Mediagazer: NewsiT Raises $500K To Gamify Crowd Journalism (Anthony Ha/TechCrunch)

5:00 AM ET, March 9, 2012

Top News:

Ofcom steps up test of James Murdoch's fitness to keep BSkyB role — Media regulator's Project Apple examines phone-hacking evidence to decide on 39-year-old's stewardship — Ofcom has stepped up its investigation into whether James Murdoch is a “fit and proper” person to sit on the board of BSkyB …

Discussion: Reuters

Stephen Parkinson / Telegraph:

Phone hacking: can these journalists really get a fair trial? — No one can accuse David Cameron of rushing too quickly into setting up the Leveson Inquiry. He knew of all the potential problems. He knew that with a major police investigation already under way, there was a danger that a public inquiry would jeopardise its outcome.

Discussion: Guardian, Jon Slattery and CJR

Erik Larson / Bloomberg: News Corp. Alleged to Hack Family Priest's Line

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
PCC to close in wake of hacking scandal

Discussion: Press Gazette, currybetdotnet, Poynter, Digital Spy, Deadline.com, @wikileaks and The Independent

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
Trinity Mirror journalists may be victims of NoW phone hacking - police

Discussion: Big News Network.com

Paul Sawers / The Next Web: WikiLeaks claims it submitted a 100-page dossier to UK Leveson Inquiry on media corruption

Josh Halliday / Guardian: Sun and NoW publisher had ‘enthusiastic involvement’ with police

Lauren Goode / AllThingsD:

With Interest Lists, Facebook Wants to Be a Personalized Newspaper — First we had Twitter Lists. Then Facebook Friends lists. Then smart lists. And now, Facebook is introducing Interest lists as a way to push relevant content up in the increasingly cluttered news feed.

Discussion: newsroom.fb.com, Poynter, The Next Web and ReadWriteWeb

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

Comcast Declines to Offer Netflix to Its Customers — Netflix may have hit a snag as it negotiates with cable operators. — Comcast, the country's largest cable company, says it has no interest in offering Netflix to its Xfinity subscribers regardless of whether it's in the form of an on-demand service or a billing partnership.

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, New York Times and Bits

Yinka Adegoke / MediaFile:

Could a Netflix-cable alliance spur HBO to go rogue? — A potential alliance between online video streaming company Netflix Inc <NFLX.O> and cable companies could spur cable television's biggest premium player HBO to consider its options beyond the set-top box and go directly to customers on the Web.

Discussion: fiercecable.com/news/frontpage and paidContent

Media Decoder:

New Republic Gets an Owner Steeped in New Media — The newest owner of The New Republic magazine is Chris Hughes, a new-media guru who co-founded Facebook and helped to run the online organizing machine for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. — Mr. Hughes's purchase of a majority stake …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The New Republic

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

Turner launches an accelerator for media-focused startups — Like most big media companies, Turner Broadcasting might not exactly be known for its technology innovation. But it's looking to change that, with the launch of a new accelerator program called Media Camp, which hopes to seek …

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:
PRX hires Silicon Valley journopreneur Corey Ford to run the Public Media Accelerator

Discussion: blogs.ft.com and TechCrunch

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

NewsiT Raises $500K To Gamify Crowd Journalism — Crowdsourced news platform NewsiT.net just announced that it has raised $500,000 in seed funding. And, timed to match the beginning of South by Southwest, it's also launching its iPhone app. — The company was founded …

Discussion: VatorNews

Alyson Raletz / Kansas City Business Journal:

Missouri approves Google's request to set up video services in Kansas City … has the go-ahead to provide video services in Kansas City. — The Missouri Public Service Commission has granted Google Fiber Missouri LLC the authority to build a video service network along public rights of way, according to a March 1 order.

Discussion: WebProNews and FierceCable

Richard Mullins / TBO.com:

VP Barker named Tampa Tribune's new publisher — Media General Inc. named Bill Barker as the new publisher for The Tampa Tribune, the newspaper's top executive. Barker joined Media General in 1990 and most recently was the Tribune's vice president of operations and circulation.

Verne Gay / Newsday:

Matt Lauer getting $25 million to stay on ‘Today,’ source says — Matt Lauer getting $25 million to stay on ‘Today,’ source says — I am reliably told that NBC and Matt Lauer are closing in on a deal that will pay him an estimated $25 million per year over the course of a multiyear deal …

Discussion: B&C, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and TVNewser

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Reporters' Lab searches for ways to make reporting cheaper, without cheapening the reporting — Labs are all the rage in journalism these days. There's the Drone Journalism Lab, the Globe Lab, WaPo Labs, the New York Times R&D Lab, and more. — Duke University's newly launched Reporters' Lab …

Discussion: O'Reilly Radar

Mike Shields / Adweek:

Yahoo Sets Out to ‘Remake’ Yahoo News — Remake America is a new weekly series that will trace six middle-class families as they struggle to deal with a still-recovering U.S. economy. The documentary-styled show will run through the remainder of the year, examining how these families cope …

Discussion: FishbowlLA

Nielsen Wire:

Buzz in the Blogosphere: Millions More Bloggers and Blog Readers — Blogs are sometimes overlooked as a significant source of online buzz in comparison to social networking sites, yet consumer interest in blogs keeps growing. By the end of 2011, NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company …

Discussion: Podcasting News and WebProNews

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Apple Downplays Role Of ‘Kindle Threat’ In Alleged e-Book Conspiracy — A court filing provides new insight into Apple's version of events concerning an incident in which Steve Jobs told a reporter that “unhappy” publishers might withhold e-books from Amazon.

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers

Dave Davies / newsworks:

Would the Philadelphia Daily News show cartoonist Signe Wilkinson the door? — Could Philadelphia lose two Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists in a month? Uh, yeah. The Inquirer's Tony Auth has already taken the employee buyout offered by Philadelphia Media Network, which owns both Philly papers and Philly.com.

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Inquirer: Rendell relinquishes lead in Philly papers purchase, as his group gets exclusive consideration

Discussion: Philly.com and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Save Sue Simmons: The Internet Campaign Begins — News broke today that beloved WNBC-4 anchor Sue Simmons wouldn't have her contract renewed after 32 years of work with the station, thereby breaking up the longest-serving local news anchor team (of Simmons and co-anchor Chuck Scarborough) in New York City.

Discussion: Save Sue Simmons! and PopWatch