Mediagazer: Journalism's problem is a failure of originality (Kelly McBride/Globe and Mail)

5:20 AM ET, September 29, 2012

Top News:

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Car Chases, Live TV, and Ethics — So, Fox News has, excruciatingly, just broadcast live video of a man committing suicide after a car chase. Fox anchor Shep Smith said afterwards that the network was on a five-second delay, but that the video got through regardless.

Discussion: Washington Post, @huffpostmedia, Slate, @jbflint, @dylanlscott, @stuartmillar159, @jaredbkeller, Tampa Bay Times, New York Magazine, TVNewser and Politico

Adam Gabbatt / Guardian:

Fox News carries live video of man shooting himself after car chase — Network was showing Arizona chase on tape-delay but failed to cut the feed before suspect shot himself in the head — Fox News was forced to apologise on Friday after showing a man shooting himself in the head on live television.

Discussion: Mediaite, TVNewser, Politico, The New York Observer, B&C, Broadcasting & Cable, Cable Television News, Politico and Media Decoder

Jessica Testa / BuzzFeed:

Car Chase Ends In Man Shooting Himself On Live TV — Shepard Smith's “get off it, get off it, get off it” came too late. WARNING: This post contains two versions: one that shows the suicide and one that does not. Proceed with caution.

Rebecca Shapiro / The Huffington Post:

Shep Smith Apologizes For Fox News Airing Live Suicide: ‘We Really Messed Up’ — A shaken Shep Smith apologized to Fox News viewers after the network failed to cut away from a car-jacker committing suicide on air. Throughout Smith's 3:00 p.m. show, the network cut to and from a live car chase near Phoenix, Arizona.

Discussion: Poynter

Jim Romenesko:

Hamilton Nolan: 'I feel like I'm obliged to speak the unvarnished (and sometimes mean) truth' — I recently saw a Globe and Mail interview with David Carr in which he mentioned Gawker writer Hamilton Nolan and how “he will just step up and fill somebody with ack ack.” (Bill Keller the target?)

Economist:

Have I got news for you — “THE most humble day of my life,” is how Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corporation, described his experience being excoriated by British parliamentarians in July 2011. Accusations of phone hacking, police bribery and negligence involving Mr Murdoch's News of the World …

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Time Inc.'s Lang Announces Shakeup — Time Inc.'s Laura Lang today bumped up Paul Caine to the role of group president, signaling an emphasis on global growth at a company facing a tough business climate. — Caine, who has quickly established himself as CEO Lang's right-hand man …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, AdAge and Mashable!

David Kravets / Wired:

Justice Department's Warrantless Spying Increased 600 Percent in Decade — The Justice Department use of warrantless internet and telephone surveillance methods known as pen register and trap-and-trace has exploded in the last decade, according to government documents the American Civil Liberties obtained via …

Discussion: Naked Security, Hot Air and Forbes

Pete Yost / Associated Press:
Feds' use of surveillance devices rises sharply

Discussion: ACLU and Business Insider

Edward Wyatt / New York Times:

F.C.C. Backs Plan on Reclaiming Spectrum for a Wireless Auction — WASHINGTON — The government took a big step on Friday to aid the creation of new high-speed wireless Internet networks that could fuel the development of the next generation of smartphones and tablets, and devices that haven't even been thought of yet.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Hillicon Valley, Mashable! and The Next Web

Richard Horgan / FishbowlLA:

After Seventeen Years at EW, Dave Karger Moves Over to Fandango — When Geoff Boucher clocks in next Monday for his first day as senior writer at Entertainment Weekly, another long-time EW staffer will be settling in at their own nearby new place of employ.

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Independent ‘likely’ to ditch trial North America paywall — Almost a year after launch the Independent is reviewing its trial metered paywall for readers in the US and Canada as it ‘has not delivered on the ambitions from a revenue standpoint’ — The Independent's experiment metered paywall …

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Obama administration's FOIA record worse than Bush's — Bloomberg News found that 19 of 20 federal agencies did not comply within 20 days to a request for travel expenses made under the Freedom of Information Act. Jim Snyder and Danielle Ivory report:

Discussion: Hit & Run, Bloomberg and The Public Editor's Journal

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

Spitzer, Slate win dismissal of ex-Marsh exec's libel lawsuit — Sept 28 (Reuters) - Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and the online magazine Slate on Friday won dismissal of a $60 million libel lawsuit by a former Marsh & McLennan Cos executive over a column about an insurance bid-rigging scandal.

Tessa Stuart / LA Weekly:

GOOD Founder Ben Goldhirsh Talks About Launching a New Platform and Firing Editorial Staffers — When word hit the street back in June that GOOD Magazine would be transforming its website into a “platform” — oh, and it was firing the majority of its editorial staff — readers and media-watchers …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

The ‘Voice’ moves on, and so does Tony Ortega — It's only been a week since Tony Ortega's last day as editor-in-chief of The Village Voice, which is searching for a successor under a newly formed parent company in which the Voice will no longer share business with the controversial classified website Backpage.com.

Greg Sandoval / CNET:

Music publisher blocked iPhone 5 music service, report says — Sony/ATV and Apple couldn't agree on licensing fees and that's why we didn't see a Pandora-like music service from Apple, according to a story in the New York Post. — Some people waited days in line for the iPhone 5.

Discussion: Media Decoder, BGR, iDownloadBlog.com, New York Post, TechCrunch and MacRumors

Drew Olanoff / TechCrunch:

Twitter Announces New Improvements For Discover Tab, Adds Continuous Tweet Stream — Today, Twitter announced some updates to its Discover offering. Here's what the company had to say: … The name of this game is context. What Twitter has been working really hard at is providing top news stories …

Discussion: Twitter Blog and CNET

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Friday Q&A: Kevin Delaney on making Quartz an essential international brand — Before Quartz became a device-morphing business site and the buzz of online journalism circles, it was a blank canvas. That's an enviable position these days, particularly if you've got the backing of Atlantic Media …

Discussion: GigaOM, eMedia Vitals and Folio

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

Pandora Founder Takes to Own Airwaves in Royalty Battle — In an unlikely entry into the political campaign season, Pandora founder Tim Westergren is taking to his own airwaves to urge listeners to contact their congressional representatives about what Pandora calls “discrimination against internet radio.”