Mediagazer: At Network TV's Gathering, Web Is Central (New York Times)

3:05 AM ET, May 21, 2012

Top News:

Foer Returns to New Republic as Editor — Two months after buying a majority stake in The New Republic, the technology entrepreneur Chris Hughes has lured one of its former stars, Franklin Foer, back to the magazine as its editor. Mr. Foer, 37, left The New Republic two years ago after a successful five-year run as editor.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, The Huffington Post and bookforum.com

David Carr / New York Times:

The Atavist Matures as a Publisher and a Platform — It sounds like the setup for a very old, stale joke. Three guys walked into a bar in Brooklyn to complain about the state of journalism ... except by the time these guys were done chatting and plotting, they had come up with an actual business.

Discussion: @carr2n

Bret J. Schulte / CJR:

‘This is my paper. This is my town’ — One year after a devastating tornado, The Joplin Globe feels stronger — Jack Kaminsky lives with his mother now. He is 63 years old, broad shouldered, with silver hair and a silver beard. He's the circulation director of The Joplin Globe …

Discussion: Garcia Media

Josh Stearns / Groundswell:

Hindsight Journalism — In an earlier post I picked apart Ted Koppel's graduation speech to the students at UMass Amherst. However, I wanted to return to his remarks briefly and take a closer look at one portion of the speech that I didn't contend with in my earlier post.

Thanks:@jcstearns

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Report: Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Blasphemous Content, Facebook Complies? [Update: Back Up] — Another day, another example of a country making it harder for its people to use the web and some of its most effective channels of communication? There are reports coming in from Pakistan …

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

When is a website not a website? For Talking Points Memo, the turning point was in 2012 — About six months ago, Talking Points Memo publisher Josh Marshall had a realization. — It was something that had been bouncing around in his head for a while, but only then was he sure …

Anna Heim / The Next Web:

The Financial Times predicts more digital subscribers than it sells print copies by end of year — By the end of the year, the Financial Times could have more digital subscribers than it sells print copies, FT.com's managing director Rob Grimshaw predicted this week during an on-stage interview …

Discussion: GeekWire and Talking Biz News, Thanks:@jmachats

New York Times:

At Network TV's Gathering, Web Is Central — TWO media rituals took place in New York City last week: the television upfront presentations and the city-sponsored celebration of all things digital, Internet Week. — At times, it was hard to tell which was which.

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Reader's Digest CEO: It's time for a haircut — Just a little off the top, please. — Reader's Digest Association CEO Robert Guth is asking bondholders to take a 5 percent haircut on its senior debt. — The company said yesterday that it was giving bondholders until June 14 to decide whether …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Sambuddha Mitra Mustafi / CJR:

Why China ejected Melissa Chan — Is this the kind of reporting that got Al Jazeera correspondent Melissa Chan expelled from China last week? The foreign ministry did not give an official reason for the first expulsion of a journalist in 15 years, except to say that “the media concerned know in their heart what they did wrong.”

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

How tiny Silverton, Colo., saved its newspaper (and ended up on the ‘Today’ show) — Silverton, Colo., has a population of 637 in the last census, but it didn't let its newspaper die, Bob Dotson reports on “Today.” The San Juan County Historical Society agreed in 2009 to become publisher of the Silverton Standard.

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

NBC's ‘Community’ to Lose Its Temperamental Maestro — The rabid (if relatively few) fans of the NBC comedy “Community” got the word they were fearing late Friday night when the studio that owns the series, Sony Television, decided to replace Dan Harmon as the creative hand in charge of the series.