Mediagazer: John Paton to news execs: Abandon the gatekeeper model (Mathew Ingram/GigaOM)

8:15 AM ET, February 24, 2012

Top News:

Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning defers pleas — Bradley Manning is accused of leaking 700,000 files to Wikileaks — The US Army private accused of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks has chosen not to enter a plea at the start of his court martial.

Discussion: The Next Web

National Post:
Bradley Manning formally charged with ‘aiding the enemy’ by giving files to Wikileaks

Discussion: Associated Press and Techdirt

Felix Salmon:

Matter's vision for long-form journalism — Yesterday morning, a very exciting new journalism project was launched on Kickstarter. It's called Matter, and it's going to be home to long-form investigative narrative journalism about science and technology. “No cheap reviews, no snarky opinion pieces, no top ten lists,” they promise.

Discussion: Business Insider

Stephen Robert Morse:

Why I will not donate to this Kickstarter campaign that purports to save journalism and why you shouldn't donate to it either — I noticed a Tweet this morning that promoted a Kickstarter campaign for Matter, a long-form journalism effort that comes from an international group of journalists …

Discussion: Forbes and Boing Boing

John Biggs / TechCrunch:
Support Long-Form Journalism With This Online Kickstarter Project

Discussion: The Next Web and 10,000 Words

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

People don't care about scoops, they care about trust — We have written a number of times about how social media and the “democratization of distribution” has compressed the news cycle to the point where the half-life of a scoop is measured in minutes rather than hours or days.

Discussion: craigconnects, Talking Biz News, WebProNews, Kirk LaPointe's … and Poynter

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Tech media misconceptions — Journalism is rife with conflict. Get over it. — The tech media wars continued yesterday, with LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzik basically accusing certain tech bloggers of being “influence peddlers.” — The whole issue has become fairly tired …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, Uncrunched, Los Angeles Times and Scobleizer

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Females on Campaign Trail Go For Sexpot Look — Forget about SexyTwitPics. Washington has its own crop of would-be sexy females on the loose. And an unusual trend is developing among campaign and White House reporters of the XX persuasion. They're using provocative …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Vanity Fair, @attackerman, @annielowrey, @justinnxt, @kashhill, @ledbetreuters, @hamiltonnolan, @jeffbercovici, New York Magazine, @lheron and Poynter

Erin Gloria Ryan / Jezebel:
Concerned Female Reporter Can't Help But Notice Female Reporters Are Looking Awful Slutty Nowadays [Sluts]

Discussion: Guardian

Hunter Walker / Politicker: Is This Twitter Avatar Too Sexy for Politics?

Matthew Creamer / AdAge:

Jim Romenesko Talks Fox News, Ad Rates and How He Snagged 300,000 Page Views on a Saturday — Popular Media Blogger Answers Matthew Creamer's Questions — Jim Romenesko, the proto-media blogger who became a must-read for journos only to get lost in the din of algorithmic aggregators and social media, is back.

Thanks:@matt_creamer

Mark Lisheron / American Journalism Review: Romenesko Roars Back — Jim Romenesko is scrolling through …

Telegraph:

Phone hacking: News of the World bosses ordered emails to be deleted — New evidence of a cover-up of phone hacking at the News of the World has been disclosed in court documents, which show the company created a policy to delete emails which could be used against it in legal proceedings.

Discussion: Guardian, Crikey and Business Insider

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Theakston and Brazier sue NI

Discussion: Press Gazette, The Huffington Post, Journalism.co.uk and Guardian

Natalie Peck / Hacked Off: EXCLUSIVE: anonymous phone hacking victim HJK speaks to Hacked Off

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

John Paton to news execs: Abandon the gatekeeper model — If there was an Uncle Sam-style campaign to recruit media executives into the “digital first” movement, John Paton would probably win the role of poster boy in a landslide. Even before he became the CEO of the giant MediaNews Group chain …

Discussion: San Francisco Peninsula …

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

Say Goodbye To Blockbuster Stores — The Blockbuster brand emerged from the ashes of bankruptcy to have an impact on the bottom line of its new owner, Dish Network (NSDQ: DISH). The satellite TV service provider reported its first subscriber uptick in about two years, growth that was driven …

Discussion: MediaFile, PC Magazine, Multichannel and MediaPost

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Why Amazon's Kindle Battle With IPG Matters — Amazon's decision to yank almost 5,000 Kindle titles from distributor Independent Publishing Group after IPG refused to give the retailer better terms may be a harbinger of things to come. — A few thoughts:

Discussion: Chicago Business, Bait ‘n’ Beer and The Verge

Joseph Bamat / FRANCE 24:

Fact-checking blogs turn up heat on French candidates — As French presidential hopefuls jostle their way to the April 22 poll, a handful of political fact-checking websites are shaking up traditional journalism in France. — The day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy set the tone …

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Stars and Stripes objects to move — Through war and peace, Stars and Stripes has vigorously guarded its independence from military control. The newspaper that published the World War II cartoons of Bill Mauldin and the dispatches of famed battlefield correspondents covers the American military around …

Discussion: Poynter

James Crugnale / Mediaite:

Lara Logan: ‘I Feel Guilty, I Feel A Little Bit Responsible’ For Marie Colvin's Death — Appearing on CBS This Morning Thursday, Lara Logan spoke warmly about the late war reporter Marie Colvin and gave some insight about the dangers of covering conflicts abroad as foreign correspondent.

Discussion: Washington Post, BBC and Reuters

Robert Mackey / The Lede:
Wounded Journalists Plead for Evacuation From Homs

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, New York Times and Expatica

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo News:
In the wake of reporter deaths in Syria, White House grilled on aggressive journalism at home

Discussion: Capital New York and New York Times

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Murdoch confirms Sun on Sunday will be 50p — Rupert Murdoch takes to Twitter to announce price of new Sunday edition, plus a price reduction for Saturday's paper — Rupert Murdoch has taken to Twitter to confirm that the Sun's new Sunday edition will cost 50p. He also announced a 17% cut in price for the Saturday Sun.

Discussion: @rupertmurdoch and Press Gazette