Mediagazer: The Freelance Surge Is the Industrial Revolution of Our Time (Sara Horowitz/The Atlantic Online)

1:25 PM ET, September 2, 2011

Top News:

Dan Primack / Fortune:

CrunchFund confusion — If Michael Arrington is leaving TechCrunch, what does that mean for the investors in CrunchFund? — Yesterday we were first to report that tech blogger Michael Arrington has launched a $20 million venture capital fund, which is being backed by AOL (AOL) and a group of Silicon Valley's top VC firms.

Discussion: The Business Insider, Poynter, The Business Insider, Future Journalism Project, New York Magazine, @eldon, @jayrosen_nyu, Adweek and broadstuff

The Business Insider:

AOL SPOKESMAN: Mike Arrington Is No Longer Employed By This Company* — Update: WAIT! Now AOL Says Mike Arrington Is Still An Employee - In The Business Development Division — Earlier: TechCrunch founder and editor Michael Arrington is “not employed by AOL” anymore, AOL Huffington Post spokesperson Mario Ruiz tells us.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Bits, Forbes, VentureBeat, mediabistro.com, The Business Insider, FishbowlNY, Between the Lines Blog, @pkafka, @lyneka and @pkafka, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Mike Arrington, AOL Employee, Won't Have “Influence on Coverage,” Says AOL — You thought a story about Mike Arrington would be clean and easy? Ha. — So here's the latest (for those just tuning in, we'll do backstory later — who said the inverted triangle was dead?):

Discussion: Mixed Media and The Loop

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

The CrunchFund: Actually, Tim, We Don't All Have “Different” Standards — Yesterday afternoon, Mike Arrington and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced the launch of “the CrunchFund”, a venture fund that will — according to the New York Times — “invest in start-ups, including some that [Arrington] and his staff write about”.

Discussion: FT Tech Hub

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Michael Arrington launching venture fund — America's most powerful tech blogger is taking a major step into the world of venture capital. — Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, is raising a venture capital fund to invest in early-stage technology companies, Fortune has learned.

Dave Winer / Scripting News:
Arrington is the future of what we used to call journalism

Discussion: Mark Evans Tech

Nicholas Carlson / The Business Insider:
AOL Is Replacing Michael Arrington At TechCrunch - He'll Still Write

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Future of Journalism and Gizmodo

Mat Honan / Gizmodo:
Aol: You've Got Conflicts

Discussion: Venture Capital Dispatch, Betabeat, The Business Insider, L.A. Times Tech Blog, @kemcke, @zee and @fromedome

Felix Gillette / Business Week:

Matthew Freud Will See You Now — If the PR whiz can steer himself and his wife, Elisabeth Murdoch, through the News Corp. scandal, he could emerge as a central force in the empire — In the night of July 2, Elisabeth Murdoch and her husband, Matthew Freud, threw a party at their country estate on the outskirts of London.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Company Town and Felix Salmon

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Jim Breyer Joins News Corp. Board as Tom Perkins Departs — Jim Breyer. Image via CrunchBase — Tom Perkins won't be the one who sees to it that all is set to rights at News Corp. The prominent venture capitalist is giving up his seat on the media conglomerate's board of directors after 15 years …

Discussion: AllThingsD, paidContent, TechCrunch, FishbowlNY, Journalism.co.uk, Forbes, The Independent and Globe and Mail

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch receives $12.5m bonus — News Corp chief's total pay package soars 47% to $33m, while his son James lands $6m bonus to hit total of almost $18m — The News Corporation chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, received a $12.5m (£7.7m) cash bonus for the last financial year …

Discussion: Media Decoder and The Wrap

Reuters:

Insight: Murdoch's tough guy Carlucci under pressure — (Reuters) - Paul Carlucci's name doesn't appear on any public list of News Corp's power players. As CEO of News America Marketing and publisher of the New York Post, he is the most influential executive you've never heard of inside Rupert Murdoch's empire.

Discussion: Stop Big Media News, The Slog and Crikey

Ben Fritz / Company Town:

Netflix offered $300 million-plus, but Starz wanted higher consumer prices — Starz didn't just want Netflix to pay more money for its content. It wanted Netflix consumers to pay more too. — Netflix offered Starz more than $300 million per year to renew their agreement …

Shira Ovide / Deal Journal:
Netflix Stock Sinks as Starz Ends Deal Talks

Discussion: AllThingsD, The Wire, Starz Entertainment Media Room, Reuters, CNET News, TechCrunch, Variety, Between the Lines Blog, msnbc.com, Mashable!, ReadWriteWeb, SplatF, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @felixsalmon, @jtoeman and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

It's not just nice for media to be social — it's imperative — By now, plenty of people have written about the need for traditional media entities to embrace social media as a way to engage with their readers, or what journalism professor Jay Rosen has called “the people formerly known as the audience.”

Discussion: Free Press, Future of Journalism and eMedia Vitals, Thanks:ejbarbwilkinson

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Oprah calls on tech bigs to save Web site — Oprah Winfrey is in need of an Internet intervention. — The talk show queen plans to huddle with top tech players next week to gin up some ideas for reviving her flagship site, Oprah.com, whose traffic has plummeted since her daytime talk show ended in May, The Post has learned.

Discussion: AllThingsD, The Business Insider, The Huffington Post, VatorNews, TVWeek.com, The Next Web and The New York Observer, more at Techmeme »

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Reporters Without Borders suspends WikiLeaks mirror site — Press freedom group temporarily suspends mirror site following WikiLeaks' publication of its entire cache of unredacted US embassy cables — Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has temporarily suspended …

Discussion: Guardian, Reporters Without Borders and The First Post

MediaShift Idea Lab:

Journalists Should Join Google+ to Understand What Comes Next — This month's Carnival of Journalism, a site that I've organized where bloggers can convene to all write about the same topic, was hosted by Kathy Gill, a social media consultant and senior lecturer at the University of Washington …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Felix Salmon:

How journalists deal with economists' ethics — Craig Silverman emails with some questions about the proposed economists' code of ethics, which I think is an excellent idea. He has an interesting angle: how does this affect journalists? Here are his questions, with my answers. … Absolutely.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Nylon President Reports to Court This Month for Money Laundering Trial — The first issue. — Later this month, the longtime president of Nylon magazine, Don Hellinger, and its current chief financial officer, Jami Pearlman, will report to court for trial readiness.

The Politico:

Washington Post to close all but two local bureaus — The Washington Post is closing all of its local bureaus except two, in the state capitals of Virginia and Maryland, according to a note posted on the Post Guild website. — “As some of you have probably heard already …

Discussion: Street Fight, Poynter, The Atlantic Wire, New York Magazine and Future of Journalism

Amy Gardner / @amyegardner:
A sad day at The Washington Post, with the news that we're closing all of our local bureaus except Richmond and Annapolis.

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlDC, @wapoombudsman, The Wrap, paidContent, Adweek, @wapoombudsman and National Review