Mediagazer: The Truth About #NBCFail — For Starters, NBC Is Not, Last Time I Checked, a Charity (Simon Dumenco/AdAge)

11:05 AM ET, August 1, 2012

Top News:

Charles McGrath / New York Times:

Prolific, Elegant, Acerbic Writer — Gore Vidal, the elegant, acerbic all-around man of letters who presided with a certain relish over what he declared to be the end of American civilization, died on Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, where he moved in 2003, after years of living in Ravello, Italy.

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Elaine Woo / Los Angeles Times:

Writer Gore Vidal, 86, has died — Gore Vidal, the iconoclastic writer, savvy analyst and imperious gadfly on the national conscience, has died. He was 86. Vidal died Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills of complications of pneumonia, said nephew Burr Steers.

Discussion: Joe. My. God., Slate, New York Times, New York Magazine, EW.com, Reuters, Boing Boing, Associated Press, @pareene, The Daily Beast and The Wrap

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:

The Truth About #NBCFail — For Starters, NBC Is Not, Last Time I Checked, a Charity — A few thoughts about NBC's Olympics strategy — and the operatic freak-outs about NBC's Olympics strategy: — It's been perverse fun watching ad-supported, for-profit media outlets freak the hell …

Discussion: Poynter, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch and VentureBeat

John Ourand / SportsBusiness Daily:

Chairman Mark Lazarus defends NBC Sports' decision for tape delay — NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus defended his network's decision to show some marquee Olympic sports, like swimming and gymnastics, on tape delay in NBC's prime-time window. Addressing the topic for the first time since …

Discussion: AllThingsD, Media Decoder, Bleacher Report, Associated Press, The Big Lead, Mediaite, Deadspin, Poynter and Newsweek

Brent Lang / The Wrap:

NBC May Break Even on Summer Olympics Coverage — NBC may break even on its coverage of the Summer Olympics in London, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke said Wednesday on a conference call with analysts. — “We're way ahead of where we thought we would be,” Burke said.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and Reuters

Salvador Rodriguez / Los Angeles Times:

NBC Olympic live streams aren't live, Phelps flub indicates — NBC's Live Extra app doesn't exactly stream live. The app's streams experience a delay. (NBC / July 31, 2012) — A blunder during one of Michael Phelps' races Tuesday has confirmed that NBC's live stream of Olympic events is not actually live.

Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
NBC Takes Steps to Avoid More Spoiler Promotions

Discussion: Daily Mail, NY Daily News and The Huffington Post

Rebecca J. Rosen / The Atlantic Online:
News Outlets: Only You Can Prevent Spoilers

Discussion: @tcarmody and @tcarmody

Twitter Blog:

Our approach to Trust & Safety and private information — We want to take a moment to explain some of our general Trust and Safety policies and procedures, and address the specific case at hand that has unfolded over the past 48-hours (we normally don't address matters pertaining …

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

Twitter restores reporter's account, tweet with NBC email remains — Two days after his account was suspended, the U.K. reporter who touched off a media kerfuffle about corporate control of speech is back on Twitter. The Independent's Guy Adams, who made his name bashing NBC's Olympic coverage …

Discussion: Poynter, Forbes, professional.wsj.com, Media Decoder, AdAge, @producermatthew, @ianbetteridge and AllThingsD

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:
Guy Adams suspension, now lifted, punctuates Twitter censorship evolution

Discussion: New York Times, The Independent, Washington Post, GigaOM, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Insider, VentureBeat and LA Observed

Kashmir Hill / Forbes:
NBC Is The Real Loser In Guy Adams v. Twitter

Discussion: The Week, International Business Times and The New York Observer

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The Daily Lays Off a Third of Its Staff — The Daily, News Corp.'s attempt to create a digital newspaper for the iPad age, is laying off nearly a third of its staff. — The publisher plans to tell its workers today that it will fire 50 of its 170 employees, according to people familiar with The Daily's plans.

Jesse Angelo / The Daily:
A Note to Our Readers and Friends

Discussion: PC Magazine

Rebecca Shapiro / The Huffington Post: The Daily Lays Off 50 Staffers, Announces Content And Design Changes

The Huffington Post:

2012 Election Gaffes Fuel Media Obsession, Leading To Scripted Campaigns — As Mitt Romney walked toward his motorcade Tuesday morning in Warsaw, Poland, Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker yelled a question in his direction: “What about your gaffes?” Rucker didn't specify which gaffes …

Discussion: The Hill

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Mitt Romney aide's gaffe exposes rift

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, CNN, theGrio, Hot Air, Gawker and Reuters

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Sun journalist in Tuleta arrest bailed until September — A 37-year-old Sun journalist has been released on bail following his arrest yesterday morning on suspicion of handling goods. — The journalist, who has not been named, was been bailed to return pending further inquiries in September.

Guardian:
News Corporation directors could face charges for neglect of duties

Discussion: CJR, New York Magazine and Bloomberg

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Inside billionaire Joe Ricketts' dreams of media empire — Joe Ricketts. Courtesy Chicago Cubs. — Joe Ricketts, the Nebraska-born mogul, fiscally conservative political donor and founder of the online brokerage titan TD Ameritrade, spent much of his life on the plains, where everything is flat.

Discussion: Street Fight and Capital New York

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

How the Financial Times achieved a digital milestone — Five years ago I recall listening to the Financial Times's chief executive, John Ridding, as he outlined his paper's digital strategy. It was under way by then, of course, but the FT was moving faster and more enthusiastically than many papers …

Paige Albiniak / Broadcasting & Cable:

Exclusive: Warner Bros. to Overhaul Anderson Cooper Talk Show — ‘Anderson Live’ will feature live format, daily cohosts, and more social media — Headed into season two, Warner Bros.' Anderson is getting a makeover, including changing its name to Anderson Live and adding more live features to the show.

Discussion: TVNewser and The Huffington Post