Mediagazer: ‘Marketplace’ feature is a complete fabrication (Erik Wemple)

10:45 PM ET, February 2, 2012

Top News:

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Arianna Huffington says traffic is up, announces HuffPost Streaming Network — A year after AOL bought The Huffington Post for $315 million, Arianna Huffington has released figures showing how the site has performed in the last year. Monthly unique visits were at 36.2 million in December …

Discussion: Mixed Media, The Huffington Post, AdAge, The Huffington Post, Media Decoder, Adweek, FishbowlNY and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

The Onion:

‘Huffington Post’ Employee Sucked Into Aggregation Turbine — Horrified Workers Watch As Colleague Torn Apart By Powerful Content-Gathering Engine — NEW YORK—Shocked and saddened witnesses at the Huffington Post's news-aggregation facility have confirmed that employee Henry Evers, 25 …

Discussion: Deadspin, GigaOM and Best Week Ever

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

Quarterly Profit Falls 12.2% at Times Co. — The New York Times Company reported on Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit declined 12.2 percent as rising subscription and digital advertising revenue at its largest newspapers could not offset the continued drop-off in print advertising.

Discussion: The New York Times Company, Newsonomics, Media Decoder, FishbowlNY, @nytprguy, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, Future of Journalism, @brianstelter and Poynter

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Fourth quarter earnings report shows New York Times Co. sites have 406,000 digital subscribers — Nearly one year after introducing a new digital subscription plan, The New York Times Co. websites have about 406,000 paid subscribers. That's 390,000 for the Times and the International Herald Tribune …

Discussion: @joepompeo, The Awl, MediaPost, mediabistro.com, JIMROMENESKO.COM, paidContent and AllThingsD, more at Techmeme »

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The newsonomics of the next New York Times CEO

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Mother Jones and Big Journalism

Jeff Roberts / paidContent: New York Times Co To Expand Health Coverage Online

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: Times Company search for new C.E.O. still in ‘early stages,’ according to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.

Bill Carter / New York Times:

Networks Resort to Trickery in an Attempt to Lift Ratings — Viewers who tuned into ABC's “Good Morning America” during the last week of 2011 would have found the same mix of news, gossip and soft features at the usual time of the morning. — But as far as Nielsen ratings were concerned …

Discussion: Company Town, TVNewser, TVWeek.com, Media Buyer Planner and Chickaboomer

Estelle Shirbon / Reuters:

Precedent warning as Assange extradition case ends — (Reuters) - Britain's Supreme Court risks jeopardising extraditions to many neighbouring countries if it stops WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being sent to Sweden for questioning over sex crimes, a lawyer for Swedish prosecutors argued on Thursday.

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Yahoo steals NY Times' Virginia Heffernan — In its most high-profile move since announcing the expansion of its political coverage, Yahoo News has hired former New York Times columnist Virginia Heffernan as its National Correspondent. — Heffernan, who wrote The Medium column …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, MediaPost and The New York Observer

Alex Leo / Reuters:

Introducing Reuters Social Pulse — Today we launched Social Pulse, our new social media hub on Reuters.com designed to show you the most talked-about news, companies and influencers across the Web. — The first thing you'll see on the page is the news most popular in Reuters social network.

Discussion: AdAge, ReadWriteWeb, Between the Lines Blog, paidContent, 10,000 Words, Future of Journalism, Beyond Search and Soup, more at Techmeme »

Martin Evans / Telegraph:

Police investigating allegations of email hacking at The Times — The Metropolitan Police are investigating allegations of email hacking at the Times Newspaper, sources have revealed. — It is understood the investigation relates to claims that a former reporter at the Murdoch owned newspaper hacked …

Discussion: New York Times, @tom_watson, @jayrosen_nyu, Guardian and Daily Mail

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Phone hacking: mobile networks took almost six years to tell customers

Discussion: The Next Web

Reuters: INSIGHT-Inside Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper clean-up operation

Guardian:
Times editor faces Leveson inquiry recall over NightJack hacking claim

Discussion: Tom Watson MP and Poynter

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Tumblr Hires Writers to Cover Itself — The popular social blogging site Tumblr is hiring writers and editors to cover the world of Tumblr. — Chris Mohney, a senior vice president for content at BlackBook Media, will be the site's editor in chief. Jessica Bennett, a senior writer …

Discussion: Techland, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, FishbowlNY, The Next Web, hypebot, The New York Observer, the Econsultancy blog, PC Magazine, Fast Company, NYConvergence.com, The FJP, Marketing Pilgrim, Business Insider and eMedia Vitals

Drew Olanoff / The Next Web:

Remember that Gawker redesign? A year's worth of data says it worked — On Feburary 7th, 2011, the entire Gawker Media style changed from a typical one you'd see on a blog to a hipper more programmed feel. The design focused on a top story and then listed out others along the side in a static bar.

Discussion: Business Insider and Poynter

Erik Wemple:

‘Marketplace’ feature is a complete fabrication — American Public Media's “Marketplace” has a silo where it stores all manner of compelling first-person narratives. It's called “My Life is True,” and it's essentially a series of stories “from people living on the edges of the economy.”

Discussion: Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM and thisainthell.us

Nils Pratley / Guardian:

Is Trinity Mirror boss Sly Bailey the UK's most overpaid chief executive? — Sly Bailey has pocketed £12.4m during her nine years at the helm - while the share price has plunged 87% — Who is the most overpaid chief executive of a UK quoted company?

Discussion: Jon Slattery and Financial Times

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Mirror redundancies: Journalists call for Sly Bailey to go

Discussion: Guardian and Press Gazette

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Axel Springer Takes A Slice Of Airbnb In Exposure Deal — Apartment-letting site Airbnb will get investment, endorsement and distribution from the publisher of Europe's most-read newspaper. — Axel Springer, which publishes Bild and is led by CEO Mathias Döpfner, says it has made a “minor investment” in the site.

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Are investors choosing Journal Register over Philadelphia's Inquirer, Daily News? — I was as puzzled as the next guy when I learned Sunday that the Philadelphia Media Network, publisher of the city's two dailies, is on the auction block. This comes a mere 17 months since a group …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Viacom Says Netflix Isn't Hurting Nickelodeon Ratings — Viacom, which has seen ratings declines at its Nickelodeon cable channel, doesn't think it is losing eyeballs to Netflix, which offers an array of kids programming, including Nickelodeon shows like “Dora the Explorer.”

Discussion: AdAge

Jeanine Poggi / AdAge:
Is Netflix Kids' Streaming Part of Nickelodeon's Ratings Drop?

Discussion: Company Town, Bloomberg, Media Decoder, Broadcasting & Cable, paidContent and Multichannel

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

A Peek Inside the Design Process at Bloomberg Businessweek — The latest Bloomberg Businessweek cover — illustrating the unsexy topic of aviation mergers in perhaps the most sexy way possible — earned what's becoming familiar praise on Twitter and beyond for the magazine's design staff.

Discussion: Business Insider, FishbowlNY, Gawker and The Atlantic Online