Mediagazer: Financial News for the Rest of Us (Arthur S. Brisbane/New York Times)

1:30 PM ET, August 28, 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, Media Nation and MarketWatch

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, Speakeasy, TVNewser and Future of Journalism, more at Techmeme »

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Hurricane Irene Knocks Down Paywalls — As the East Coast prepares for a major hurricane, Zinio is offering digital magazines free to stranded travelers and some newspapers' paywalls are coming down. — The New York Times today launched @NYTLive, a Twitter feed for breaking news surrounding major events.

Erik Wemple:

Hurricane Irene's path: Is the Weather Channel veering off course? — A Weather Channel news release lays out the station's mission in covering Hurricane Irene: … That's not just PR blather, either. In a noon interview, Bob Walker, executive vice president and general manager of network …

Discussion: Multichannel, TVNewser, Guardian, Gawker, Gizmodo and Forbes

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 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 …

Ken Fisher / Ars Technica:

Does the press have an ethical duty to out powerful gays in tech? — The following editorial deals with topics that we believe are relevant to technology journalism. While this subject matter is uncommon at Ars, it is not unprecedented. — Do journalists have a duty to “out” so-called “closeted” gay people?

Discussion: The First Post and Felix Salmon

Maria Popova / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Accessibility vs. access: How the rhetoric of “rare” is changing in the age of information abundance — A Rare Glimpse of William Burroughs' Belongings, proclaimed a recent Fast Company headline. But what does “rare” really mean these days? A photograph indexed by Google is hardly “rare …

Discussion: TeleRead

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Sky's Alex Crawford: ‘sexist’ to ask if motherhood compatible with frontline — Correspondent who reported live as rebel convoy entered Tripoli reveals how she copes with the risks and dangers of her job — Her four children ask why she can't work at their school but Alex Crawford …

Discussion: Media News, Advertising …

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

Tuning into Kai Ryssdal's ‘Marketplace’ — The L.A.-based public radio program, among the few major economic shows not based in New York, has grown its audience. — The voice coming out of the radio sounded folksy and a bit worn-out, speaking words so honest they almost made you feel embarrassed to be listening in.

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Ben Popper / Betabeat:

Henry Blodget Says Kara Swisher Helped Groupon Violate SEC Quiet Period — I'm telling you this Pets.com is a winner! — Henry Blodget knows a thing or two about securities violations. During the dot-com boom he rose to the the position of number one Internet analyst at Merrill Lynch.

Discussion: The Business Insider, Poynter and The Wire, Thanks:benpopper

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Judge dismisses Fox News correspondent's age, sex discrimination suit — On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided with Fox News and dismissed an age and sex discrimination complaint filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of homeland and national security correspondent Catherine Herridge.

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Suits & Sentences and TVNewser