Mediagazer: These Designers Did for Fun What News Sites Can't Do to Save Their Business (Jon Mitchell/ReadWriteWeb)

11:10 PM ET, July 18, 2012

Top News:

No Deal in Sight: Viacom Compromise Proposals Fail to Sway DIRECTV — UPDATE IN RESPONSE TO DIRECTV'S STATEMENT ON EPIX: — DIRECTV's most recent press release regarding EPIX is one more complete work of fiction from the company. We've offered DIRECTV various compromise proposals …

Discussion: VentureBeat, CNET, Engadget and CNNMoney.com

Sam Thielman / Adweek:
DirecTV vs. Viacom: Resolution Not Forthcoming

Discussion: MediaPost

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Viacom says talks with DirecTV have broken down

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Yahoo! creates new editors-in-chief for news, finance — Marissa Mayer isn't Yahoo's only high-level appointment this week. The Silicon Valley search portal-turned-content titan, which on Monday named Mayer, a popular Google executive, as its new C.E.O., has tapped some internal talent …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, iMediaConnection Blog, MediaFile, Forbes Real Time, @michaelwolffnyc, @dylanbyers, Street Fight, AdAge, FishbowlDC, Adweek, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, ready,fire,aim, paidContent and GigaOM

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of Marissa Mayer's Yahoo legacy challenge — Call it a Hail Marissa pass. — Kudos to the Yahoo board for shaking up the conventional wisdom, going long, going young, and going Google. Against a history of failure, it has chosen success — the gold-plated success of Google …

Discussion: Forbes Real Time and TechCrunch

Merrill Knox / TVNewser:

Hannity Gets First Interview with George Zimmerman — Sean Hannity has secured the first interview with George Zimmerman, the man accused of killing Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. The hour-long exclusive will air on Hannity's Fox News Channel program tonight at 9pmET.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Raw Story, ThinkProgress, msnbc.com, theGrio, Broadcasting & Cable, Capital New York, Multichannel, The Young Turks …, The Huffington Post, mediabistro.com and Global Grind

Charles E. Schumer / Wall Street Journal:

Memo to DOJ: Drop the Apple E-Books Suit — Restoring Amazon's monopoly in digital publishing is not in the public interest. — Recently the Department of Justice filed suit against Apple and major publishers, alleging that they colluded to raise prices in the digital books market.

Discussion: TeleRead, Engadget, App Advice, Hillicon Valley, GalleyCat, paidContent, 9to5Mac and Publishers Lunch

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
E-books Are Booming, and Still Sort of Small

Discussion: VentureBeat

Dave Copeland / ReadWriteWeb:

Twitter's Credibility Problem — Where you read something may impact credibility as much as what you read - especially if where you read something is on Twitter, according to a new study. — Published last month in Communication Quarterly, the research by Mike Schmierbach and Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch used …

Discussion: The Wall Blog

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Twitter, Reddit and the newsroom of the future

Discussion: Toronto Star, Daily Dot and eMedia Vitals, Thanks:@palafo

John Cook / Gawker:

‘It Was Like a War Zone’: A Former Nanny for Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng Speaks Out — A former household staffer and tutor for Rupert Mudoch and Wendi Deng's children is speaking out for the first time about the relentless nightmare that is working for the Murdochs: Screaming tantrums …

Discussion: Daily Mail and New York Magazine

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

David Gergen Reveals Extent Of Bain Capital Ties While ‘Reporting’ On Firm — NEW YORK — CNN senior political analyst David Gergen defended Mitt Romney this week against the Obama campaign's charges that the Republican nominee hasn't been honest about his tenure at Bain Capital …

Discussion: Mediaite, Chickaboomer and TVNewser

Jon Mitchell / ReadWriteWeb:

These Designers Did for Fun What News Sites Can't Do to Save Their Business — A Web design studio built the first news site I've ever read from top to bottom two days in a row, and it did so as a side project. Mule Design is not in the journalism business. It builds sites to solve all manner of client communication problems.

Discussion: Subtraction.com, Thanks:@rwjon

Andy Borowitz / The New Yorker:

SHOCKER: The New Yorker Acquires the Borowitz Report — After eleven years of writing nothing but fake news at the Borowitz Report, I have to tell you something that actually happened. — I'm excited to announce that The New Yorker has acquired the Borowitz Report.

Discussion: CJR, The Wrap, The New Yorker Blog, @jcstearns, JIMROMENESKO.COM, GalleyCat, New York Magazine, Poynter, WNYC News Blog and paidContent

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

ProPublica gets $1.9 million from Knight to expand its efforts in data journalism — ProPublica is getting a $1.9 million data journalism grant from the Knight Foundation, the nonprofits jointly announced on Wednesday. — The money will be used to support ProPublica's News Applications team, including adding one full-time staffer.

Discussion: The ProPublica Nerd Blog, ProPublica, Knight Foundation and Journalism.co.uk

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Why the Washington Post will never have a paywall — The list of major newspapers that haven't at least experimented with a paywall or subscription option for online content is pretty short, and one of the most prominent abstainers is the Washington Post. While the success …

Discussion: Fortune, Thanks:@biztrends

Richard Verrier / Los Angeles Times:

News Corp. gives $20 million to Motion Picture & Television Fund — Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp., is seen arriving for the morning session at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. His company is donating $20 million to the Motion Picture & Television Fund.

Discussion: Variety

Jared Malsin / CJR:

In Egypt, new newspapers and old problems — Citizens need good journalism to explain confusing times, but many Egyptians don't trust their media — CAIRO, EGYPT — Egyptian newsstands today offer a lively range of options, including three government-owned papers, papers affiliated with political parties …

Tania Branigan / Guardian:

Chinese newspaper shakeups raise fears of growing pressure on media — Two newspapers undergo staff reshuffles before party congress unveils change of leadership this autumn — Abrupt reshuffles at two outspoken Chinese newspapers have raised fears of growing pressure on the media …

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect …

Jeanne Whalen / Wall Street Journal:

WikiLeaks Nearly Out of Cash — WikiLeaks said it is close to running out of money, a problem the site blamed on Visa and MasterCard, which have prohibited users from donating to the site. — WikiLeaks' cash reserves have fallen from €800,000 ($983,600) in December 2010 to less …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Glenn Mulcaire forced to reveal who gave phone-hacking order — Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator used by the News of the World has been forced to reveal who ordered him to hack the phone of an assistant to PR Max Clifford in compliance with a supreme court order.