Mediagazer: How 9/11 led to the birth of Google News (Jeff Sonderman/Poynter)

5:15 PM ET, December 1, 2011

Top News:

For first time in history, TV ownership declines — Nielsen, the TV ratings people, are out with the 2012 edition of their Television Audience report. Much of this is a repackaging of data previously released by Nielsen. But as NBC used to say, it's new to me!

Discussion: rbr.com, Poynter, Inside TV, /Film and Future of Journalism

Sean Comer / Yidio: A Sign The Internet Has Won? TV Ownership Declining

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Reporters covering Occupy Wall Street protest outside Obama fund-raiser say police barred them — Reporters told Capital last night that New York Police Department officers turned them away when they tried to report on an Occupy Wall Street protest outside of a Midtown fund-raiser for President Barack Obama …

Discussion: Poynter, The Atlantic Online, Free Press, The New York Observer, City Room, Gothamist, Mother Jones, Runnin' Scared and The Atlantic Online

John Ensslin / Society of Professional Journalists:

Editorial: Arrests of Journalists at ‘Occupy’ Must Stop — Journalists covering the “Occupy” events and protests around the country have become part of the story in recent weeks due to arrests of and restrictions on journalists for simply doing their jobs. In response, SPJ President John Ensslin …

Wikileaks:

The Spyfiles — Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries It sounds like something out of Hollywood, but as of today, mass interception systems, built by Western intelligence contractors, including for ‘political opponents’ are a reality.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, GigaOM, The Raw Story, Gawker, Mail&Guardian and Editors Weblog, more at Techmeme »

Stan Schroeder / Mashable:

Spy Files: WikiLeaks Releases Surveillance Industry Documents — WikiLeaks on Thursday released the first 287 documents from a database containing “hundreds” of documents from contractors in what WikiLeaks calls the “mass surveillance industry.” — For this project, WikiLeaks teamed …

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Blagging figures were ‘grossly understated’ — The Information Commissioner's official figures on the extent of blagging by journalists and private investigators unearthed by Operation Motorman have been “grossly understated” - according to the man who led the investigation.

The Independent: Investigator: I was barred from taking on the press

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

Amazon Widens Its Kindle Footprint With €99 Device On Sale In Spain, Italy — It's taken a few years, but Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has really ramped up the number of countries where it is selling its Kindle products. Today it's announcing two more countries to the list where it sells …

Discussion: Amazon.com, Epicenter, CNET News, The Next Web, PC Magazine and Electronista

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
Amazon Has Some Kindle Book Rentals Beyond Textbooks

Discussion: The Verge

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

Barnes & Noble Reports Q2 Net Loss Of $6.6M, Says NOOK Is Now A $220 Million Business — Barnes & Noble this morning reported sales and earnings for its second quarter ended October 29, 2011, and they're a mixed bag. Total sales decreased slightly, from $1.9 billion to $1.89 billion, compared to the prior year.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, CNET News, Fast Company, mocoNews, Media & Entertainment, Softpedia News, Publishers Lunch, mediabistro.com and TeleRead, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

How 9/11 led to the birth of Google News — In a video explaining the evolution of Google search over the years, Google Fellow Amit Singhal tells the story of how Google News came to be: “When September 11th happened, we as Google were failing our users. Our users were searching …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

RBR:

Q3 Internet ad revenues up 22% — Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. hit $7.88 billion in Q3, a 22% increase over the same period in 2010, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US. These figures also show a 2.7% uptick from the record-setting revenues of Q2.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Adweek, BtoB Magazine and MediaPost

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Foursquare Teams Up With NY Mag, Time Out, Other Publishers — “Save to Foursquare” buttons now appear alongside web content at New York magazine, Time Out, and a variety of other publishers, allowing users to send places they want to go to their phones and get alerted when they're in the vicinity.

Discussion: Foursquare Blog, FT Tech Hub, L.A. Times Tech Blog, ReadWriteWeb, Marketing Pilgrim, Electronista, Lost Remote and The New York Observer

Cotton Delo / AdAge:
Foursquare Rolls Out New Buttons for Publishers

Discussion: VentureBeat

Julianne Pepitone / CNNMoney.com:

Today is Napster's last day of existence — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Napster, the music-industry scourge that blazed a trail that led to modern digital music services, is about to head off into its final good night. — On Thursday, Napster will be merged officially with Rhapsody, the largest on-demand music service in the U.S.

Discussion: Pitchfork, more at Techmeme »

Jef Feeley / Bloomberg:

News Corp Wins Dismissal of Shine Group Acquisition Lawsuit by Investors — Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. (NWSA) persuaded a judge to throw out an investor lawsuit seeking information about the $675 million purchase of a U.K.-based television production company owned by Murdoch's daughter.

Barbara Cochran / The Huffington Post:

Why Federal Support for Public Broadcasting Is the Right Decision — When Gary Knell officially takes over today as NPR's new president, he'll find no shortage of ideas about what he should do with an organization that has recently survived bad headlines, turmoil at the top and a near-death experience with federal funding cuts.

Henry McDonald / Guardian:

Irish gangsters put bounty on head of Dublin crime reporter — Irish police say they have uncovered a plot to murder three people, including Sunday World journalist Mick McCaffrey — An Irish crime gang has put a bounty of €20,000 (£17,200) on the head of a Dublin journalist …