Mediagazer: TV Channel Blackouts Stall Profits (Ryan Nakashima/Associated Press)

3:55 PM ET, July 16, 2012

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Latest Word on the Trail? I Take It Back — The quotations come back redacted, stripped of colorful metaphors, colloquial language and anything even mildly provocative. Related In Pawlenty, Romney Campaign May Find Down-to-Earth Appeal (July 16, 2012) The Election 2012 App The Election 2012 App …

Discussion: Poynter, The Huffington Post, TVNewser, Capital New York, Guardian, @jeffjarvis, @jayrosen_nyu, New York Magazine, Washington Wire, Prof Chris Daly's Blog, @mlcalderone, @timwindsor, Hot Air, @peterlauria3, @brianstelter, @chanders and The Caucus

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

The Evolution of Reporters Into Stenographers Is Nearly Complete — It's long been standard for politicians to unilaterally insist that briefings be either “on background” or “off the record” (there are subtle distinctions between the two), and it's long been standard for reporters to agree to this.

Discussion: @jeffjarvis

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Microsoft and NBC Complete Web Divorce — On Sunday night, MSNBC.com did something that successful Web sites almost never do: it renamed itself. — The site became NBCNews.com, signifying the end of a relationship between NBC and Microsoft that dates back to the earliest days of the commercial Web.

M. Alex Johnson / NBC News:

Msnbc.com becomes NBCNews.com — REDMOND, Wash. — NBC News has acquired full control of msnbc.com and its digital network from Microsoft Corp. and is immediately rebranding the site as NBCNews.com. Many details of the arrangement remain to be worked out, and financial terms weren't disclosed.

Discussion: MediaPost, TVNewser and Mediaite

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

Times Names Buffalo News Editor as Its New Public Editor — The New York Times announced on Monday that Margaret M. Sullivan, the editor and vice president of the Buffalo News, will become the Times's new public editor. — Ms. Sullivan will be the paper's fifth public editor and the first woman to hold the position.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, Agence France Presse, The Huffington Post, Media & Entertainment, Adweek, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Poynter, Capital New York, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, CJR, Buffalo News, @edmundlee, @tcarmody, @sulliview, @tcarmody, @cschweitz and @jbenton

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Major news organizations find they have to lighten up to thrive on YouTube — In 2006, the year after YouTube was founded, comedian Dane Cook had a bit about how every whim of your imagination, anything you could blindly type into a search bar, was already posted to the site.

Discussion: Journalism.org, The Verge, TechCrunch, Hillicon Valley, About.com Journalism and SocialTimes

Jake Coyle / Associated Press:

Study: Viewers Turning to YouTube as News Source — A new study has found that YouTube is emerging as a major platform for news, one to which viewers increasingly turn for eyewitness videos in times of major events and natural disasters. The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence …

Discussion: Journalism.org and Noted

New York Times:

Apple May Meet Tablet Competition With a Smaller iPad — The tech companies are at it again — trying to catch the blockbuster iPad in a race to win the tablet market. — Google on Friday began shipping its Nexus 7, which is smaller and less expensive than Apple's iPad …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Noted, Business Insider, Fortune, Know Your Mobile, Gotta Be Mobile, The Week, Betabeat, MacRumors, Mashable!, Pocket-lint, Forbes Real Time, The Verge, Telegraph, CNET, VentureBeat, GeekWire, 9to5Mac and App Advice

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Gannett print advertising down 8% in 2nd quarter — Gannett's second-quarter earnings report shows that print advertising revenue was down 8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2011, while digital revenue grew 13 percent, according to Gracia Martore, president and CEO.

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Reuters, Thomson IR and Gannett Blog

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Journatic published hundreds of stories under fake bylines on Houston Chronicle websites — Outsourcing company Journatic used previously undisclosed fake bylines on more than 350 stories published on behalf of the Houston Chronicle, Poynter has learned. — This news comes on the heels …

Discussion: The Wrap, MiamiHerald.com and Chicago Tribune

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Tribune newsroom takes over TribLocal work done by Journatic

Discussion: Forbes Real Time, MediaShift, Media Nation, Media Decoder, The Newspaper Guild and Poynter

Charlie Warzel / Adweek:

Fast Chat: Reuters' Social Media Maven Gives Up Twitter — Reuters' deputy social media editor, Matthew Keys, spent the better part of the last few years digging up stories and breaking news on Twitter, tweeting more than 46,000 times. Last week, he decided to leave Twitter indefinitely.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Study: Half of first year's paywall revenue comes in first three months — Our-Hometown, a company that handles Web publishing for small community newspapers, has published a report showing the pace of digital subscription revenue for one site over about three years.

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Journalist had temporary access to Romney campaign's Storify account — Oh Boy! Montco — Like any good community engagement editor, The (Lansdale, Pa.,) Reporter's Andy Stettler spent his Saturday afternoon signing in to Storify to do some storifying.

Discussion: Daily Dot