Mediagazer: There Is No Such Thing as a ‘Larger Truth’: This American Life's Rich History of Embellishment (John Cook/Gawker)

11:40 PM ET, March 21, 2012

Top News:

John Cook / Gawker:

There Is No Such Thing as a ‘Larger Truth’: This American Life's Rich History of Embellishment — Mike Daisey has been roundly and justly castigated for selling his bulls**t stories about visiting the Foxconn complex in Shenzhen, China, to This American Life.

Discussion: Slate, PopWatch, The Huffington Post, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Culture Monster

Adam Martin / The Atlantic Wire:
Mike Daisey Blames Other Reporters for Perpetuating His Lies

Discussion: CNN and The Huffington Post

Rebecca J. Rosen / The Atlantic Online:
Mike Daisey's First Public Talk After the ‘This American Life’ Retraction

Discussion: The Stranger …, Thanks:@jaredbkeller

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

I can't stop reading this analysis of Gawker's editorial strategy — In January, newly minted Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio announced an experiment: Each day for two weeks, a single staff writer would be assigned “traffic-whoring duty.” [Language alert.]

Discussion: Online Journalism Blog, Gawker and News for Digital Journalists

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:

Brooks Said to Be Quizzed by Police on Defense Official Payment — Rebekah Brooks, the former Chief Executive Officer of News Corp. (NWSA)'s U.K. publishing unit, was questioned by police about payments made to a source at the Ministry of Defence, a person familiar with the investigation said.

Discussion: Guardian

Martin Brunt / @skymartinbrunt:
#policebungs Ex-News Int chief exec Rebekah Brooks rebailed over illegal payments to public officials. Bailed until May.

Discussion: Milton Keynes Citizen

@skynewsbreak: PA sources: Former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks questioned about alleged payments to MoD officials

Tim Walker / Telegraph: Rupert Murdoch makes Roman Abramovich ‘an offer’ to buy his newspaper titles

Sarah Marshall / journalism.co.uk:

Social predicted to overtake search as Guardian traffic driver — The Guardian's Facebook app has been downloaded eight million times since it was launched six months ago, seeing around 40,000 downloads a day. — Speaking at the Guardian Changing Media Summit, Tanya Cordrey …

Discussion: @antderosa

Stephen Folwell / Guardian:
Guardian app for Google TV: an introduction

Discussion: The Next Web

Village Voice:

What Nick Kristof Got Wrong: Village Voice Media Responds — Nicholas D. Kristof was wrong about the most devastating ‘fact’ in his Sunday, March 18th, column in The New York Times regarding Backpage.com. — He wrote about an underage victim of human trafficking: “Alissa says pimps routinely peddled her on Backpage.”

Discussion: Poynter, Runnin' Scared, The Huffington Post and Erik Wemple

Nicholas Kristof / On The Ground:

Responding to Village Voice on Sex Trafficking — After my Sunday column criticizing Village Voice Media for providing a forum for sex traffickers on its Backpage.com websites, Village Voice has struck back. It has just gone on line with an article “What Nick Kristof got wrong”: — The article begins:

Discussion: Hit & Run, WebProNews, FrontBurner and Forbes

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Former Roll Call Editor Spills Beans About Questionable Racial Hiring Practices — UPDATE: Roll Call Editorial Director Mike Mills Responds. — Roll Call's former Features Editor Debra Bruno (a.k.a. Bebbie Druno) is bound to burn a few bridges today with a story in the Opinion Pages …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Debra Bruno / Christian Science Monitor: Facebook stalking in the name of affirmative action

Sarah Marshall / journalism.co.uk:

BSkyB CEO confirms he pulled Sky News story on F1 — Jeremy Darroch, the chief executive of British Sky Broadcasting, has confirmed that he asked Sky News to pull a story on Formula 1, ahead of the launch of a Sky F1 HD channel. — The Financial Times yesterday reported that Darroch …

Discussion: Digital Spy

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:
BSkyB announces Now TV, offering pay-as-you-go Internet TV to the masses

Discussion: Guardian and The Verge

Mark Sweney / Guardian: BSkyB denies pulled F1 story undermines Sky News's independence

Paul McNally / Journalism.co.uk:

Tributes paid to Los Angeles Times' first woman reporter — Dorothy Townsend, who has died at the age of 88, was a pioneer and a lone female reporter in a team of men — The Los Angeles Times has paid tribute to its first-ever female news reporter - a lone woman in a team of male journalists at the title in the mid-1950s and 1960s.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and LA Observed

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:
Los Angeles Times Cuts Staff Again (Exclusive)

Discussion: LA Observed and LA Observed

Erik Wemple:

Jason Mattera interviews someone — is it Bono? — Jason Mattera, editor at large at Human Events, is famous for rough-and-tumble journalism. Last year he created a sensation when he pulled something of a fast one on Vice President Biden. He distracted the veep by pretending he wanted to pose for a picture with him.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Media Matters for America, Gawker, Mediaite, Business Insider, The Atlantic Wire, TheBlaze.com, Distriction, Rolling Stone and The Stranger …

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

The Good And Bad News From The Latest Pay TV Subscriber Figures — The good news for the traditional subscription TV industry: subscriber counts across the cable/satellite/telco television services industry grew by 380,000 in 2011. The bad news? Growth of satellite and telco subscriptions …

Discussion: Multichannel

Peter Osnos / The Atlantic Online:

Toasting the Columbia Journalism Review at 50 — Looking back at a half century of conversation and criticism at a publication that believes journalism matters — The Columbia Journalism Review is in the midst of its 50th anniversary year, a considerable achievement.

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Video: Vevo To Launch In Six More Countries, CEO Caraeff Says — The music distributor and service Vevo plans to triple its global footprint in 2012, CEO Rio Caraeff tells paidContent while answering questions about a rumoured tie-up with Facebook... Vevo, which redesigned last week …

Discussion: VentureBeat and The Next Web

Amanda Bennett / Nieman Watchdog:

Lessons learned from a period of intense newspaper turmoil — Between September 2001 and November 2006, I was editor of two Knight Ridder papers, first the Lexington Herald-Leader and then The Philadelphia Inquirer. It was a period of intense turmoil. Today Knight Ridder no longer exists.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, paidContent, JIMROMENESKO.COM and The Newspaper Guild

Longreads:

Introducing Travelreads: The Best Storytelling for the Best Places in the World, Presented by Virgin Atlantic — One of the coolest things about Longreads is when someone tweets: … This got us thinking: What if we started gathering the best #longreads for every destination in the world?

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Adweek and AdAge

Andy Fixmer / Bloomberg:

Discovery Oprah Network to Lose $143 Million, SNL Kagan Says — Oprah Winfrey Network, the cable- television venture between Discovery Communications Inc. (DISCA) and the talk-show host, may lose $142.9 million in 2012 as it struggles to gain viewers, according to researcher SNL Kagan.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and Associated Press

Associated Press:

Gary Pruitt of McClatchy new AP president, CEO — NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press has announced that Gary Pruitt, a former First Amendment lawyer who heads the third-largest newspaper company in the U.S., will become the news cooperative's next president and CEO.

Discussion: Poynter, Sacramento Bee and JIMROMENESKO.COM