Mediagazer: Sky's Alex Crawford: ‘sexist’ to ask if motherhood compatible with frontline (Dan Sabbagh/Guardian)

5:55 AM ET, August 29, 2011

Top News:

A Hurricane of Hype — Irene fell far short of the media's dire warnings even before it was downgraded. Howard Kurtz on the scaremongering by television and local officials.

Discussion: Poynter, MarketWatch, CNN, Nation Now, Gawker, New York Magazine, Brendan's Denver Weather Blog, Hot Air, Inside Cable News, TVNewser and Media Nation

Matthew Lynley / VentureBeat:

Hurricane Irene mayhem chronicled via Instagram — Instagram users hunkered down in New York, New Jersey and other cities in the path of the rather menacing-looking Hurricane Irene are chronicling the mayhem through an online Instagram photo album called Instacane.

Discussion: Forbes, ZDNet, Mediaite, Future of Journalism, TVNewser, Gawker, The New Yorker Blog and The Next Web

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Hurricane Coverage Is Ratings Driver for Weather Channel — NAGS HEAD, N.C. — Standing where he warned others not to tread, the beach on the Outer Banks during Hurricane Irene's landfall, Mike Seidel had sand in his teeth, his pockets and his ears. He was soaking wet, barely able to hear — and he was beaming.

John Frank / Raleigh News & Observer:
It's not glamorous to cover a hurricane

Discussion: Pat's Papers

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
Hurricane Irene Knocks Down Paywalls

Erik Wemple:
Hurricane Irene's path: Is the Weather Channel veering off course?

Discussion: Capital New York, Multichannel, FishbowlDC, TVNewser, Gawker, Forbes and Guardian

David Carr / New York Times:

The Media Equation: Steve Jobs Saw What Media Titans Missed - Media Equation — Earlier this year, I wrote a column about the publishing industry's resistance to the terms Apple was imposing for subscriptions on the iPad. Soon after, an e-mail was followed by a phone call and Steve Jobs was on the line to straighten me out.

more at Techmeme »

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Sony TV Aims for Prime Time — CULVER CITY, Calif. — In October 2001, an exasperated Howard Stringer, the chief executive of Sony, ordered a dramatic downsizing at the company's studio here. — Moviemaking would continue apace, but the production of new television shows …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Wall Street Journal:

For Wal-Mart, a Rare Online Success — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has stumbled often in Internet retailing, but the big-box granddad has been surprisingly successful in one online venture: digital movie downloads. — A year after buying streaming service Vudu, which lets customers rent …

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

Google crashes TV's Edinburgh party — What did the television industry make of Eric Schmidt's MacTaggart speech? — There are three things the TV executive audience have come to expect from the annual MacTaggart lecture: the pantomime of an inter-industry dispute, an intellectual appreciation …

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Guardian, more at Techmeme »

Arthur S. Brisbane / New York Times:

Financial News for the Rest of Us — WILL readers of The New York Times in print get less because The Times must invest to compete for readers and advertisers in the digital medium? — The DealBook business news product may offer an early indication. DealBook, which was greatly expanded last fall …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

New York Times:

Accounts of Chinese Bloggers Suspended, Causing Protests — BEIJING — The operators of China's most vibrant equivalent of Twitter notified each of its 200 million users Friday that several bloggers deemed to have spread unfounded rumors would have their accounts suspended for one month.

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Future Journalism Project

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

Now Can We All Agree That The “High Quality Web Content” Experiment Has Failed? — It's hard to imagine anything more perfect than Slate's decision to lay off its respected media critic Jack Shafer. Not perfect in a good way — I count myself amongst Shafer's legions of fans …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Noam Cohen / New York Times:

Link by Link: In Times of Unrest, Social Networks Can Be a Distraction — THE mass media, including interactive social-networking tools, make you passive, can sap your initiative, leave you content to watch the spectacle of life from your couch or smartphone. — Apparently even during a revolution.

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

Unredacted Wikileaks Cables Found Online? Probably, Depressingly — “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” - George Orwell, Animal Farm — “Leck bei Wikileaks”.