Mediagazer: The rise of the journalist as publisher (Ellie Behling/eMedia Vitals)

6:30 PM ET, June 21, 2011

Top News:

Jay Yarow / The Wire:

Hulu Considering Selling Itself After Receiving An Offer — Hulu is considering selling itself after being approached with a buyout offer, according to tweets from CNBC and WSJ reporters. — Julia Boorstin at CNBC says the offer did not come from Google, but doesn't say who the offer did come from.

Discussion: @jboorstin, @preetatweets, @bristei, Gizmodo, SAI and AllThingsD, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Website Hulu Considers Sale — Web-video site Hulu LLC is weighing whether to sell itself after a potential buyer for the company approached it with an offer, people familiar with the matter said. — The identity of the buyer couldn't be learned. The offer has spurred Hulu's board to study its options …

Shira Ovide / Deal Journal: Next Stop for Hulu: Sale?

Jim / Gannett Blog:

Bulletin: Gannett announces 700 newspaper layoffs — U.S. newspapers division President Bob Dickey distributed the following memo today: — CONFIDENTIAL CONTAINS PROPRIETARY BUSINESS INFORMATION - NOT FOR PUBLIC DISSEMINATION — June 21, 2011 — To: All US Community Publishing employees

Discussion: paidContent, MediaPost, Poynter, Adweek and Future of Journalism

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, Gawker, Tech Daily Dose and The Rumpus.net

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, Adweek, Online Video News, Future of Journalism and Noted

David Kravets / Threat Level:

Righthaven Loss: Judge Rules Reposting Entire Article Is Fair Use — A federal judge ruled Monday that publishing an entire article without the rights holder's authorization was a fair use of the work, in yet another blow to newspaper copyright troll Righthaven.

Discussion: paidContent, Poynter, FishbowlNY, Future of Journalism, Electronic Frontier Foundation, WebProNews, PlagiarismToday, Techdirt, The Consumerist and http://www.Stinkyjournalism …

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Can OnSwipe convince media to go web instead of app? — OnSwipe, the New York-based startup that we wrote about awhile back, is launching the full version of its mobile web-publishing service today: a platform that allows websites and media companies to create tablet-friendly views …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, PC Magazine and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme », Thanks:mirkolorenz

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: The Next Web and Betabeat

Mat Honan / Gizmodo:

I Call This Blackmail — Aol employee Mike Arrington is angry! The TechCrunch founder and co-editor fired off a histrionic screed yesterday directed at Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr and Hunch, with an explicit threat aimed at anyone who doesn't kowtow to him.

Discussion: Bloggasm, Quora and SAI, more at Techmeme »

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Why We Often Blindside Companies

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

Lois Beckett / Nieman Journalism Lab:

A discovery engine for narrative nonfiction: Byliner.com launches with high hopes and a sleek site — It's a nonfiction nerd's fantasy: a database of nearly 30,000 feature stories, meticulously organized, sleekly presented, and fully searchable — by author, by publication, by topic.

Discussion: Poynter, The Atlantic Wire, Mashable! and The Wire

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: Folio, Adweek and Press Gazette

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Barnes & Noble: E-books Now Outsell Print Books 3 To 1 On BN.com — As Barnes & Noble's board reviews a bid from Liberty Media to acquire the company, it still has to focus on the here-and-now of running a business with physical and digital components. On the digital side, the news is good.

Discussion: Barnes & Noble, Inc., Bloomberg, BNET and ReadWriteWeb, more at Techmeme »

Ellie Behling / eMedia Vitals:

The rise of the journalist as publisher — The rise of the journalist as publisher — Journalists can be their own publishers — able to produce, distribute, market and monetize their own content. It's not a new concept, but it continues to gain traction on new platforms like the iPad.

Adweek:

First Mover: Vivian Schiller — Adweek: What's your favorite NBC News program? — Vivian Schiller: You're not really going to ask me that question are you? I know better than to pick one. — So how do you represent a giant brand like NBC News, which is a bunch of shows, across different digital platforms?

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Meet Engine28, an arts-focused pop-up newsroom — It has the makings of an MTV show: Forty journalists...picked to work in a house...and have their lives taped. But The Real World this is not. — Engine28 is another kind of reality show: a pop-up newsroom.

Discussion: LA Observed and Editors Weblog

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

The Washington Post is making money the new-fashioned way, by playing roulette — In the newspaper business, every year brings fresh buzzwords. Jockeying for the lead so far in 2011 are “new revenue streams” and its corollary “many small bets.” But what does that mean, in practice, for a given paper?

Ben Popper / Betabeat:

Why Does Google Want AdMeld So Badly? High Frequency Trading for Online Ads — The luxurious accommodations at Google's Carrier Hotel — When Google plunked down a $400 million offer for New York's AdMeld, a lot of local venture folks were surprised at the price.

Discussion: The New York Observer