Mediagazer: WAMU news director claims ‘firewall’ transgression (Erik Wemple)

2:53 AM ET, February 23, 2012

Top News:

Marie Colvin killed: Syrian forces had pledged to kill ‘any journalist who set foot on Syrian soil’ — Syrian forces murdered journalist Marie Colvin after pledging to kill “any journalist who set foot on Syrian soil”, it has emerged. — The 55-year-old Sunday Times reporter …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Committee to Protect …, @ramsaysky and Jon Slattery

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Syria Correspondent Wanted Her Reporting Read Outside Pay Walls — Before her death on Wednesday in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, the veteran war correspondent Marie Colvin voiced a common frustration for journalists who are reporting from distant areas about conflicts that can feel remote to readers back home.

Discussion: New York Times, At War, Online NewsHour, Gawker and The Wall Blog

Kerri Macdonald / Lens:
Parting Glance: Rémi Ochlik

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Guardian and New York Times

New York Times:
Two Western Journalists Killed in Syria Shelling

Michael Rundle / The Huffington Post - UK: Syrian Minister ‘Unaware Foreign Journalists Were In Country’ After Deadly Shelling

Lindsey Hilsum / Channel 4:
My friend, Marie Colvin

Discussion: Guardian, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Poynter and The Huffington Post

Erika Solomon / Reuters:
Syria asks foreign journalists to report to government

Discussion: @producermatthew

Ahmed Al Omran / NPR:
Rami Al-Sayed, Syrian Citizen Journalist, Is Killed During Attack On Homs

Discussion: Guardian, The Lede, Bambuser and GigaOM

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Gannett Building Paywalls Around All Its Papers Except USA Today — The vogue for digital paywalls sweeping the news business has made it all the way to the top: Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, is planning to switch over all of its 80 community newspapers to a paid model …

Discussion: 10,000 Words, Media Decoder, Jon Slattery and @jackshafer

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Gannett's Big Paywall Play: Will It Work? — Gannett (NYSE: GCI) said it is “playing offense” again after years of cuts and contraction. Its touchdown strategy is a sophisticated paywall system that the news giant says will both bolster local news reporting and deliver an extra $100 million in profits.

Discussion: Gannett.com and AdPulp

Jim Romenesko:

Did CNC ‘cause problems’ for MacArthur's City Hall friends? — Chicago journalist Geoff Dougherty claims the Chicago News Cooperative and MacArthur Foundation relationship went sour because CNC “had enough reporters and know-how to cause problems with MacArthur buddies at City Hall.” He writes:

Ryan Chittum / CJR:
The IRS and the Chicago News Cooperative

Discussion: Reflections of a Newsosaur, MediaJobsDaily and CBS Chicago

Jim Romenesko:
CNC editor: No MacArthur Foundation interference

Discussion: Chicago Current

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Cherie Blair to sue News International — Tony Blair's wife to take action against Glenn Mulcaire and NI over the alleged hacking of her phone by News of the World — Cherie Blair, the wife of the former prime minister, is suing News International and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Church hacking case ‘not resolved’ — Despite reports of settlement of up to £500,000, star's manager says talks with News of the World publisher are still ongoing — Charlotte Church has not yet settled her phone-hacking case against Rupert Murdoch's defunct tabloid the News of the World …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, The Wrap, Telegraph and Bloomberg

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Sam Zell Blames Tribune Failure on ‘Greedy’ Journalists. — Sam Zell. Credit: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images — Sam Zell must miss being the most hated man in the newspaper industry. Why else would the ever-pungent real estate billionaire be speaking up about his disastrous time running Tribune Co., all this time later?

Discussion: Gawker, LA Biz Observed and New York Times

David Holmes / Fast Company:

Lindles: Jeremy Lin, Amazon Kindle, And The Rise Of Insta-Authors — Jeremy Lin has inspired a lot of rabid fans, magazine features, and six-figure book deal offers. But he's also fueled a new breed of lightening-fast ebook authors. Alan Goldsher, author of “Linsanity …

Discussion: Kindle Review, Speakeasy, Digital Book World, Capital New York and mediabistro.com

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

Romney Campaign Scrubs Criticism from Editorial Before Sending It Out — Romney Campaign Scrubs Criticism From Editorial Before Sending It Out — There are a lot of kind words for Mitt Romney on the Detroit News editorial page Wednesday. But by trying to hide the few words that weren't very nice …

Discussion: Guardian, The Caucus and Online NewsHour

Jim Romenesko: Detroit News unhappy with Romney camp's editing of endorsement

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon Yanks 5,000 Kindle Titles In Fight Over Terms — Updated: IPG's full memo to publishers on page 2. — Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has turned off the buy button on nearly 5,000 Kindle titles from distributor Independent Publishers Group after IPG refused to capitulate to Amazon's demand for better terms.

Discussion: Publishers Lunch, Bits, Melville House Books, TeleRead, WebProNews, Boing Boing, Electronista and eBookNewser, more at Techmeme »

Erik Wemple:

WAMU news director claims ‘firewall’ transgression — Yesterday, WAMU announced the departure of news director Jim Asendio. This morning, WAMU held an event to bring together donors and WAMU staffers. — Those two events are connected, says Asendio. — The 60-year-old newsman …

Discussion: The Maynard Institute, DC Porcupine and Radio-Info.com

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

FT facing discrimination claims and strike action — The Financial Times is facing an employment tribunal over discrimination allegations involving journalists working on the Chinese version of the FT website, according to the NUJ. — It is also facing the possibility of strike action on Friday in a separate dispute over pay.

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Are aggregation and curation journalism? Wrong question — The battle between traditional media and the blogosphere over aggregation (or “curation,” if you prefer) continues to rage. In the latest skirmish, Forbes blogger Kashmir Hill got thrown under the bus by many for a recent blog post …

Discussion: Journomel.com and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Whitney Houston Funeral Drew Millions on TV and Online — Millions of television and Web viewers spent time Saturday afternoon watching the funeral service for Whitney Houston, the pop music icon who died a week earlier. — CNN was the biggest beneficiary of the viewer vigil, according to Nielsen ratings.