way to the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, prepared to make a pitch to bring their one-time news star, Katie Couric, back into the network fold.

Discussion: New York Post, Speakeasy, Broadcasting & Cable, Mediaite, TVNewser, The Atlantic Wire, ABCNEWS, Gawker, TVSpy, On Media's Blog, Adweek, ShortFormBlog and PopEater

Chris Rovzar / New York Magazine:

Paul Begala to Join Newsweek — This week's Daily Intel-style Newsweek cover, in which Mitt Romney's head is Photoshopped onto the body of Elder Price from Book of Mormon. — Political commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala has joined Newsweek and Daily Beast as a columnist.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and mediabistro.com

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Online Video Start-Ups Seek to Carve Out a Place Beside YouTube — CHICAGO — For many Internet users, YouTube is synonymous with online video. But Mike Michaud and several friends who live in suburban Chicago are trying to change that. — Mr. Michaud co-owns Channel Awesome …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and SAI

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Quora effect? Hacks/Hackers weighs the future of the niche Q&A — The broad goal of Hacks/Hackers is to connect journalists and programmers so they can learn from each other. So it made sense for the group to provide, in addition to in-person meetups and hackathons …

Deseret News:

Missing faith: Getting religion in the newsroom — Selling heaven wasn't easy. — But in early 2005, ABC News producer Rob Wallace knew he had the perfect subject for a Barbara Walters television special. His idea was to examine the effect of belief in heaven on the way people lived their lives.

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Is YouTube Killing Music Piracy? — The music industry has witnessed some dramatic changes in recent years, even when piracy is left out of the picture. In just a decade the Internet and the MP3 revolution have redefined people's music consumption habits.

Discussion: ringtonia.com

Adweek:

Huffington Post Takes ‘Top Talent’ from NYT and BBC — On Monday, the Huffington Post will formally announce two recent additions to its team from the New York Times and the BBC that, executives say, confirm Huffpo's ability to attract top talent. — Jason Fields, former head of User Experience …

Discussion: Poynter and Jon Slattery

John Koblin / WWD:

Glamour Magazine Off to a Bumpy Start in 2011 — Cindi Leive's Glamour has gotten off to a bumpy start in 2011. Condé Nast's cash cow has dropped 17 percent off newsstand sales through the first four months of the year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations Rapid Report.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Adweek

Matylda Czarnecka / Poynter:

7 reasons why journalists make good entrepreneurs — Recently, there has been an increase in journalists pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities. Some have gone in full-force and found ways to build their ideas, while others have hesitated, questioning whether their media background makes them suitable entrepreneurs.

Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:

Pulling Out Weeds Online — As Digital-Ad Techniques Proliferate, Specialists Aim to Simplify the Landscape — Seeking to milk the huge growth in online advertising, a rush of technology firms have emerged in recent years pitching an array of techniques for buying, targeting and measuring digital ads.

Adweek:

Advice From The Onion's Tech Team Hey editors, listen to your developers! By Erin Griffith — The Onion's tech team doesn't like Willy Wonka's model. — Too many publications approach their developers as though they were little more than Oompa Loompas, interchangeable drones …