Mediagazer: Disrupters and Adapters, Continued: Will the Internet Save Newspapers? (Bill Keller)

9:05 AM ET, October 4, 2011

Top News:

Daily Mail inquiry into ‘Knox guilty’ blunder — The Daily Mail has launched an internal inquiry after mistakenly publishing a story on its website claiming Amanda Knox had lost the appeal against her conviction for murdering British student Meredith Kercher.

Discussion: Guardian, Hollywood Reporter, Regret the Error, Business Insider and FleetStreetBlues

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

‘Daily Mail’ Jumps The Gun On Knox Verdict With Embarrassing Results — The internet makes it possible to broadcast breaking news at a pace unlike anything we've ever experienced. Unfortunately, that includes the ability to rapidly transmit reports that never should have been written, much less published.

Discussion: Malcolm Coles, Guardian, Daily Mail, Softpedia News, The Huffington Post, Journalism.co.uk, Mediaite, @themediatweets, @mikebutcher, @matthewwells, @marcsettle, @kashhill, @felixsalmon, Gawker, Future Journalism Project and Associated Press

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Amanda Knox verdict plays big & bold on most news home pages

Discussion: TVNewser, The Atlantic Wire and Mediaite

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

U.S. Mobile Ad Spend To Pass $1 Billion For The First Time This Year — Mobile advertising is still a small and young business when you compare it to how much money goes into digital—let alone offline—advertising and marketing campaigns. But there are some clear signs of it growing up fast …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Bill Keller:

Disrupters and Adapters, Continued: Will the Internet Save Newspapers? — The two visions of higher education's future I described in my column this week - Stanford Professor Sebastian Thrun's mission of a virtual university and Stanford President John Hennessy's devotion to a flesh-and-blood campus …

Discussion: Erik Wemple and New York Times

Jessica Pressler / New York Magazine:

It's Good to Be Michael Lewis — He could have made a fortune in business. Instead, he made a fortune writing about it. Plus—a fortune for everyone he writes about. — Collins Tuohy has told this story before, and by now her delivery is spot on. It was Thanksgiving morning …

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

MG Siegler Will Become Our Apple Columnist, And Join CrunchFund As A VC — When I first reached out to MG Siegler to join TechCrunch two and a half years ago, I knew he was an amazing talent who could help cement our place as the premier technology blog on the Internet.

Discussion: parislemon, Gawker, UNCRUNCHED, Fred Destin, paidContent, @betabeat and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

Silver Lake, Alibaba, Digital Sky in Yahoo Talks — The private-equity firm Silver Lake, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Russia's Digital Sky Technologies are discussing a possible joint bid for Yahoo! Inc., three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Discussion: Forbes and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Federated Media Buys Lijit Networks — San Francisco-based Federated Media Publishing said it had bought Lijit Networks, a smaller online advertising analytics and tools firm. — The price for the Boulder, Colo. start-up -which was founded in 2006 — was undisclosed …

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Analysis: For ABC News and Yahoo!, New Partnership Requires a Long-Term Investment — Fox News, The Huffington Post, Current TV, Gawker, Turner Sports, CBS and CBS News, Microsoft, Granite Broadcasting, CNN.com and ABC News-twice. — These are just some of the major media companies …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, GigaOM, New York Times, Beet.TV, Broadcasting & Cable, Thompson on Hollywood and paidContent

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Yahoo-ABC News partnership: the more things change…

Discussion: ABCNEWS, ReadWriteWeb, Adweek, rbr.com, New York Magazine, AdAge, Multichannel, CNET News, Softpedia News and TechCrunch

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Apple expected to introduce Newsstand today at iPhone 5 event — Apple is announcing the latest version of its phone and mobile operating system today, which among many upgrades includes a new Newsstand section for buying and organizing newspaper and magazine apps.

