Mediagazer: Inside the Star Chamber: How PolitiFact tries to find truth in a world of make-believe (Andrew Phelps/Nieman Journalism Lab)

12:45 PM ET, August 21, 2012

Top News:

Niall Ferguson: ‘Credibility’ not undermined — Niall Ferguson went on Bloomberg TV this morning to defend himself against the tropical depression of criticism that met his recent Newsweek cover story about President Obama. — Accusing the “liberal blogosphere” of “nit-picking,” …

Discussion: Capital New York, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic Online and Guardian

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:

In Praise of Fact-Checkers — In the wake of Niall Ferguson's dishonesty, Dylan Byers decided to contact Newsweek to see what controls the magazine had in place to prevent authors from lying to them. As it turns out, none: “We, like other news organisations today, rely on our writers …

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:
Niall Ferguson Smacked Down Over Another Questionable Newsweek Cover

Discussion: CJR, Brad DeLong, The Daily Beast, The Maddow Blog, Mediaite, Politico, The Week, Salon, Noahpinion, The Daily Dish, Business Insider, Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, news.firedoglake.com and Slate

Ann DeMatteo / New Haven Register:

Journalist Fareed Zakaria resigns from Yale Corporation (document) — NEW HAVEN — The plagiarism scandal connected to a nationally known journalist has hit home. Fareed Zakaria, an editor-at-large at Time magazine and CNN host, on Monday resigned from the Yale Corporation.

Discussion: New York Times

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Plagiarism, defamation and the power of hyperlinks — What do Fareed Zakaria, Jonah Lehrer and Gawker Media have in common? In different ways, the incidents that have thrust all three into the news recently help to show the power of the simple hyperlink, which Sir Tim Berners-Lee developed along …

Discussion: CJR, Gatekeeper, Media Decoder, New York Magazine, New York Times and Poynter, Thanks:@mikeyavo

Brian Stelter / The Caucus:

Akin's No-Show on ‘Piers Morgan’ is Boon for Program — When Representative Todd Akin abruptly cancelled an interview with Piers Morgan on Monday night, Mr. Morgan trotted out an empty chair instead. — The scene, irresistible to political insiders, played out in prime time on CNN on Monday night …

Discussion: Poynter, New York Times, Media Decoder, CNN, The Huffington Post, The Maddow Blog and TVNewser

The Huffington Post:
David Catanese, Politico Reporter, Removed From Todd Akin Coverage

Discussion: Politico, Media Decoder, Online NewsHour, Erik Wemple and Mediaite

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:
Politico's Catanese no longer covering Akin controversy after defending ‘legitimate rape’ comment

Discussion: The Buttry Diary, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Maddow Blog, Washington Post, New York Times, Slate, Capital New York and Erik Wemple

BBC:

Julian Assange row: Embassy entry ‘would be suicide for UK’ — President Rafael Correa said he thought there was still a threat of the UK entering the embassy — The UK would be committing diplomatic suicide if it tried to enter his country's embassy in London, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has said.

Discussion: The Week

Kiran Randhawa / London Evening Standard: Friend of Julian Assange names ‘sexual assault victim’ on live television

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Barnes & Noble Q1 revenues up slightly, but Nook device sales fall — Barnes & Noble reported first quarter earnings for fiscal year 2013 on Tuesday morning. The bookstore chain's revenues were up slightly, to $1.45 billion, and in line with analyst estimates of $1.48 billion.

Discussion: AdAge, AllThingsD, CNET, ZDNet, Media Decoder, TechCrunch, PC Magazine and Pocket-lint

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

Head of ABC's ‘This Week’ Is Leaving to Join PepsiCo — ABC News will cover this presidential campaign without one of its veteran journalists. Jon Banner, executive producer of George Stephanopoulos's Sunday morning public affairs show “This Week,” will leave ABC News for a job at PepsiCo.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and TVNewser

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:

NFW: Adam Penenberg Joins PandoDaily as Editor — Everyone in the startup ecosystem will tell you that the most successful entrepreneurs surround themselves with people who are better than them. So I know I'm on the right track, when I hire someone who makes me wonder how on earth I have managed to get him.

Discussion: @digiphile, @penenberg and @moorehn

Brooks Barnes / Media Decoder:

ABC News Stumbles in Report on Tony Scott's Suicide — ABC News appears to have stumbled on flawed reporting for the second time in a month. — Late Monday, ABC backed off an earlier report saying that Tony Scott, the movie director who committed suicide on Sunday, had inoperable brain cancer.

Discussion: Poynter, TVNewser, TVWeek.com, ABCNEWS, Inside Movies, TVSpy, ArtsBeat, The Huffington Post, Pressing Issues and LA Observed

Richard Wilson / Press Gazette:

Death toll of journalists in Syria rises to 15 this year — Syria has been labelled “the most dangerous place in the world” for journalists after Japanese reporter Mika Yamamota was killed amid fighting in Aleppo. — Yamamoto, 45, was an experienced war reporter who had covered conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq for Japan Press.

Miwa Suzuki / Agence France Presse:
Japanese reporter killed in Syria: Japan govt

Discussion: Committee to Protect … and The Atlantic Wire

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

Misleading and incomplete coverage of Apple's ‘record’ value (CORRECTED) — Microsoft's 1999 market cap still, by far, bigger — The big market news today is about Apple's gargantuan market capitalization reaching a new, stunning high: … CNNMoney: … The Wall Street Journal's lede:

Discussion: Forbes, TechCrunch, NYT Bits, ZDNet, AllThingsD, CNNMoney.com, TUAW, PC Magazine, Associated Press, MarketBeat and Business Insider

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Inside the Star Chamber: How PolitiFact tries to find truth in a world of make-believe — WASHINGTON — PolitiFact's “Star Chamber” is like Air Force One: It's not an actual room, just the name of wherever Bill Adair happens to be sitting when it's time to break out the Truth-O-Meter and pass judgment on the words of politicians.

Jonathan Stray / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Metrics, metrics everywhere: How do we measure the impact of journalism? — If democracy would be poorer without journalism, then journalism must have some effect. Can we measure those effects in some way? While most news organizations already watch the numbers that translate into money …

Discussion: GigaOM and What People Know

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Amazon Prime Instant Video Beefs Up Sports And Documentary Content, Adds ESPN's 30 For 30 Film Series — Amazon continues to ramp up the content in its Amazon Prime film catalog to draw users to the premium service, with the latest licensing acquisition expanding its back catalog of sports and documentary content.

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, VatorNews, Business Wire and The Next Web