Mediagazer: Analysis: AOL's Armstrong feeling the heat with Project Devil (Jennifer Saba/Reuters)

8:30 AM ET, September 9, 2011

Top News:

Marissa Mayer / The Official Google Blog:

Google just got ZAGAT Rated! — “Did you know there's a place in Menlo Park near the Safeway that has a 27 food rating?” one of my friends asked me that about two years ago, and I was struck because I immediately knew what it meant. Food rating... 30 point scale... Zagat. And the place... had to be good.

Discussion: DealBook, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Search Engine Land, the Econsultancy blog, Reuters, Business Insider, AllThingsD, Zagat Buzz, Epicenter, Deal Journal, Eater National, Softpedia News, Medacity, Jeff Jarvis, CNET News, TechCrunch, PE Hub Blog, rbr.com, John Battelle's Searchblog, ReadWriteWeb, Computerworld, Betabeat, VatorNews, Engadget, @jeremyhfisher, paidContent:UK, Gawker, @jeffjarvis, AdAge, Forbes, Fortune, Globe and Mail, msnbc.com, Gothamist, Media & Entertainment, CNNMoney.com, MarketingVox News & Trends, @marissamayer, Future of Journalism, Fast Company, Beyond Search, GeekWire, Screenwerk, MediaPost, The Week, Mercury News, ClickZ, HBR.org, VentureBeat, PC Magazine, The Consumerist, GigaOM, Mashable!, LAUNCH, L.A. Times Tech Blog, The Next Web, Techland, Techi.com, Felix Salmon, The New York Observer, New York Magazine, Adweek, GalleyCat, Hillicon Valley, Gannett Blog and eBookNewser, more at Techmeme »

Larry Dignan / Between the Lines Blog:
Google acquires Zagat, enters original content business

Discussion: DealBook, ReadWriteWeb, broadstuff, MediaFile, AllThingsD, Computerworld, Top Digital Journal News and CNET News, more at Techmeme »

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

After AOL Rules Out TechCrunch Sale to Arrington, Tense Severance Negotiations Taking Place — AOL is still engaged in complex severance negotiations with TechCrunch founder and editor Michael Arrington, which some close to the situation warn could eventually end in court if not resolved.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, TechCrunch, PE Hub Blog, FT Tech Hub, Gawker, Folio and Talking Biz News, more at Techmeme »

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Analysis: AOL's Armstrong feeling the heat with Project Devil — (Reuters) - Forget the Michael Arrington sideshow — AOL boss Tim Armstrong has a bigger problem, involving the “Project Devil” advertising unit. — Project Devil, which is a large-ad format with interactive panels that dominate a Web page …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Steve Buttry / The Buttry Diary:

Social media (mostly Twitter) resources for journalists — Here are resources to help journalists using Twitter and other social media. — For the last few months, as I've been visiting Journal Register Co. newsrooms and blogging more tips for journalists using social media …

David Kravets / Threat Level:
Newspaper Chain Drops Righthaven — ‘It Was a Dumb Idea’

Discussion: Adweek

Alex Goldman / On the Media:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RIGHTHAVEN

Discussion: TeleRead, Plagiarism Today, Denver Post and paidContent

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
Paton: Too Early To Say Whether MediaNews Paywalls Stay Up

Discussion: Erik Wemple, MediaPost, Poynter, mediabistro.com, Guardian, San Francisco Peninsula … and eMedia Vitals

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

What Publishers Can Learn From Online Retailers — What does content mean for online retailers, and how can publishers successfully work commerce into their websites? Those were the questions discussed at a Financial Times panel in NYC last night. “There are lots of things …

Discussion: Future of Journalism and eMedia Vitals

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

How to Watch the NFL on the Web, Legally, for Free — Remember when it seemed like this year's pro football season could be cancelled or delayed because of a fight between millionaires and billionaires? — Phew! The NFL kicks off tonight, on schedule, on NBC, when the Saints play the Packers.

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

ESPN Signs News Rights Deal With NFL — Keeps ‘Monday Night Football’ through 2021 — Jumping the gun on the kickoff of the pro football season Thursday night, Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN unit has signed an extension with the NFL that will keep Monday Night Football on the cable channel for eight more years.

Discussion: Multichannel, Beet.TV, Company Town, Adweek, Forbes, mediabistro.com, rbr.com, MediaPost and Los Angeles Times

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Hey Twitter, you are a media entity now — embrace it — In an informal chat at Twitter headquarters on Thursday, chief executive Dick Costolo talked about some of the numbers behind the service (as Erica reported earlier), including the fact that the network has over 100 million active users now.

Discussion: Search Engine Land, Bits, eMedia Vitals, TechCrunch, paidContent, VentureBeat and Future of Journalism, more at Techmeme »

BBC:

Nato-led forces killed BBC reporter in Afghanistan — Ahmed Omed Khpulwak sent text messages saying: “Death has come” — The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan has admitted it mistakenly killed BBC reporter Ahmed Omed Khpulwak in July.

Discussion: Guardian, Jon Slattery, New York Times, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, TVNewser, msnbc.com and Business Insider

Paul Tash / St. Petersburg Times:

Pay for staffers at St. Petersburg Times cut five percent for five months under new cost-saving plan — Pay for full-time employees at the St. Petersburg Times will be cut by five percent until January 2012 under a new cost-savings plan implemented by the newspaper starting Monday.

Discussion: Poynter

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

NI to launch new online service — News International advertises jobs for new online and mobile service dedicated to sport and showbiz — A new online and mobile service dedicated to sport and showbiz is to be launched in the wake of the closure of the News of the World by Rupert Murdoch's News International.

Discussion: The Next Web and Medacity

bizjournals:

Morning News lays off employees as ad decline continues — Dallas Business Journal by Lance Murray , Digital Content Producer — The Dallas Morning News laid off a reported 38 employees on Tuesday as the paper's parent company, A.H. Belo Corp., contends with a continued decline in advertising revenues at its newspapers.

Discussion: MediaPost

Michael Malone / Broadcasting & Cable:

Scripps Launches Live Streaming to Mobile Devices — Wifi simulcast may be lifeline at times of severe weather — The Scripps station group has taken a major step toward keeping its viewers connected on myriad platforms, as it launches live streaming apps in its nine markets that …

Discussion: MediaPost and rbr.com

Quote and Comment:

Journalists Washing Their Hands of the Truth. — NPR goes all “He Said, She Said” on us. Do they really think that fools anyone? — The audio clip (3:42) is an NPR report about a new set of regulations for abortion clinics that the state of Kansas has tried to put in place.

Choire Sicha / The Awl:

Inside Gawker Media's First Company-Wide Meeting — Last night, Gawker Media held its first real company-wide meeting at the Crosby Hotel screening room, down in the hotel's swank basement. Honcho Nick Denton gave a speech from the stage—just like a real grown-up company, and also totally not.

Discussion: Poynter, @weareyourfek, PE Hub Blog and Business Insider