Mediagazer: Why Topic Pages Haven't Worked For News Websites Yet (Richard MacManus/ReadWriteWeb)

2:30 PM ET, August 25, 2012

Top News:

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: Yahoo! News, Gawker, Associated Press, New York Post, nbcnewyork.com, New York Times, New Yorker, New York Magazine, Betabeat, Guardian, Featured stories, Gothamist and Mediaite

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.

Discussion: Guardian and The Huffington Post

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: The Huffington Post, Gawker, The Atlantic Wire, Mediaite, Branch, The Onion and @carr2n

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

Richard MacManus / ReadWriteWeb:

Why Topic Pages Haven't Worked For News Websites Yet — Yesterday we outlined why topic pages are becoming increasingly popular on the Web, as a way to organize social or news content. As daily consumers of such content, we're used to the chronological (and often real-time) ordering of updates from Facebook, Twitter, blogs and more.

Discussion: CJR and New York Times

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Australian politician wants media fined or suspended for ‘publishing blatant untruths’ — Much like the Leveson Inquiry in Britain, Australia recently held its own independent review of that country's news media. — Led by former Federal Court justice Ray Finkelstein …

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

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 …

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, Guardian and paidContent

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

John Hudson / The Atlantic Wire:

Jihadist Websites Target Navy SEAL Author — It only took one day for Fox News to identify the ex-Navy SEAL responsible for a new book on the death of Osama bin Laden. It took even less time for Al Qaeda-affiliated websites to begin distributing his name and image while calling for his “destruction.”

Discussion: Open Channel and Mediaite

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 Huffington Post, The Wrap, Multichannel, Broadcasting & Cable and TVNewser