Mediagazer: Founder Richard MacManus Departs ReadWriteWeb To Work On A Book (Anthony Ha/TechCrunch)

2:40 PM ET, October 13, 2012

Top News:

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

For politically playful news orgs, the 2012 election means social interactivity — Wanna make your own over-the-top Bobby Newport-style political attack ad? — PBS NewsHour is on it. This week it launched Ad Libs 2012, an interactive feature that has you pick quotes and photos …

Discussion: Guardian

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Founder Richard MacManus Departs ReadWriteWeb To Work On A Book — Richard MacManus, who founded tech blog ReadWriteWeb all the way back in 2003 and served as its editor in chief, has announced (through a post on his personal blog) that he's leaving the site.

Discussion: RicMac and ReadWriteWeb

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Lessons in how to crowdsource journalism from ProPublica — The idea of “crowdsourcing” has become more or less mainstream by now — thanks in part to the rise of social apps and services like Mechanical Turk and Kickstarter — and we've already seen how journalists can use Twitter …

Discussion: CJR, Thanks:@mterenzio

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

Quartz Scores with Designers — Launched last month, Quartz, the Atlantic Media Company's foray into mobile-first publication, has gone all-in on responsive design. Quartz debuted as part of a crop of new publications designed for the post-desktop era, rather than retrofitted for it …

BBC:

UK to review social media laws — A freedom of information request revealed that there were 2,347 investigations after complaints regarding posts on social media in 2010. This number rose to 2,490 in 2011 - about 50 different cases across the UK each week.

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Time Out claims it is winning back lapsed readers — Distribution increases six fold after listings magazine abandoned cover price last month — Time Out is claiming lapsed readers have returned to the magazine after it went free last month and increased distribution six fold.

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

A Web survey isn't a poll, CNBC — The network's tweet creates a misleading media narrative on the veep debate — Whoever was running the CNBC Twitter feed last night didn't know the difference between a scientific poll and a Web poll: … As I'm writing this, that misinformation has been retweeted 4,838 times, favorited 405.

Discussion: Media Decoder, TVNewser, CNBC, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Hot Air, The New Yorker Blog, Forbes, National Review, Cable Television News, Chickaboomer and Broadcasting & Cable

Alisha Azevedo / Chronicle of Higher Education:

Research Libraries Increase Spending on Digital Materials — Spending by research libraries appears to be rising, especially for digital materials, according to new data from the Association of Research Libraries. — The data are part of the association's Library Investment Index …

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Comment Voting: Ars Technica's new solution to shills and kooks — For many news sites, reader comments add extra insight and a sense of community. Unfortunately, comment sections are also a playpen for cranks, hucksters, fanboys and conspiracy theorists.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

BookShout pulls users' Kindle, Nook books onto other platforms — BookShout, which is backed by book distribution company Ingram Content Group's CEO John R. Ingram and has gone through a number of iterations since its founding in 2010, is doing something that may make Amazon and Barnes & Noble mad …

Discussion: Forbes

BBC:

Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite sales make Amazon no profit — Amazon boss Jeff Bezos discusses the Kindle Fire HD — Amazon has confirmed it will not make a profit from sales of its latest Kindle tablet and e-reader devices. — “We sell the hardware at our cost, so it is break-even on the hardware …

Discussion: bizjournals, The Sun, AllThingsD, Mashable!, Bigmouthmedia Search …, Telegraph, Pocket-lint, ZDNet, Engadget, Bookseller news, Forbes, PublishersWeekly.com, Fast Company and CNET

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
In self-publishing push, Amazon expands Kindle Owners' Lending Library to Europe

Discussion: TechCrunch, CNET, Softpedia News and Telegraph

Felix Salmon:

Why Margaret Sullivan is right to be wrong — I was one of the “oxpeckers” quoted by Joe Coscarelli giving the new NYT public editor, Margaret Sullivan, a “rapturous reception” — not on the grounds that she was particularly spot-on in her judgments, but rather on the grounds …

Discussion: Forbes, Poynter, The Atlantic Wire and Capital New York

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

YouTube Changes Its Search Ranking Algorithm To Focus On Engagement, Not Just Clicks — YouTube just announced that it is changing its search ranking algorithm to highlight videos that keep viewers engaged. The idea here, says YouTube, is to “reward engaging videos that keep viewers watching.”

Discussion: Softpedia News, YouTube Creator Blog, ZDNet, The Next Web and NetNewsCheck Latest