Mediagazer: Machine Learning Fairy Dust (stdout.be)

2:25 PM ET, July 18, 2011

Top News:

NoW whistleblower found dead — Death of Sean Hoare - who was first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson knew of hacking - not being treated as suspicious — Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware …

Discussion: Guardian, Mediaite, paidContent:UK, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, Gawker, The Wire, Runnin' Scared, @arusbridger, The Lede, TheMediaBriefing, Mogulite, Daily Mail, Future Journalism Project, National Review, Guy Fawkes' blog and Boing Boing

Wall Street Journal:

News and Its Critics — A tabloid's excesses don't tarnish thousands of other journalists. — When News Corp. and CEO Rupert Murdoch secured enough shares to buy Dow Jones & Co. four years ago, these columns welcomed our new owner and promised to stand by the same standards and principles we always had.

David Carr / New York Times:

Troubles That Money Can't Dispel — “Bury your mistakes,” Rupert Murdoch is fond of saying. But some mistakes don't stay buried, no matter how much money you throw at them. — Time and again in the United States and elsewhere, Mr. Murdoch's News Corporation has used blunt force spending …

Johnnie L. Roberts / The Wrap:

A Rupert Murdoch Peer: He's ‘Dead Money’ — Now more engulfed than ever in a virulent phone-hacking scandal, it appears that Rupert Murdoch's days amid the upper echelons of media moguldom are numbered. — With resignations and arrests occurring daily among News Corp.'s top newspaper executives …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Future of Journalism, The Wire and The Independent

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

What's next for News Corp. and its worlds — There's no telling how the News Corp. saga will turn out, but I'll try. Here's a scenario that leads to the breakup of News Corp., the Murdochs out of power, the deflation of institutional journalism, a break in the too-cozy media-government complex …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Media & Entertainment, Washington Post, Epicenter and eMedia Vitals

Newsweek:

How We Broke the Murdoch Scandal — Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger on his dogged reporter, a U.S. ally—and a gamble that finally paid off. — Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian. Inset: Cover of The Guardian after the scandal. — Every so often—perhaps once every 18 months …

Discussion: CJR, Future of Journalism, The Business Insider, The New York Observer and Ben Smith's Blog

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:

New News Corp Strategy: Become an Even More American Company — We'd all be ready to shell out pay-per-view prices (those for boxing, not a simple movie) to peek in on the House of Commons' questioning of Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks Tuesday.

Discussion: Guardian

Channel 4:
Bernstein: phone-hacking culture created by Murdoch

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
WSJ To News Corp. Critics: STFU

Discussion: Guardian, Editors Weblog, The Huffington Post and BBC

Ken Auletta / News Desk:
What Murdoch Faces Now — For nearly two weeks, Rupert Murdoch …

Discussion: rbr.com, Forbes.com, Journalism.co.uk, Guardian, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, New York Times, New York Magazine, The Daily Dish and Kirk LaPointe's …

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:

CNN, HLN to Stream on Web — Time Warner Networks Make Internet Simulcasts Available to Pay-TV Subscribers — Time Warner Inc. is increasing the number of TV channels and programs it pipes over the Internet to people who have conventional pay-TV subscriptions, as the television business …

Discussion: CNN, On Media's Blog, VideoNuze, App Advice, eMedia Vitals and Future of Journalism, more at Techmeme »

Martin Langeveld / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Alden Global Capital drops a shoe: Is the Journal Register acquisition prelude to more consolidation? — On Thursday, Journal Register Company announced that it had been acquired by Alden Global Capital, a secretive hedge fund that specializes in “distressed opportunities,” …

Wall Street Journal:

Reader's Digest Seeks Buyer — Reader's Digest Association Inc., the magazine and Web site publisher that emerged from bankruptcy protection in early 2010, has put itself up for sale and hopes to fetch around $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlNY, Folio, Adweek and Deal Journal

Virginia Heffernan / Opinionator:

The Price of Typos — Some readers like to see portraits of authors they admire, study their personal histories or hear them read aloud. I like to know whether an author can spell. Nabokov spelled beautifully. Fitzgerald was crummy at spelling, bedeviled by entry-level traps like “definate.”

Discussion: TeleRead

stdout.be:

Machine Learning Fairy Dust — I was looking over the entries to the Mozilla-Knight digital journalism challenge, which asks people to think of an application that could profoundly impact the way digital journalism is done. (Disclaimer: I'm a participant myself.)

Discussion: Daniel Bachhuber's weblog

Craig Silverman / CJR:

The Case for the Corrections Page — Why news organizations should follow the Times's example — A website redesign is a major event for a news organization. Reuters recently unveiled a new website, and it occasioned blog posts from former editor-in-chief and current chairman …

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:

Hearst-Owned Magazines Launching Daily Deals With Group Commerce — Hearst-owned magazines are treading on Groupon's territory with the launch of group-buying discounts, starting off with Road & Track and Car and Driver. — Hearst will be using a platform built for big media publishers by Group Commerce …

Discussion: Street Fight

Vikram Dodd / Guardian:

How Sir Paul Stephenson's £12,000 spa break triggered downfall — Former Metropolitan police chief says he had no reason to suspect adviser of involvement in phone hacking — Sir Paul Stephenson was brought in as a safe pair of hands in December 2009 with the remit of placing …

Discussion: New York Magazine