Mediagazer: Is linking a ‘keystone habit’ that can convert newsrooms to ‘open journalism?’ (Matt DeRienzo/NewspaperTurnaround.Com)

8:00 PM ET, March 4, 2012

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Bearing Witness in Syria: A War Reporter's Last Days — It was damp and cold as Anthony Shadid and I crossed in darkness over the barbed-wire fence that separated Turkey from Syria last month. We were also crossing from peace into war, into the bloodiest conflict of the Arab Spring …

Robert Fisk / The Independent:

The heroic myth and the uncomfortable truth of war reporting — It took a lot of courage to get into Homs; Sky News, then the BBC, then a few brave men and women who went to tell the world of the city's anguish and, in at least two cases, suffered themselves.

Discussion: @theindynews

Matt DeRienzo / NewspaperTurnaround.Com:

Is linking a ‘keystone habit’ that can convert newsrooms to ‘open journalism?’ — Elaine Clisham was shaking her head at the latest dust-up over whether media organizations should link to other news outlets and sources of information in their reporting on the web.

Discussion: @vincrosbie, @ksablan and @stevebuttry

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Crowdfunding journalism: How one project secured $50,000 in 38 hours — The co-founder of Matter discusses how the project used Kickstarter to test whether there was an appetite for a digital project dedicated to in-depth science and technology journalism — Backers will receive a range of rewards …

Mark Armstrong:

The Hot Dog Shooter & the Takeout Bag: A Portable Content Manifesto — Read It Later users keep content on their tablets and phones for an average of 96 hours after they've saved it. What does that say about the lifespan of content and how we value it? — The other night I had this nightmare …

Discussion: Canadian Magazines and Poynter

Alex Howard / O'Reilly Radar:

In the age of big data, data journalism has profound importance for society — The promise of data journalism was a strong theme throughout the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting's (NICAR) 2012 conference. In 2012, making sense of big data through narrative and context …

Discussion: The FJP

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of crossover — The signs are everywhere — the signs of crossover. We're not there yet, but publishers are starting to sense that the time when their business models become more about digital and less about print gets closer every day. — Since the web's dawn …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Benjamin Hart / The Huffington Post:

Rush Limbaugh Apologizes For Calling Student A ‘Slut’ — Rush Limbaugh has issued an apology for calling student Sandra Fluke a ‘slut’ on his radio show this week—comments which ignited a media firestorm, caused advertisers to flee from his show, and even prompted President Obama to weigh in.

Discussion: carbonite.com, The Caucus, Rush Limbaugh, Media Decoder, CBS News, The Huffington Post, Detroit Free Press, Guardian, @carr2n, Forbes, msnbc.com, Reuters, Associated Press, New York Magazine, NewsBusters.org and Mediaite

Carla Murphy / CJR:

How to Chill the Independent Journalist — Facing arrest without institutional backup — After her arrest last November, Alisen Redmond quit covering Occupy Atlanta. She felt that she had to. At the time, Redmond was the news editor of Kennesaw State University's Sentinel …

Michael Kelley / The Digital Shift:

Librarians Feel Sticker Shock as Price for Random House Ebooks Rises as Much as 300 Percent — A Guide to Publishers in the Library Ebook Market — (This story has been updated to clarify the meaning of “simultaneity” and include remarks from the North Texas Library Partners.)

Discussion: Brave New World, The Digital Reader, TechCrunch, paidContent and Publishers Lunch

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Court Filings Suggest Google Fighting Feds Over Megaupload Emails — [Update: Australian paper The Age reported that US prosecutors have drawn up a secret indictment against Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange; it is possible that Wikileaks, not Megaupload, is the subject of the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) dispute.]

Discussion: Gizmodo

Paul Smalera / MediaFile:

Content everywhere? More like content nowhere — Will Big Media and Big Tech companies ever stop punishing their biggest fans? — Like many people, I woke up yesterday and reached for my iPad for my morning hit of news, entertainment and information, so I could start my day.