Mediagazer: Big Media is at the mercy of the tech giants and it's their own fault (Daniel Bentley/Ink Think)

9:45 AM ET, October 1, 2011

Top News:

Judson Berger / Fox News:

Course Instructs Journalists to Take Note That Jihad ‘Not a Leading Cause of Death’ — A new online journalism course on Islam appears to downplay the threat posed by global jihad groups, suggesting reporters keep the death toll from Islamic terrorism in “context” by comparing that toll …

Discussion: Media Research Center and Big Journalism

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Judith Miller: ‘Just what kind of journalism is Poynter promoting?’ — Fox Newser Judith Miller took Poynter's free online course titled “Covering Islam in America,” then graded it “mediocre.” She complains that “the implicit message” of the course is that the 3,000 9/11 deaths have been over-covered …

Judith Miller / Fox News:
Jihad Is Not Just Murder, Motive Matters

Discussion: Gawker

Greg Sandoval / CNET News:

Apple seeks worldwide iCloud music rights — Managers at iTunes are trying to lock down worldwide cloud-music rights, CNET has learned. — Sources familiar with the discussions between Apple, record companies, and music publishers, say Apple is seeking international music licenses for its iCloud service.

Discussion: AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Electronista, MacStories and TUAW, more at Techmeme »

Joe Flint / Company Town:

Don't hold your breath for a la carte cable — Is the cable industry starting to change its mind about the idea of letting consumers decide what channels they want? A recent story from Reuters says cable operators are working on a such a plan and that it “represents a complete reversal …

Alex Sherman / Business Week:
Cable's ESPN Dilemma: Wildly Popular—but Costly

Discussion: MediaPost

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Alibaba's Jack Ma at Stanford: “We Are Very Interested” in Buying the “Whole” of Yahoo — In answer to a direct question about whether his company was going to buy Yahoo at a forum at Stanford University in Silicon Valley this afternoon, Alibaba Chairman and CEO Jack Ma said: “We are very interested.”

Discussion: Bits, TechCrunch and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Daniel Bentley / Ink Think:

Big Media is at the mercy of the tech giants and it's their own fault … This is a question I have been asked to answer. Well, not answer, but at least research the issues enough to stimulate some debate. So over the course of a few blog posts I intend to share some of what I uncovered and solicit some feedback.

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Who believes print newspapers have a future? ‘The Occupy Wall Street Journal’ does — Amid all the complaints that there's an Occupy Wall Street media blackout, some protest-sympathizers have taken matters into their own hands. — Tomorrow, the rolling protest in the Financial District …

Discussion: Future of Journalism, The Nation, The New York Observer, CJR, Runnin' Scared, Mogulite and New York Magazine

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Historic New York Times Emoticon Headline Makes it into Print — When the New York Times published the headline “Study of Twitter Messages Tracks When We Are ” online, Yahoo reported that it marked first time an emoticon had been used to convey information in a headline-replacing a word in a sentence rather than punctuating it.

Discussion: Adverblog, Future Journalism Project and Poynter

Matth / Nielsen Wire:

Top US Web Brands — Google was the most visited website during August 2011 with 176 million unique U.S. visitors. The Top Sites among U.S. web users remained largely the same as the month before, with Amazon increasing its rank to become the 9th most visited site during August 2011.

Discussion: Mashable!

The Wrap:

Michael Ovitz Fails in Takeover Bid at IMG, Board Moves to Oust Him — Follow @sharonwaxman Follow @BrentALang — With IMG Worldwide Chairman and CEO Ted Forstmann on his deathbed, board member Michael Ovitz has made a failed play to take over the giant sports talent agency, and it has backfired, TheWrap has learned.

Discussion: FishbowlLA

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Who'll Be NPR's Next CEO? — NEW YORK — It's been over six months since NPR's board of directors ousted CEO Vivian Schiller, following a hidden-camera scandal involving an NPR fundraising executive, and eight months since NPR's top news executive, Ellen Weiss, was shown the door in the wake of the Juan Williams firing.

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Muffingate's Sad Story: 178 Articles Perpetuate DOJ Myth, 37 Correct It — WASHINGTON — It seemed too good to be true and largely was. — A report released by the Justice Department's acting inspector general on Sept. 20 uncovered a treasure chest of “wasteful or extravagant spending” …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Spot and Poynter