Mediagazer: L.A. Times, Sac Bee Sue Over Assembly Records (South Pasadena Patch)

2:45 AM ET, August 9, 2011

Top News:

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

NYT Labs: Can a newspaper think like a startup? — After delaying the project while it launched a paywall, the New York Times has finally rolled out its version of Google Labs, the now-shuttered project that provided a home for the search company's various web experiments.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, beta620, News for Digital Journalists and ReadWriteWeb, Thanks:mathewi

Adweek:
First Mover: Frank Rich

Discussion: Poynter, Media & Entertainment, Techland, FishbowlNY and eMedia Vitals

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

What journalists need to know about libelous tweets — Rumors that CNN had suspended Piers Morgan due to the News of the World phone hacking scandal spread on Twitter earlier this month, sparking an important discussion about whether journalists need to verify information before tweeting.

Discussion: The Awl, Rhetorica and Kirk LaPointe's …

Greg Sandoval / Media Maverick:

Apple's rumored ‘Replay’ service a ways off — Warner Bros. is one of at least four top film studios from which Apple has yet to obtain streaming-movie licenses, sources say. — The rumors from last week about Apple being “on the edge” of launching a cloud movie service …

Discussion: Computerworld, TUAW, ReadWriteWeb, SlashGear, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, MediaPost, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, WebProNews, The Business Insider and Electronista, more at Techmeme »

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Current TV Taps David Bohrman as President — Former CNN Washington bureau chief David Bohrman has been named president of Current TV, the cable TV channel founded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt. Current has switched its focus in recent months from non-fiction and user-generated content towards news …

Discussion: Company Town, Poynter, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, Multichannel, FishbowlDC, MediaPost, The New York Observer, Media Decoder, Deadline.com, Adweek, The Wire, On Media's Blog, NewsBusters.org blogs, paidContent and Inside Cable News

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Why Huffpo Would Be Better Off Without ‘Zombie’ AOL — Tim Armstrong. Image by AOL via CrunchBase — Back in February, Arianna Huffington said that selling her company to AOL was like “stepping off a fast-moving train and onto a supersonic jet.” In terms of creating value for shareholders …

Discussion: Crikey and Future of Journalism

Austin Carr / Fast Company: AOL iPad Mag “Editions” Missed The Memo About The AOL Way

Dan Duray / The New York Observer:

Conde Nast Sued Over Vanity Fair Oleg Cassini Story — Conde Nast has been sued for libel over Maureen Orth's September 2010 Vanity Fair article, “Cassini Royale,” about designer Oleg Cassini and the battle over his estate. The plaintiff identifies herself as Marianne Nestor-Cassini …

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines and The Wrap

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Why the Web's New TV-Style Ratings Might Not Mean More Ad Buys — Nielsen's ‘Campaign Ratings’ Isn't a Cure-all, Could Expose Other Ills — It's become an article of faith among digital folks that once online media can be measured apples to apples to TV, big dollars will flow to the web.

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Onion's CTO: Our paywall experiment is just that — When word got out about The Onion testing a paid content model overseas, Gawker declared the beginning of the end: “It only affects dirty foreigners at the moment, but everyone knows damn well that these things always presage a domestic rollout.

Discussion: A.V. Club, The Consumerist and AdPulp

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Hawaiian punch! A paywall showdown in Honolulu — It looks like Honolulu just turned into a two-paywall town. Last week, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser began charging for online content. And it's a hard wall, too: no monthly allowance for stories like, say, The New York Times offers …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Michael Wolff / Adweek:

How Bad Is News Corp.? — In my biography of Rupert Murdoch, I referred to News Corporation as Mafia-like, provoking the annoyance of my publisher's libel lawyers. I explained to them that I did not mean to suggest this was an organized crime family, but instead was using “mafia” …

Discussion: Mixed Media, Poynter, Deadline.com, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Future of Journalism

Trymaine Lee / The Huffington Post:

The Rise And Fall Of KING, The 'Illest Men's Magazine Ever' — “We need to talk about KING,” the Harris Publications exec told Datwon Thomas, editor-in-chief of XXL magazine and a founder and editorial director of KING, the men's lifestyle magazine. — It was early 2009.

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

‘Extreme Couponing’ show blamed for rise in newspaper thefts — A 34-year-old Arkansas woman was charged with misdemeanor theft last week after she stole 185 unsold copies of the Springdale Morning News that were left outside a grocery store for a carrier to pick up.

South Pasadena Patch:

L.A. Times, Sac Bee Sue Over Assembly Records — The publishers of The Sacramento Bee and Los Angeles Times newspapers joined on Friday to sue the California State Assembly over its refusal to release legislators' spending records and office budgets. — The Bee's full story can be found here.

Telegraph:

How technology fuelled Britain's first 21st century riot — The Tottenham riots were orchestrated by teenage gang members who used the latest mobile phone technology to incite and film the looting and violence. — The disorder was captured second-by-second on Twitter with rioters so caught …