Mediagazer: The Rendell Inquirer? The specter of the instrumentalization of American news media (Rasmus Kleis Nielsen/Nieman Journalism Lab)

7:40 AM ET, February 20, 2012

Top News:

Martin Phillips / The Sun:

The Sun next Sunday — A historic announcement — from Britain's most popular paper — THE Sun on Sunday has arrived. — Next weekend will see the birth of the first ever Sunday edition of your favourite paper. — Rupert Murdoch announced last week that The Sun on Sunday would be coming “very soon”.

Discussion: Reuters, Big News Network.com, Journalism.co.uk, @rupertmurdoch, Guardian, @paulcarr, @dansabbagh, Guardian, Digital Spy, FleetStreetBlues and Jon Slattery

Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch to launch Sun on Sunday next weekend — News International says media mogul will stay in London to oversee birth of News of the World replacement — The Sun on Sunday will publish for the first time next weekend, News International has announced.

Discussion: Globe and Mail, Media Week, Press Gazette and Big News Network.com

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

Profitable news — One of the most controversial things I have said (you're welcome for that straight line) is that I insist my entrepreneurial journalism students at CUNY build only for-profit businesses. When I said that at a recent symposium for teachers of entrepreneurial journalism …

Discussion: Recovering Journalist, daniel sinker, Media Decoder and @paulcarr

Michael Miner / Chicago Reader: Why CNC is closing — James O'Shea, founder and editor …

David Carr / New York Times:

Media Hype for Lin Stumbles on Race — You don't have to be an economics graduate from Harvard like Jeremy Lin to do the math on the media explosion about Linsanity. — The suddenly celebrated Lin is a four-fer: a God-fearing, Asian-American, Ivy League benchwarmer who has changed the fortunes of the New York Knicks.

Discussion: @darrenrovell

Lucas Shaw / The Baltimore Sun:

ESPN fires employee over racist Jeremy Lin headline — ESPN has fired one employee and suspended another for using the same racist word in connection to New York Knicks' guard Jeremy Lin. In both cases, an employee used the word “chink” in reference to Lin, a Palo Alto, California, native of Chinese descent.

Chris Greenberg / The Huffington Post:
ESPN Racist Jeremy Lin Headline: Network Apologizes For Insensitive Headline For Knicks Loss

Discussion: ESPN, Crikey, Guardian, Poynter, Outsports, The Week, ESPN MediaZone, SBNation.com, Bleacher Report, Charles Apple, Outsports, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Deadspin

Will Bunch / Philly.com:

An open letter to the next owners of Philadelphia Media Networks — Dear next owner of Philadelphia Media Networks...whoever you are, — I've been meaning to write you for a couple of weeks — it's been hard what with all the confusion not only about what we're allowed or not allowed …

Discussion: Naked Philadelphian, @jeffjarvis, @stevebuttry, @romenesko and Philadelphia City Paper

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The Rendell Inquirer? The specter of the instrumentalization of American news media

Discussion: Philly.com and mediabistro.com

Jxpaton / Digital First:

Old Dogs New Tricks and Crappy Newspaper Executives — (Speaking notes for an address to the Canadian Journalism Foundation — Good evening. — I'm old media. — This is my 36th year as a newspaper man - apologies - my 36th year as a multi-platform news executive.

Discussion: Recovering Journalist, Media, disrupted and @cressman

Brian Stelter / ArtsBeat:

‘Colbert Report’ to Resume Taping — Stephen Colbert will resume production of his late-night show “The Colbert Report” on Monday, a spokesman for Comedy Central said Sunday. — Production was abruptly halted last Wednesday without explanation, prompting concern among the comedian's fans.

Discussion: Gothamist

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

The Guardian Thrives in Facebook's Walled Garden — In September, British newspaper The Guardian was one of the first publishers to build an app designed specifically for its content to be consumed (and shared) within Facebook. The upside: The prospect of added visibility to 850 million users.

Jen Doll / The Atlantic Wire:

Brian Stelter: What I Read — How do people deal with the torrent of information pouring down on us all? What sources can't they live without? We regularly reach out to prominent figures in media, entertainment, politics, the arts and the literary world, to hear their answers.

Discussion: Rhetorica and JackLail.com

Mike Butcher / TechCrunch Europe:

Syrian government blocks Bambuser's live video of crisis — Bambuser, a live mobile video streaming startup along the lines of Qik, has become something of an underground hit in the last couple of years because of its ability to stream video over poor mobile connections.

Megan Garber / The Atlantic Online:

A Year After the Egyptian Revolution, 10% of Its Social Media Documentation Is Already Gone — Twitter gives us a new version of ‘the first rough draft of history.’ But tweets are fragile things. — In April, OR Books published Tweets from Tahrir, a book of tweets sent from Ground Zero …

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Reporter's Death Puts Focus on Difficulties of Covering a Secretive Syria — The conflict in Syria has become, for journalists, one of the most difficult and dangerous assignments in many years, with at least five having died while covering the uprising that began there last March.

Discussion: Poynter