Mediagazer: Hyperlocal sites tend to ban anonymous commenting (Jeff Sonderman/Poynter)

3:20 AM ET, July 29, 2011

Top News:

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Can news publishers learn anything from Netflix? — Users of Netflix's digital movie-rental service have been up in arms about a sudden change to the company's pricing plans, which appears to be aimed at reducing demand for its DVD-by-mail service by jacking up prices.

Thanks:bradfordcross

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of Netflix and the digital shift — Editor's Note: Each week, Ken Doctor — author of Newsonomics and longtime watcher of the business side of digital news — writes about the economics of news for the Lab. — Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says he is surprised that customers …

Discussion: Future of Journalism and TeleRead

Guardian:

News of the World targeted phone of Sarah Payne's mother — Exclusive: Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire had personal details of murdered girl's mother — Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in July 2000, has been told by Scotland Yard …

Discussion: New York Times, Poynter, Adweek, CJR, Vanity Fair, The Lede, The Daily Beast, Salon, Gawker, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, The Wire, The Nation, Press Gazette, Financial Times and Guardian

Wall Street Journal:
U.K. Tabloid's Lawyer Had a Ringside Seat

Discussion: The New York Observer

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Here's What Steve Forbes Is Telling His Staff About That Brutal Fortune Article — Fortune depantsed longtime rival Forbes today with a story detailing the business magazine's finances, which have been terrible. — Don't worry about it, Forbes chairman Steve Forbes tells his staff, via an internal memo which you can read below.

Discussion: The Business Insider, FishbowlNY, Future of Journalism and New York Magazine

Katie Benner / Fortune:
The Forbes family's big deal causes big trouble

Discussion: Folio, The Business Insider, Poynter, Adweek, Mr NYC, FishbowlNY and The Huffington Post

Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:

Does Apple have any interest in buying Barnes & Noble? — We received a tip from an unproven source claiming to have knowledge of discussions within Apple to possibly purchase Barnes & Noble. While this might seem like a strange move at first, it actually makes a whole lot of sense.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, AppleInsider, The Next Web, MacRumors, The Digital Reader, WebProNews, VentureBeat and Tech Trader Daily

D.M. Levine / Adweek:

Current TV's CEO Out Mark Rosenthal will be replaced by co-founder and former CEO Joel Hyatt By D.M. Levine — Photo by Joe Kohen/Getty Images for Current TV — Adweek has confirmed that Mark Rosenthal is stepping down as CEO of Current TV. Current co-founder Joel Hyatt, will take over for Rosenthal.

Discussion: MediaPost, paidContent:UK, Deadline.com and Multichannel

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

Anatomy of a Twitter rumor: When a story's too juicy not to retweet — The latest example of ‘think before you retweet’ emerged today when a false rumor spread like wildfire that British journalist and TV presenter Piers Morgan had been suspended from his position as a CNN talkshow host.

Discussion: Felix, Felix Salmon, Adweek, The New York Observer, Poynter, Guardian, Regret the Error, AdAge, New York Magazine, Lost Remote, American Journalism Review, On Media's Blog and Kirk LaPointe's …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Former News of the World staff offered jobs in Siberia and Finland — Journalists who lost their jobs when News International closed the News of the World have been offered News Corp posts as far afield as Russia, South Africa, Siberia, Finland and Dubai — Former staff at the News …

Discussion: Adweek, The New York Observer, Press Gazette, The Wire and The Independent

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Pruitt: ‘Feels like the 19th’ inning for McClatchy as it reports disappointing revenues again — With most newspaper companies now having reported results through the first half of the year, the basic story remains the same. Print advertising revenues just keep declining.

Discussion: paidContent and NetNewsCheck Latest

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Hyperlocal sites tend to ban anonymous commenting — Many editors of news websites in small communities require that real names are attached to comments on their sites, Tom Grubisich reports. Batavian publisher Howard Owens explains, “If you have people commenting in a public forum …

Discussion: Street Fight

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Why The Atlantic joined up with Pulse — and what the app's usage stats can tell data-hungry publishers — Just last week Pulse struck a new partnership agreement, adding The Atlantic, The Atlantic Wire, and The National Journal to its list of featured content providers.

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Cision

Nieman Storyboard:

Memoir's truthy obligations: a handy how-to guide — How true does a memoir have to be? That question has been the basis of an ongoing debate kicked off by the revelation, five years ago, that much of James Frey's bestselling “A Million Little Pieces” was made up. — Unfortunately, it has never been adequately answered.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

Greg Sandoval / Media Maverick:

A defense of charging more for Web TV (Q&A) — So apparently we were just kidding ourselves and the Internet really isn't going to send us to some digital TV Shangri-La, where all the content was free of charge, available at our fingertips, and killed commercial breaks.

Discussion: CNET News, TorrentFreak, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, mediabistro.com, Broadcasting & Cable and GigaOM

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Netflix Is for Movies, Hulu Is for TV Shows. Neither Is for Your iPad or Your iPhone.

Discussion: VentureBeat, PopWatch, Lost Remote, Techland, ArtsBeat, SplatF, paidContent, CNET News, NetNewsCheck Latest, SocialTimes.com and MediaPost

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Newsbeat debuts as robust, real-time Web analytics tool for news publishers — The people behind the popular realtime analytics tool Chartbeat launched a new version today specifically designed for news publishers, called Newsbeat. It is a more powerful tool for understanding your Web traffic, but also comes at a higher cost.

Discussion: 10,000 Words, TechCrunch, VentureBeat and Future of Journalism

Ben Fenton / Financial Times:

BSkyB directors back James Murdoch — James Murdoch has won the unanimous support of BSkyB directors to remain as chairman, a person familiar with the situation said on Thursday. — He will remain chairman of the satellite broadcaster for the foreseeable future, directors decided …