Mediagazer: The NYT tries to get its readers to ‘level up’ (Mathew Ingram/GigaOM)

6:40 AM ET, December 4, 2011

Top News:

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Twitter Quietly (Finally) Launches Self-Serve Ads — It's still just in test mode, and only open to a handful of advertisers. But those who can use it can now buy ads directly via Twitter, using a credit card and a Web browser, without ever having to talk to a human being.

Discussion: San Francisco Chronicle, Future of Journalism, AllTwitter, Softpedia News, the Econsultancy blog and AdExchanger.com

Craig Silverman / CJR:

The Truth about Public Untruths — Are journalists and others equipped to beat back the lies? — What's to be done with lying liars and the lies they tell journalists and the public? — This is a topic of serious discussion in journalism circles, perhaps now more than ever.

Discussion: @stevebuttry and @stevebuttry

Chris Crum / WebProNews:

Yahoo Gets Rid of 75,000 Associated Content Articles, Launches Yahoo Voices — Presumably a late reaction to Panda — Follow @WebProNews — Yahoo has now decided to follow Demand Media's lead by deleting 75,000 articles from Associated Content, and is even going so far …

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Softpedia News

Brent Lang / The Wrap:

Yahoo Shuts Down 4 Entertainment Blogs (Updated) — Four Yahoo entertainment sites are going to the blogosphere in the sky. — The portal is letting The Projector and The Set flicker out and die, the movie and television blogs acknowledged on Twitter Friday.

Discussion: Gawker

Kelly Knaub / The Daily Beast:

NYPD Gives Fox News Special Protection — Fox News's Midtown Manhattan studios get 24/7 protection from the NYPD, stiff security the other news networks say they've never enjoyed. — When Occupy Wall Street protesters marched past media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's posh 5th Avenue penthouse during the …

Discussion: Poynter

Paul Sandle / Reuters:

Old media executives too busy, private for Twitter — (Reuters) - Twitter gives an instant snapshot of the buzz around television shows, computer game launches and even new ads, but many media executives are simply too busy to tweet or engage with the microblogging service very much themselves.

Discussion: Business Insider, @eric_andersen, Future of Journalism and AllTwitter

Seth Godin / Seth's Blog:

The erosion in the paid media pyramid — Since the invention of media (the book, the record, the movie...), there's been a pyramid of value and pricing delivered by those that create it: — Starting from the bottom: — Free content is delivered to anyone who is willing to consume it …

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Shirky: Many news orgs must choose between ‘radical restructure and outright collapse’ — In response to an essay by Dean Starkman, NYU professor Clay Shirky has reiterated his belief that newspaper organizations are being disrupted at a rate that requires radical reinvention.

Discussion: Clay Shirky, The Buttry Diary, Future of Journalism, yelvington.com and Boing Boing

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

Tina Brown Enjoys Some Good News for a Change — “The Beast is on a roar!” tweeted Tina Brown on Thursday afternoon, reporting the best traffic month ever for her website and a welcome victory for her recently gutted editorial team. The exclamation-laden tweet comes less than two weeks …

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

The NYT tries to get its readers to ‘level up’ — The New York Times launched a new commenting system this week that has a number of features, but by far, the most significant one is that certain readers with a history of good behavior will be awarded “trusted” status, which allows them to post comments without having them moderated.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, 10,000 Words, New York Times and Medacity

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

USA Today Turns to Private Ad Exchange in Attempt to Boost Digital Revenue — The aim of the private marketplace will be to move most unsold online ad inventory in a more controlled environment. — Nine months after its parent company started selling online ads for some of its newspapers …

Discussion: Reuters

DPA / Haaretz:

Report: Syria bans iPhone to cover up crackdown on anti-Assad protests — Statement issued by Customs Department of the Syrian Finance Ministry says, ‘The authorities warn anyone against using the iPhone in Syria’; at least six demonstrators reported killed in Syria on Friday.