Mediagazer: Everyblock hires new president (Wailin Wong/Chicago Tribune)

12:05 PM ET, June 21, 2011

Top News:

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Upending Anonymity, These Days the Web Unmasks Everyone — Not too long ago, theorists fretted that the Internet was a place where anonymity thrived. — Now, it seems, it is the place where anonymity dies. — A commuter in the New York area who verbally tangled with a conductor last Tuesday …

Discussion: Gannett Blog and Felix

Matthew Campbell / Bloomberg:

AOL Considering Paid Content, International Acquisitions in Company Revamp — AOL Inc. (AOL) may introduce premium versions of its online content and make international acquisitions as Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong works to turn around the struggling Internet pioneer.

Discussion: Mixed Media, FishbowlNY, Online Video News, Noted and National Review

Wall Street Journal:
Armstrong Says AOL Undervalued in Light of IPOs

Discussion: Speakeasy

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

Bloomberg TV Pushes for a Wider Audience — Bloomberg has begun a major marketing effort for its television operation in a bid to persuade business executives to see the company as more than just a maker of the terminals that are popular on trading floors. — “We want to be the most …

Discussion: Adweek, Company Town, The Wire and Inside Cable News

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Van Jones Considers Legal Action Against Fox News — NEW YORK âÂ"- After challenging Glenn Beck to a debate over the weekend at Netroots Nation and in a MoveOn.org-sponsored ad Monday, Van Jones may have taken his beef with Beck a step further. — Jones, a senior fellow …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, National Review, TVNewser and Mediaite

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Economist group results defy downturn — Almost all British-based newspaper and magazine publishers are contemplating losses or declining profits. But the Economist group, as it does on a regular basis, is telling a very different story today. — According to its results …

Discussion: Adweek and Press Gazette

John Sellers / The Wrap:

New York Times Cuts Reader Chat: '5,000 Words Isn't a Comment, That's an Article' — You can still comment on New York Times articles — just be more succinct about it. — With only a cryptic explanation, the paper announced Monday on its homepage that it would be cutting the character limit …

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Refinery29, Adweek, FishbowlNY and Mediaite

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

6 reasons to consider Onswipe for tablet-friendly websites — A new product launching today, Onswipe, helps news publishers easily set up a tablet-friendly version of their websites for iPad users and will help sell premium ads on those sites. — You may have come across the Onswipe interface already …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Betabeat, eMedia Vitals and GigaOM

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Why We Often Blindside Companies — A couple of weeks ago I apologized to the CEO of AdMeld for writing about their acquisition without even contacting him to let him know beforehand or ask for a comment. He wrote back “the call would have been nice.” — I know how frustrating …

Discussion: Digital Media, Caterina.net, AllThingsD, @dangillmor, cdixon.org, @marshallk, @alexbraunstein, Betabeat, @tcarmody, ReadWriteWeb, @tcarmody, @furrier, Future of Journalism, @sarahcuda, @megan, @gnat and SAI

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

The NBC News/CNBC Exodus, Why Is So Much Top Talent Leaving The Network? — With the announcement last week that long time MSNBC star Norah O'Donnell is jumping ship to CBS, many insiders are now asking what is going on over at the Peacock network? On air talent jumping between networks …

Discussion: Chickaboomer

Wailin Wong / Chicago Tribune:

Everyblock hires new president — EveryBlock, the Chicago-based website that collects community news and connects neighbors with each other, has hired a new president to oversee its growth and marketing efforts. — The company, which was founded in 2007 by Naperville native Adrian Holovaty …

Discussion: mediabistro.com, Street Fight and Poynter

Keach Hagey / On Media's Blog:

Olbermann's return — Keith Olbermann resumed his old position as host of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” at 8 p.m. tonight, albeit on a cable network that with only about two thirds of the reach of his former perch, and brought enough of his show with him for his fans to feel at home.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Gawker

Committee to Protect Journalists:

Prominent Mexican columnist, wife, son shot to death — A prominent Mexican newspaper columnist, his wife, and a son were shot to death in their home in Veracruz, according to state investigators, a shocking assault that underscores the country's ongoing crisis.

Discussion: BBC and Journalism.co.uk

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Ex-Tribune CEO Michaels is back in radio — Former Tribune chief executive Randy Michaels has partnered with a Chicago-based private equity firm to buy controlling interest in three Emmis radio stations — two in Chicago and one in New York. Michaels — a former Clear Channel radio …

Discussion: Time Out Chicago Blogs and New York Times

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

SAY Media Acquires Digital Agency Sideshow — SAY Media, the company that was formed after the merger between VideoEgg and blogging software maker Six Apart, this morning announced its acquisition of Sideshow, a digital agency with offices in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Discussion: paidContent, Business Wire, SAY Media and Beet.TV

Joe Mullin / paidContent:

‘Hot News’ Doctrine Not Looking So Hot After Apppeals Court Ruling — In the past couple years, media companies doing battle with news aggregators—or competitors—began to turn to the little-known legal doctrine of “hot news.” It stems from a 1918 Supreme Court case that found news organizations might …

Discussion: Threat Level, ap.org, @gaberivera, @kouroshk, NetNewsCheck Latest and Bloomberg

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Future of media: The rise of the million-selling Kindle author — Amazon's Kindle platform doesn't just allow people to read millions of e-books, it also allows them to publish millions of them: the company announced on Monday that John Locke, who self-publishes his work through Kindle's …

Discussion: Editors Weblog, Techdirt, ReadWriteWeb and The Rumpus.net, Thanks:mathewi

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Meet The First Indie Publisher To Sell A Million Kindle Books

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, It's All Trivial …, PC Magazine, Business Wire, GalleyCat, Future of Journalism and Pocket-lint

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

Spotlight on exiled journalists as foreign press crackdowns persist — The status of press freedom across the globe has acquired new urgency in the face of this year's popular uprisings throughout the Arab world. And a report out Monday spotlights a key challenge for journalists working in the world's most repressive regimes: exile.

Discussion: Guardian, Committee to Protect … and Index on Censorship