Mediagazer: Dish Said to Plan Blockbuster Rival to Netflix (Alex Sherman/Bloomberg)

4:30 PM ET, September 3, 2011

Top News:

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

CrunchFund? Unethical Ventures? Pig Pile Partners? No Matter What You Call It, It's Business as Usual in Silicon Valley. — Of course I have something to say about the news yesterday that AOL would be a key investor in a new early-stage venture fund being started by TechCrunch's …

Discussion: The Business Insider, Bits, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Tweetage Wasteland, VatorNews, Future Journalism Project, Mark Evans Tech, The Loop, FT Tech Hub, ReadWriteWeb, The Next Web, Betabeat and Venture Capital Dispatch, more at Techmeme »

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is journalism as we know it becoming obsolete? — There have been plenty of obituaries written for the newspaper business, most of which have a kernel of truth to them — but is journalism as we know it at risk as well? Dave Winer, a programming guru and visiting scholar at the New York University school of journalism, says it is.

Dave Winer / Scripting News:

Arrington is the future of what we used to call journalism — Interesting but not too surprising how the tech press is spinning the new VC fund being run by Mike Arrington of TechCrunch. — There's not any real controversy here, however. — 1. It's not news. He's been investing in tech startups for a long time.

Discussion: AllThingsD, The Business Insider, Future of Journalism, @eldon, MediaPost and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

The Business Insider:
AOL Left Arianna Huffington In The Dark About Arrington's Controversial VC Fund

Discussion: TechFlash, VatorNews and MediaFile, more at Techmeme »

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Dish Said to Plan Blockbuster Rival to Netflix — Dish Network Corp. (DISH), the second largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, will introduce a Blockbuster streaming-movie service to compete with Netflix Inc. (NFLX) next month, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, GigaOM, Electronista, The Wrap, CNET News, Deadline.com and Engadget

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Introducing Journo Ipsum, for all your nonsense-about-the-future-of- news textual needs — Anyone who's spent much time hanging around the publishing or design worlds knows about lorem ipsum, the classic Latin placeholder text used to dummy up prose filler in a layout.

Discussion: 10,000 Words, Future of Journalism and The Digital Reader

James Ball / Guardian:

Why I felt I had to turn my back on WikiLeaks — Former staffer tells how dismay mounted during his three months with the whistleblowing group — I joined WikiLeaks last November as a staffer for a three-month stint. Culture shock came just a few days in, when Julian Assange gathered core staff …

Discussion: Future of Journalism, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Tom Watson and Adweek

Amy Chozick / Wall Street Journal:

Hollywood's TV Factory — A surprising number of TV's most popular shows, from CBS's ‘The Big Bang Theory’ to NBC's ‘The Voice,’ come from one source. Backstage at the busiest studio in America. — “Casablanca” was shot at the Warner Bros. studio lot here, as were “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Million Dollar Baby.”

Discussion: Stop Big Media News and Company Town

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Social media editor role expands to include fighting misinformation during breaking news — The buzzwords for social media editors at news outlets are conversation, curation and collaboration. But when using Twitter and its ilk to collect and disseminate news in real-time, another word is becoming just as important: corroboration.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

Forced vacation use ordered at L.A. Times — More cost cutting: the same week that parent Tribune asked the bankruptcy judge to approve bonuses for 640 managers, Los Angeles Times employees received an email saying they will not accrue vacation for the rest of 2011.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:

Online video finally chipping away at broadcast TV — A quarter of people in countries with access to high-speed broadband are streaming video to their TV, although more than 80 percent still watch broadcast television as well. But that's slowly beginning to change: According to survey data …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

Who gets Starz digital rights now? Probably no one — Starz dropped a bomb on Netflix Thursday, announcing to the world that it was ending negotiations for a renewal of their deal and pulling its content from the streaming service next March. That's led many to speculate about who might pick up those rights when they lapse.

Discussion: Company Town, Future of Journalism and Techland

Tim Carmody / Epicenter:
How the Starz-Netflix Divorce Will Remake Video

Discussion: The Next Web and Between the Lines Blog, Thanks:tcarmody

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

James Murdoch Turns Down $6 Million Bonus, Citing PhoneGate — News Corp. executive James Murdoch says he'll decline a $6 million bonus the company gave him for his performance in its last fiscal year, citing the ongoing PhoneGate scandal. — Murdoch, who is Deputy Chief Operating Officer …

Discussion: Forbes, Media News, Advertising …, Multichannel, rbr.com, Adweek, Media & Entertainment, Broadcasting & Cable, Runnin' Scared, Guardian, The Independent, Journalism.co.uk, Reuters, Media Law Prof Blog and FishbowlNY

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:UK:

Digital-First Guardian Cuts Down MediaGuardian, Two Other Print Supplements — More developments on the theme of printed newspapers going digital first. The Guardian has announced that the MediaGuardian, plus two other weekly supplements on education and society, will cease to be a standalone printed supplements after next week.

Discussion: Media News, Advertising … and Press Gazette