Mediagazer: Why Willamette Week bought Independent Weekly (Jim Romenesko)

5:05 AM ET, August 25, 2012

Top News:

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

New York Times explains graphic photo from Empire State Building shooting — The New York Times explains the graphic photo (shown below) on its home page that illustrates coverage of Friday's deadly shooting at the Empire State Building. — “It is an extremely graphic image and we understand …

Discussion: Gawker, Featured stories, The Atlantic Wire, BuzzMachine, Mediaite, Branch, @carr2n and The Huffington Post

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

How the media handled graphic images of Empire State Building shooting — When today's deadly shooting occurred in the heart of Manhattan, thousands of witnesses were nearby and many used cameras to quickly document the scene. Some of the images posted to Twitter, Instagram and Flickr included graphic photos of the shooting victims.

Discussion: New York Post, nbcnewyork.com, New York Times, Associated Press, New York Magazine, Gawker, New Yorker, Betabeat and Gothamist

Bernie Bernstein / On The Media:

The Story of the Times' Gory Empire State Shooting Photo — If you went on the New York Times' site this morning to read about news of the Empire State building shooting, you might have seen this haunting photo of one of the victims of the shooting, Steve Ercolino.

Andrew Gill / WBEZ:

Empire State Building shooting leads to social media payday for one Instagrammer — As the world tries to figure out the motives of the Empire State Building shooter, one random Instagram photo provides a window into the dirty underbelly of photo licensing for wire services.

Discussion: BAGnewsNotes, JIMROMENESKO.COM, New York Magazine, Mashable!, @romenesko and PandoDaily

Jon Bershad / Mediaite:

Yesterday, The Onion Wrote About The Lack Of Deadly Shootings. Today They Wrote An Update: ‘Never Mind’ — The sad thing is that it seems just like the kind of dark joke that The Onion would normally write. There's the perfect set up and punch line. The only problem is that the punch line …

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Mediaite, The Onion, The Huffington Post, Splitsider, The New Yorker Blog, Fox News, The Daily Beast, TVNewser, Gawker and Gawker

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

In internet time, two months = nearly eight years — Nearly eight years ago, I took a two-month gig at paidContent to help Rafat out while I learned some valuable new skills. Many of you were incredibly patient and encouraging as I grappled with hand coding newsletters and maintaining …

Discussion: The Wrap

Guardian:

Prince Harry pictures: Sun was right to publish, says Elisabeth Murdoch — Daughter of Rupert Murdoch says it would be sad if newspapers could not publish something so freely available on the internet — Rupert Murdoch's daughter has defended the Sun's right to publish pictures of Prince Harry naked …

Discussion: Guardian, Guardian, Washington Post and Guardian

Elinor Mills / CNET:

Court affirms $675,000 penalty in music-downloading case — Joel Tenenbaum, penalized $675,000 for illegally downloading 31 songs online, looks on as court upholds the size of the damages fee. The fee had been lowered once; then reinstated. — A federal court in Massachusetts today upheld …

Discussion: Techdirt, Gizmodo, Digital Spy, Softpedia News and BBC

Jim Romenesko:

Why Willamette Week bought Independent Weekly — Willamette Week announced on Thursday that it was buying Durham, N.C.-based Independent Weekly. The Portland alt's story on the deal pointed out that “the purchase comes at a time when newspapers -including alternative weeklies …

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

Voters still tuned in to traditional news media, poll finds — The bulk of voters who follow current events daily turn to traditional sources, especially local TV news, the USC Annenberg/Los Angeles Times Poll on Politics and the Press finds. Trust in various sources tends to depend on age and politics.

Discussion: Poynter, LA Observed, JIMROMENESKO.COM, gqrr.com, mediabistro.com, TVSpy and The Newspaper Guild

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Wall Street Journal offers free Wi-Fi in NYC and San Francisco — Newspapers have been trying all sorts of gimmicks, from paywall promos to “open houses,” to get readers to discover their websites. The latest by the Wall Street Journal is clever: thousands of free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout New York City and San Francisco.

Discussion: Engadget, Betabeat, FishbowlNY, NetNewsCheck Latest and MediaShift

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

Debates Denied, Univision Turns to Candidate Forums — Univision's request for an official presidential debate may have been rejected, but the Spanish language network has succeeded in securing both candidates' attendance at “Meet the Candidate” forums, the network said late Thursday afternoon.

Discussion: The Wrap, Multichannel, Broadcasting & Cable and TVNewser