Mediagazer: Roger Ailes Plays Nice (Newsweek)

9:45 AM ET, June 6, 2011

Top News:

Roger Ailes Plays Nice — The Fox News honcho responds to a media drubbing. — Roger Ailes, the combative conservative behind Fox News, is sounding strangely reasonable these days, going easy on top Democrats—even Hillary Clinton!—and subtly distancing himself from the inflammatory Glenn Beck.

Discussion: Adweek, TVNewser, Guardian, The Huffington Post and @espiers

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: TechCrunch, Betabeat, CNET News, Softpedia News 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: PopEater

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: Jon Slattery

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Analyzing the metered model — The metered model deserves a closer look. One the dirtiest little secrets of the online media business is the actual number of truly loyal readers — as opposed to fly-bys. No one really wants to know (let alone let anyone else know).

Discussion: Guardian, eMedia Vitals and Future of Journalism

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

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

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Penry Price to Leave Google for Startup Media6Degrees — Google's Best-Known Sales Exec and Onetime Deputy to Tim Armstrong Leaves After Seven Years — Penry Price, one of Google's best-known sales executives, is leaving the company after seven years to join startup Media6Degrees as president.

Discussion: AdExchanger.com and Future of Journalism

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.

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Yahoo's Levinsohn: 'I'm Not Crazy' — Three Junes ago, Ross Levinsohn and his investment partner Jon Miller were caught up in the drama of Yahoo as Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) tried to acquire the company. Their names, individually and separately, were bandied about as possible board members or candidates to run Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO).

Liz Shannon Miller / GigaOM:

How Do You Measure the Value of a Branded Web Series? — In the web series world, creators often rely on brands to get their content funded. The level of branding in a series varies wildly, from characters on The Guild occasionally using Sprint phones to Illeana Douglas working at an Ikea …

Anna Heim / The Next Web:

Can Comenta.TV bring TV's second screeners to a single platform? — Americans are using Internet and TV together more and more, according to a recent study. The same “second screen” phenomenon is happening in Latin America: TV viewers live-comment the shows they are watching.

Discussion: Future of Journalism