Mediagazer: Ann Curry: 'I Didn't Ask To Be Co-Anchor Of Today' (Jenna Goudreau/Forbes.com)

11:30 AM ET, August 25, 2011

Top News:

Dylan Byers / Adweek:

Slate Lays Off Jack Shafer, Several Others — Slate, the online news magazine owned by the Washington Post Company, has laid off a number of employees, including editor-at-large Jack Shafer, Adweek has learned. — “We have made some editorial changes, including a small reduction in our full …

Discussion: Mixed Media, On Media's Blog, Washington Post, The New York Observer, Poynter, @jackshafer, Slate, @antderosa, American Journalism Review, New York Magazine, paidContent and @dangillmor

Mark Lisheron / American Journalism Review:

A Fearless Media Critic — Slate's Jack Shafer has distinguished himself with his uncompromising approach to his craft. Fri. August 26, 2011 — Senior Contributing Writer Mark Lisheron (mark@texaswatchdog.org) is Austin bureau chief for Texas Watchdog, a government accountability news Web site.

Discussion: Erik Wemple, Poynter, Media Nation, Future Journalism Project, The Hillman Foundation blogs and LA Observed

Dylan Byers / Adweek:

An Interview with Jack Shafer — Slate media critic and Press Box columnist Jack Shafer lost his job on Wednesday. He was, along with three others, part of a round of layoffs at the online news magazine. The news was met with much consternation: Just that day, an article praising Shafer as a …

Discussion: The Awl and FishbowlNY

Rem Rieder / American Journalism Review:

The Romenesko Revolution — He has had an enormous impact on media coverage. Wed. August 24, 2011 — Rem Rieder (rrieder@ajr.umd.edu) is AJR's editor and senior vice president. — Life without Romenesko. It's impossible to contemplate. — Luckily we won't have to.

Discussion: Media Nation and Editors Weblog

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
EXCLUSIVE: Media Pioneer Jim Romenesko To ‘Semi-Retire’

Bill Mitchell / Poynter:
How the Romenesko Years have changed journalism and Poynter

Discussion: New York Times, Future Journalism Project, Media News and Future of Journalism

CmdrTaco / Slashdot:

Rob “CmdrTaco” Malda Resigns From Slashdot 77 — from the steve-got-front-cutsies dept. — After 14 years and over 15,000 stories posted, it's finally time for me to say Good-Bye to Slashdot. I created this place with my best friends in a run down house while still in college.

Discussion: MetaFilter

Bloomberg:

‘Today’ Promotes Curry to Hot Seat as Surging ABC Closes Gap — NBC's “Today” show, making its biggest talent change since Katie Couric left in 2006, heads into the new television season with its 15-year dominance of morning TV challenged by a resurgent ABC.

Discussion: TVNewser

Jenna Goudreau / Forbes.com:
Ann Curry: 'I Didn't Ask To Be Co-Anchor Of Today'

Discussion: TVNewser

Martin Belam / currybetdotnet:

Let's train journalists for the future, not for the past — I'll be speaking tonight at the London Hacks/Hackers meeting, and one of the points I'll be making is that the digital publishing revolution is a perpetual revolution, one that requires constant learning.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Adam / One Man & His Blog:
Nostalgia is not a viable approach to journalism (part 267)

Discussion: AndyDickinson.net, newsplexer and David Higgerson

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

CNN Correspondents Describes Being Held Hostage In Libya — NEW YORK — For the past six days, CNN's Matthew Chance feared that he and roughly 35 journalists trapped by Gaddafi loyalists in Tripoli's Rixos hotel might be somehow used as part of the crumbling regime's endgame — or even executed.

Steve Myers / Poynter:
Journalists freed from Rixos hotel in Tripoli

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, Reporters Without Borders, Mediaite, TVNewser, The Big Picture, The New York Observer, Broadcasting & Cable, msnbc.com, The Wire and Press Gazette

New York Times: Times Journalists Briefly Held by Loyalists in Tripoli

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:
On the Media: A front-row seat to Libyan rebellion

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Joe Flint / Company Town:

For Murdoch, media has often been about friends and influence — In 1996, the teenage son of a prominent political figure in Washington, D.C., got suspended from his tony prep school. — Not wanting to see himself, his family or his boss embarrassed by his son's actions, the father scrambled to keep the incident out of the news.

Discussion: Stop Big Media News

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of loss — 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. — The Bay Area News Group's announcement Tuesday caused a few ripples, and some head-scratching.

Alysia Santo / CJR:

From Commenter to Contributor — On some blogs, taking the comment section seriously can mean hiring people from it — During a string of “boring, terrible” office jobs, Gabriel Delahaye started to regularly comment on Gawker's articles. He wasn't just doing this for fun.

Discussion: Poynter

Granta:

Interview: Anthony Shadid — Anthony Shadid is a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Over his fifteeen year career he has won numerous awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes, for his coverage across the Middle East. Shadid's fluency in Arabic and his deep understanding of the region …

Tom Grubisich / Street Fight:

Why Hyperlocal News Is Better Than Ever — Hyperlocal news is on the threshold of a period of impressive achievement. I'm not talking about revisiting the wishful thinking of the previous decade, when we were regaled with dithyrambics about “grassroots” and “citizen” journalism.

David Weigel / Slate:

The Krugman Google+ Saga: Or, Why Fact-Checking is Important … - Completely Implausible Republican Candidates Who May Still Join the Race! - Why Patricia Marx Made the Heroine of Her New Novel a Lingerie Designer - Are East-Coast Buildings as Earthquake Proof as West-Coast Buildings?

Discussion: Campaign Fix, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, Paul Krugman, MediaPost, Mediaite, On Media's Blog, Poynter, Digital Trends, Media Research Center and Hit & Run

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

YouTube Refuses “The Godfather” After All — If you've never seen “The Godfather,” you really ought to rethink your priorities. It's as great as everyone says it is. And it features Al Pacino from a long time ago, before Al Pacino pretty much played Al Pacino caricatures. And Marlon Brando!

Discussion: PopWatch, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Speakeasy, ArtsBeat and Gizmodo

The Huffington Post:

Four Italian Journalists Reportedly Kidnapped In Libya — ROME — Suspected regime loyalists kidnapped four Italian journalists and killed their local driver in Libya as the group traveled down a highway to Tripoli on Wednesday, the Italian foreign ministry said.