Mediagazer: DRM is crushing indie booksellers online (paidContent)

3:30 AM ET, April 8, 2012

Top News:

Parting Ways — Anyone who has read Derb in our pages knows he's a deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer. I direct anyone who doubts his talents to his delightful first novel, “Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,” or any one of his “Straggler” columns in the books section of NR.

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Caller, Guardian, The New York Observer, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Gawker and The Huffington Post

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Internet Responds To John Derbyshire's Shockingly Racist ‘Non-Black Talk’ With Universal Disgust — John Derbyshire is likely best known as a contributor to National Review, though he became the target of intense revulsion this weekend for something he wrote elsewhere- at Taki Mag …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Gallup, The Daily Caller, Slate, Media Matters for America, The Barrometer, National Review, ThinkProgress and The Huffington Post

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

NBC Fires Producer of Misleading Zimmerman Tape — NBC News has fired a producer who was involved in the production of a misleading segment about the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. — The person was fired on Thursday, according to two people with direct knowledge of the disciplinary action …

Discussion: Reuters, Mediaite, Politico, The Daily Caller, The New York Observer, The Wrap, Inside Cable News, TVNewser, The Volokh Conspiracy, Business Insider, Chickaboomer and Deadline.com

Reuters:
NBC News ‘In Shock’ Over George Zimmerman Error

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The FJP and TVNewser

paidContent:

DRM is crushing indie booksellers online — In June of 2011, my friend Emily Gould came up with an idea for a new kind of online bookstore: one that would sell only e-books, but would strive to offer the personalized customer service and curation of a local independent bookshop.

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of the Next Issue magazine future — So what is it? iTunes for magazines? Maybe Hulu for periodicals? How about Piano Media for American titles? Tivo for print? — In the hurly-burly of digital content innovation and monetization, it's hard to figure out what things are, so we try to find apt comparisons.

Discussion: Wired and O'Reilly Radar

Guardian:

Murdoch press savages Australian rival in pay TV row — News Limited accuses Fairfax group of trashing media principles — Australia's raucous press is no stranger to confrontational journalism, but the last week has seen a bitter war of words between the country's two largest newspaper groups …

Discussion: NPR, NPR, Big News Network.com and NPR

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Why Bob Woodward is wrong about the internet and journalism — Anyone who has followed the media for the past half century or so knows that Bob Woodward is a giant in the field, one half of the legendary investigative team of Woodward and Bernstein — a man who helped to bring down a U.S. president …

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Britannica experiences run on final print edition — The decision to end publication of the printed edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica after 244 years has turned it into a best seller. — When the Chicago-based company announced March 14 that the printed version of Britannica …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Steve Buttry / The Buttry Diary:

Dear Newsroom Curmudgeon, — I sometimes share your anxiety and occasionally share your concerns about some of the changes in journalism. I learned journalism in the old school, same as you. I am steeped in the same values of accuracy, fairness, dogged reporting and good writing that you cherish.

Discussion: @carr2n and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Virgin Atlantic tip-off allegations put workings of media back in spotlight — Leveson inquiry urged to examine secret trade in private information that fuels the paparazzi — They are the secret tip-offs at the heart of the paparazzi. Far from the heavily trailed showbiz parties and red-carpet events …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Guardian and Digital Spy

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Exclusive: Yahoo's Chief Product Officer Blake Irving Resigns — According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo's Chief Product Officer Blake Irving has turned in his resignation and it has been accepted by the company. — The process for Irving's departure is a bit more formal since …

Discussion: Reuters, Bloomberg, Search Engine Land, FishbowlNY, Deadline.com and The Verge

Roger Parloff / Fortune:

The real importance of the revived Viacom-YouTube case — The case is a modest win for content-owners. But it also fiddles with bedrock definitions that determine the outcome of a crucial recurring question: When are companies liable for their users' copyright infringement? — By Roger Parloff, senior editor

Discussion: Techdirt and paidContent