Top News:
Jim Romenesko:
USA Today explains its ‘cool balls’ — Gannett chief marketing officer Maryam Banikarim sent a memo to employees this morning with USA Today artist/illustrator Sam Ward's explanation of his paper's new logo and “cool balls.” — He writes: — “Just what are our balls? Well, they are what we will make of them.
Discussion:
Media Decoder, Gannett Blog, Garcia Media, FishbowlNY, AdAge and Charles Apple
RELATED:
Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:
The USA Today Redesign: Too Little, Too Early?
The USA Today Redesign: Too Little, Too Early?
Discussion:
Media Decoder and New York Times
Julie Moos / Poynter:
USA Today's new design debuts in print today
USA Today's new design debuts in print today
Discussion:
Charles Apple, The New York Observer, @mattmansfield, The Week, Gannett Blog, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Tampa Bay Times and Adweek
Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:
‘Village Voice’ editor Tony Ortega quits the paper; it's Maura Johnston's last day, too — Tony Ortega, editor of The Village Voice, just announced on the weekly's news blog Runnin' Scared that he's leaving the paper. — “Next week will be my last as editor of the Voice,” Ortega wrote.
Discussion:
paidContent, @camilledodero, @weareyourfek, @willsommer, The Atlantic Wire, @weareyourfek, @michaelroston, @choire, @zinoman and JIMROMENESKO.COM
RELATED:
Media Decoder:
Village Voice Is Losing Its Editor in Chief and Music Editor — After five-and-half-years as editor of The Village Voice, Tony Ortega announced in a by-the-way blog post that he will be leaving to work on a book about Scientology while music editor Maura Johnston took to Twitter to say she was leaving the paper as well.
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, Poynter and Gawker
Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:
Runnin' Scared: Was Tony Ortega Pushed Out at the Village Voice?
Runnin' Scared: Was Tony Ortega Pushed Out at the Village Voice?
Discussion:
FishbowlNY and New York Magazine
Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
Google's Islam-Baiting Video Censorship: A Well-Meaning Mistake — The line between responsibility and censorship can be hard to make out at times. Google just tripped over it. — The decision to block access on YouTube to an inflammatory movie trailer in countries where it has already …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post
RELATED:
David Nakamura / Washington Post:
White House asked YouTube to review anti-Muslim film — The White House has asked YouTube to review an anti-Muslim film posted to the site that has been blamed for igniting the violent protests this week in the Middle East. — Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council …
Discussion:
Reuters, Mashable!, Mediaite and Los Angeles Times
Adrian Chen / Gawker:
Confirmed: The Director of Innocence of Muslims Is a Schlocky Softcore Porn Director Named Alan Roberts — The anti-Islam film that's set off a firestorm in the Middle East was directed by a 65-year-old schlock director named Alan Roberts, we've confirmed. He's the creative vision behind …
Discussion:
Guardian, The Snitch, The Informer and BostInno
RELATED:
Craig Silverman / Poynter:
AP issues correction for misidentifying director of ‘Innocence of Muslims’ film
AP issues correction for misidentifying director of ‘Innocence of Muslims’ film
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and MediaShift
Joseph Ax / Reuters:
Twitter surrenders Occupy protester's tweets — (Reuters) - Twitter handed over tweets from an Occupy Wall Street protester to a New York criminal judge on Friday after months of fighting a subpoena from prosecutors. — The company surrendered the micro-blogging posts …
Discussion:
Forbes, PC Magazine, AllThingsD, CNET, Bloomberg, Engadget, Marketing Pilgrim, GigaOM, New York Magazine and Hillicon Valley
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
BuzzFeed Hires Web Video Pioneer Ze Frank — Here's a good chocolate/peanut butter combination: Buzzfeed, the click-factory that has figured out Facebook and Twitter, plus Ze Frank, the guy who figured out Web video back in its infancy. — Together they're going to try to figure out modern-day YouTube.
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb, Fast Company and Business Insider
Erik Wemple:
All Lehrer content must be Ghostbustered — First, it was the quasi-scandal over Jonah Lehrer's using his New Yorker blog posts to recycle material that he'd previously published elsewhere. — Second, it was further revelations on Lehrer's full recycling bin.
Discussion:
Poynter
RELATED:
Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Wall Street Journal removes two Jonah Lehrer essays, corrects two others
Wall Street Journal removes two Jonah Lehrer essays, corrects two others
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
‘The Wall Street Journal’ pushes its glossy magazine to monthly (almost)
‘The Wall Street Journal’ pushes its glossy magazine to monthly (almost)
Discussion:
FishbowlNY, WWD Media Headlines and WWD
Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Topless Kate photos: royals sue Closer — St James's Palace confirms Kate and William are launching proceedings against Silvio Berlusconi-owned magazine — The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have launched legal proceedings in France against the Silvio Berlusconi-owned celebrity magazine …
Discussion:
Forbes, Media Law Prof Blog, The Daily Beast, AJE and Media Week
RELATED:
Tim Carman / Washington Post:
Producer of ‘pink slime’ textured beef suing ABC and ABC News — Of all the media outlets that have taken shots at Beef Products and its “lean, finely textured beef,” the South Dakota-based company apparently feels slimed by only one: ABC and its ABC News division.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Rural Blog, AdAge, TVNewser and Eatocracy
Dean Starkman / CJR:
The hamster wheel vs. the quality imperative — The real problem with JRC/Advance free model and the unappreciated benefit of a paywall … The Journal Register Company has cast itself as an avatar of the future of news, making tough decisions now that other, less stout-hearted …
Discussion:
GigaOM and It's All Journalism
Patrick Lannin / Reuters:
Freed Swedish journalists say faced mock execution in Ethiopia — (Reuters) - Two Swedish journalists pardoned by Ethiopia after spending 11 months in jail for aiding a rebel group said on Friday they had been subjected to a mock execution, and accused the country of using anti-terrorism laws to stifle journalism.
Discussion:
Big News Network.com
Joe Bavier / Reuters:
Washington, U.N. criticizes Ivory Coast on newspaper bans — (Reuters) - The United Nations and Washington criticized on Friday the suspension of six Ivory Coast newspapers allied to the political party of former President Laurent Gbagbo by the country's media authority.