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Editor: Aug. 2011 ‘Wall Street Journal’ ad revenue up 24 percent over Aug. 2010 — The Wall Street Journal saw a 24-percent increase in print ad revenue in August when compared to August of 2010, an increase that occurred “while other national newspapers have reported distressing declines in advertising …

Discussion: Media Matters for America and Poynter

Keach Hagey / On Media's Blog:

Newsweek retracts Pelosi quote — Nancy Pelosi is not exactly what you'd call a loose cannon. — So it was big news this morning when a quote attributed to the House Minority Leader began circulating around the blogosphere, in which she appeared to tell Newsweek's Howard Kurtz …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, Erik Wemple, TPMDC, Regret the Error, New York Magazine, Business Insider and The Daily Caller

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Price-Fixing Case Against Apple, Major Book Publishers Mushrooms — Back in August, a class action lawsuit was filed against five major book publishers and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), accusing them of colluding to jack up the price of e-books in an effort to wrest back pricing power from Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN).

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Prometheus Shares Ownership Of Back Stage; ‘Wolff Is Not Being Fired’ — Prometheus Global Media, the publisher of Adweek, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter has struck a strategic alliance with a group of investors led by NYC taxi advertising executive John Amato to run performing arts title Back Stage magazine.

Discussion: FishbowlLA and Deadline.com

E.B. Boyd / Fast Company:

Yahoo Launches Video Destination Site — More and more people are logging on to the Internet for the kind of relaxation and entertainment they used to look for on the boob tube. Yahoo Screen positions the company to capture some of those audiences. — Move over Hulu. There's a new video hub in town.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Matthew Creamer / AdAge:

Why Tina Brown, Chris Anderson, David Remnick and Others Are Upbeat Despite Media Tumult — Diversification, digital opportunities, end to global boundaries are all bright spots during uncertain time — If the media industry had a Song of Itself, it'd be all weeping violins, minor keys and martial drumbeats.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

‘Diggnation,’ Popular Web Talk Show, to End in December — Together, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht are akin to Oprah for a certain class of tech enthusiasts. — The weekly beta-testing and beer-guzzling show they have hosted for six years, “Diggnation,” adapted the television talk show format …

Discussion: GigaOM, @kevinrose and PC Magazine, more at Techmeme »

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Hearst Magazines boss: We've made giant strides toward becoming ‘the magazine company of the future’ — Romenesko+ Misc. — In a letter sent this morning to all Hearst Magazines employees, president David Carey says tomorrow's HGTV Magazine tryout “is a testament to our conviction that every sector …

Discussion: Media Life Magazine, Adweek and FishbowlNY

Stefanie Botelho / Folio:

In 2011, Magazine Launches Outpace Closures — Food and regional interest titles lead launch categories. — In its quarterly survey, Mediafinder.com reports 200 magazines launched in the first nine months of 2011. This number is an upshot from the same period in 2010, in which 176 magazines debuted.

C. J. Chivers / New York Times:

Tyler Hicks: A Decade in Afghanistan — There are places and times where the politics that drive wars fade and then fade more, becoming abstractions to the people who fight or who are in a fight's way. And there are moments when politics disappear entirely, and more elemental actions and emotions replace them.

David Hirschman / Street Fight:

Hyperlocal Publishers Form a Trade Group — A new trade association aims to unite independent hyperlocal publishers around common business interests and offer services that small publishers may not have access to on their own, such as health insurance. — At the Block by Block conference …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, eMedia Vitals and Poynter

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Grant money is available to independent investigative journalists — Romenesko+ Misc. — Need money for travel and other reporting expenses? The Fund for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) has grants averaging $5,000 for independent journalists who are investigating issues in the United States …

Eugenia Chien / Poynter:

4 things news sites should know before partnering with a local blog — For the last three years, I've been running the website Muni Diaries, where public transit riders in San Francisco submit stories that happened on the bus. Along the way, we have been approached by several large news organizations for content partnerships.

Stuart Dredge / paidContent:

More Than Half Of Netflix's Streams Are TV Shows, Not Films — Netflix's background in DVDs-by-mail means it is often seen as mainly a movies service. However, the balance has tipped more towards TV shows in its streaming operation. — “50 percent and sometimes 60 percent of viewing is TV episodes now …

Discussion: GigaOM, FT Tech Hub, Deadline.com and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

New Hulu Bids Due This Week, But Sale Probability Wanes — Second-round bids for the streaming start-up Hulu are due this week, but a sale looks less and less likely as the owners debate demands for conditions around the bids, according to individuals knowledgeable about the auction.

Discussion: GigaOM and MediaPost