Mediagazer: After Report of Disappearance, Questions About Syrian-American Blogger (The Lede)

1:15 PM ET, June 8, 2011

Top News:

FCC Backs Away From Aiding Media — WASHINGTON—Two years ago, the FCC and FTC launched reviews of the media industry with an eye toward changes in laws or tax code that could help struggling traditional media companies. Since then, the federal government's interest in helping the newspaper industry appears to be waning.

Discussion: The New York Observer, News for Digital Journalists and Tech Daily Dose

Adweek:

In Two Years Nearly All TV Content Will Be Online On mobile too, predict network execs By D.M. Levine — Executives from Disney, Turner, and Comcast were in unanimous agreement that we are only two years away from 75 percent of TV content being available online and on mobile devices.

Discussion: National Review and The Wire

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Familiar TV Anchors Move On, Hoping to Profit on Their Own — It's enough breaking news to make even an anchorman's head spin. — Television is undergoing a sea change this season as a dozen famous television anchors and celebrities — whose shows are watched by more than 40 million viewers every day …

Discussion: Company Town, Media Buyer Planner and Chickaboomer

The Lede:

After Report of Disappearance, Questions About Syrian-American Blogger — 7:17 p.m. Update: After this post about the author of the blog A Gay Girl in Damascus was published, Andy Carvin, an NPR journalist and expert at debunking Internet rumors, pointed out that none of the reports of the arrest …

John Sellers / The Wrap:

Bill Simmons on Grantland Launch: 'We're Not Going to Chase Page Views' — On Wednesday at precisely noon ET, longtime ESPN columnist and crazy successful podcaster Bill Simmons will throw the switch on Grantland.com, a hotly anticipated and already controversial new website he's built for his Bristol overlords.

Discussion: Grantland and The New York Observer

Will Leitch / New York Magazine:
Tommy Craggs, Tom Scocca Talk Deadspin, Grantland, and Pink Gorillas

Discussion: Deadspin

Joe Flint / Company Town:

News Corp. general counsel Lon Jacobs to leave media giant [Updated] — This post was updated at 7:30 a.m. June 8 to reflect the announcement of Jacob's departure, include a statement from Rupert Murdoch and provide additional background. — Lawrence “Lon” Jacobs, the general counsel …

Discussion: TVWeek.com

Anna Peele / Esquire:

Times Director Saw Keller ‘About to Throw in the Towel’ — When Andrew Rossi began quietly documenting the New York Times in 2010, he had no idea the Iraq war would end, Wikileaks would expose government secrets, and the Times would roll out a new paywall, effectively symbolizing the marriage of old and new media.

Washington Post:

New York Post columnist spares none when politicians fall from grace — A warning to any and all New York politicians considering an extramarital dalliance, virtual or otherwise. When you eventually hold your de rigueur regret session at a packed Manhattan news conference …

Discussion: mediabistro.com, Gawker and The Awl

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Rogue Pogue: Times Gadget Guru Has Magic Staying Power — In a May 26 video for the New York Times, David Pogue, the paper's unmistakably cherub-cheeked, middle-aged tech writer—one of the most widely read in the country, if not the world—rushed into a room wearing a doctor's uniform …

Nick Davies / Guardian:

Phone-hacking scandal widens to include Kate Middleton and Tony Blair — MP calls for expanded investigation as list grows of those allegedly hacked by Jonathan Rees for News International — Pressure is building on the Metropolitan police to expand their phone-hacking inquiry to include …

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: Applying the brakes on KNBC's California Nonstop — The new channel focusing on L.A. and regional happenings suffers from the realities of today's media: not enough time, staff and money. — The logo for “NBC California Nonstop.” — KNBC-TV has a new 24-hour news and feature station called California Nonstop.

Andrew Crook / Crikey:

Kohler quits CEO gig to focus on journalism — Business Spectator and Eureka Report figurehead Alan Kohler has stepped down as CEO to focus on journalism and strategy, as the websites' controlling company hires fresh blood to expand its burgeoning finance news empire.

New York Times:

New TV Hit Hums Along Online, Too — LOS ANGELES — At home here on Saturday afternoon, Paul Telegdy, who heads up reality programming for NBC, directed his Web browser to a real-time search engine of Twitter messages and checked in on “The Voice,” the Tuesday night singing competition …

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

House Hunters, data edition: Meet Curbwise, the Omaha World-Herald's real-estate news app — The Omaha World-Herald wasn't looking for blockbuster traffic and wave upon wave of pageviews with the launch of Curbwise. Rather, they were looking for a sustained audience, which would justify …

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

The Wall Street Journal has 200K Subscribers to Mobile Apps, Tablets and eReaders — Digital consumption is growing at the Wall Street Journal Network, where some 200,000 subscriptions to mobile Apps, tablets and eReaders have been sold, according the General Manager Alisa Bowen.

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

New York Observer to emphasize long-form, scoops with new web design — Change has been perhaps the most reliable constant at the New York Observer in recent years. In the past two years alone, the Manhattan weekly blew through three top editors and about as many redesigns in print and online.

Discussion: Spiersblr, The Wire, Editors Weblog, NYConvergence.com, bookforum.com and FishbowlNY

Stuart Elliott / Media Decoder:

CW Becomes 2nd Network to Finish ‘Upfront’ Sales — CW, the home of series like “Gossip Girl” and “The Vampire Diaries,” has become the second broadcast television network to complete its upfront advertising sales before the beginning of the 2011-12 season.

Discussion: Company Town and MediaPost

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Twitter as media: What happens when anyone can publish? — We often take for granted what Twitter and other social-media tools offer in terms of instant publishing, until someone live-tweets a historic event like the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound or a congressman torpedoes his political career with an ill-advised photo.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, @penenberg and Poynter, Thanks:plrodriguez

Bobbie Johnson / GigaOM:

Can the FT help publishers quit their Apple addiction? — Ever since the iPhone and iPad arrived, publishers have spent millions building dedicated software to try to cash in on the app boom. Everyone who was anyone — from the Wall Street Journal to Wired — just had to have an app …

Discussion: Newsonomics, TheMediaBriefing, Financial Times, Guardian and MediaFile