Mediagazer: In Syria, al Jazeera's Credibility Implodes (Peter Lee/CounterPunch)

4:46 AM ET, March 8, 2012

Top News:

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

HBO Deals Keep Fox, Universal Out of New iCloud Movie Service — As widely predicted, Apple has updated its Apple TV accessory. This isn't an overhaul, but an update: The new box offers better resolution, and software upgrades. — The new device will support video in 1080p …

Discussion: Engadget, Apple, MacRumors, Pocket-lint, ZDNet, PC Magazine, Multichannel, Home Media Magazine, Speakeasy, Forbes, Online Video News, CNET, 9to5Mac, Folio, GigaOM, New York Post and The Official Netflix Blog

Greg Sandoval / CNET:

For Apple TV, subscription video service still missing — The rumors from last year about how Apple was preparing to launch a subscription video service were at best premature. One analyst says that without a new content offering, Apple TV isn't very special.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Here's What a Netflix-Cable Deal Could Look Like: The One That Netflix Just Announced With Apple

Discussion: /Film, Pocket-lint and CNET

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Fact-Checking Rush Limbaugh: The Real Impact of the Boycott — You're never going to believe this, but according to Rush Limbaugh, the claims that a boycott is hurting his show by depriving it of sponsorship are part of — wait for it — a liberal conspiracy. Shocking, right?

Discussion: Boing Boing, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Company Town and Forbes

Michael Hinkelman / Philly.com:

Strange bedfellows: Maher jumps to defense of Limbaugh — Liberal political talk show host Bill Maher has jumped to the defense of conservative radio jock Rush Limbaugh. Maher, a comedian and host of HBO's “Real Time With Bill Maher,” defended Limbaugh through Twitter.

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Elspeth Reeve / The Atlantic Wire:
46 Advertisers Have Quit Limbaugh's Show

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Erik Wemple, The Atlantic Wire and Adweek

Jean Kaplansky / Digital Book World:

The Shiny New iPad: What it Means for Publishers — Apple's announcement of the new iPad received a lot of attention today, but what does it mean for your business? — Advancements — Changes to the new iPad are primarily hardware-based. The new key features are a quad-core A5X processor …

Doree Shafrir / BuzzFeed:
Why I Probably Still Won't Get An iPad

Discussion: New York Times

Bloomberg:
Apple Unveils New IPad to Widen Tablet Lead

Discussion: New York Times, App Advice, Apple, PC Magazine, Fast Company, TechCrunch, The Atlantic Wire, Bloomberg Tech Blog, @carr2n, The Verge, MacRumors, The Verge and Digital Book World

The Onion:

This Article Generating Thousands Of Dollars In Ad Revenue Simply By Mentioning New iPad — SAN FRANCISCO—According to industry sources, this news article is generating a veritable bonanza of highly lucrative advertising revenue by mere virtue of the fact that it mentions Apple's new iPad.

Discussion: TechCrunch and TechCrunch

@alexismadrigal: It's funny that people think iPad stories generate ad revenue for media companies. That's not how it works.

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

Channel 4 booting anchorwoman Sue Simmons after 32 years — After more than three decades, WNBC/Channel 4 is tossing anchorwoman Sue Simmons overboard. Last week, the station gave her the bad news that her contract would not be renewed — and come June, she's history.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, The Awl, The New York Observer, PopWatch, Capital New York, TVSpy, Gawker, The Wrap, B&C, FishbowlNY, Broadcasting & Cable, New York Times, City Room, The Huffington Post, Gothamist, City Room, Colorlines and New York Magazine

Richard Huff / NY Daily News: New York TV news mainstay Sue Simmons to say farewell to WNBC audiences in June

Natalie Peck / Hacking inquiry:

Ex-senior Met Police officer accuses newspaper group of skewing investigation into MP — A former senior police officer has accused a newspaper group of trying to skew an investigation into a Conservative minister at the Leveson Inquiry today. — Bob Quick, former assistant commissioner at the Met …

Vikram Dodd / Guardian: Yates ‘resisted handing over phone records’

Sandra Laville / Guardian:
Leveson inquiry: concern over police evidence

Discussion: Financial Times, Press Gazette, Deadline.com, Bloomberg, The Independent and Neville Thurlbeck

Emma Carmichael / Gawker:

Columbia J-School Grad Submits Most Passive-Aggressively Vicious Alumni Update Ever — A friend and graduate of Columbia's journalism school noticed this incredible update in his monthly alumni update email blast today, and thought to pass it along, because oh my god, it is fantastic.

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Fox News Draws the Most ‘Super Tuesday’ Viewers — Fox News Channel easily out-rated its cable news rivals on Tuesday, the Super Tuesday night of primaries and caucuses in 10 states. The channel even topped the only broadcast network, NBC, that produced a prime-time special about the primaries.

Discussion: MediaPost, Multichannel and Mediaite

Erik Wemple:

Breitbart.com hates getting scooped — Hey, journalism, didn't you get the memo from Breitbart.com? They're the ones doing the vetting of President Obama now. That's because the rest of the media dropped the ball on this civic imperative four years ago. Breitbart.com even has a title for its vetting series: The Vetting.

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post and Mediaite

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Copy Cats: The Secret Art Cabal Inside The New York Times — There's an early scene in CQ/CX—a new off-Broadway play about The New York Times that does not pretend any character's resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental—in which the guy based on Jayson Blair encounters …

Jim Romenesko:

Why Tony Auth is leaving the Philadelphia Inquirer — He adds: “I'm looking forward to the future” as digital artist in residence at NewsWorks. (About that job title: “I made that up.") “I have nothing but affection for the Inquirer and everybody there. ... People who aren't in newspapers would say, ‘Oh you can work at home!’

Discussion: Washington Post and NewsWorks

Felix Salmon / Wired:

iTunes Pricing as a Model for Journalism — Stephen Morse doesn't Matter. In fact, he calls the journalism startup — whose Kickstarter campaign broke past the $100,000 level in just nine days — “Snake Oil Salesmen 2.0″ and “a scam. ” And after getting a smart explanation of exactly …

Discussion: Mother Jones and @mattyglesias

Heather Murphy / Slate:

In Defense of Instagram: Why News Photography Goes Well With Vintage-Filtered Cat Pics — The left half of this photo has been placed through an Instagram filter. The right half has not. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. — If its critics are to be believed, Instagram is one of the best deals in the world.

Discussion: Poynter and The FJP

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

In Major Digitization Effort, Scholastic Launches E-Reading App For Kids — The kids' e-book market is still nascent, with e-books making up just about three percent of children's book sales. That could change now that Scholastic, the world's largest children's book publishers …

Discussion: TeleRead, Engadget, Electronista, Digital Book World and App Advice

Peter Lee / CounterPunch:

In Syria, al Jazeera's Credibility Implodes — Over the last couple days the Syrian army has moved into the Baba Amr district of Homs. — The action is Syria's Tiananmen. — The Western shorthand for Tiananmen is “authoritarian regime reveals its true monstrous face to the world …