Mediagazer: The Washington Post needs a paywall

9:40 AM ET, November 27, 2012

Top News:

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Chinese Website Congratulates Kim Jong Un On Being Named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive — China's Communist Party newspaper, People's Daily, congratulates the North Korean leader on being named the sexiest man alive by the the satirical American publication. Seriously.

Discussion: People's Daily Online, Mediaite, Gawker, Fast Company, @ari_shapiro and @timothys

Associated Press:

Chinese paper falls victim to The Onion joke about ‘sexy’ Kim Jong-Un — BEIJING — The online version of China's Communist Party newspaper has hailed a report by The Onion naming North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the “Sexiest Man Alive” — not realizing it is satire.

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

Fox News Exec VP: Guest Who Slammed Network Apologized - But Not Publicly — UPDATED: Author Tom Ricks accused the network of “hyped” Benghazi coverage; Fox News' Michael Clemente says Ricks apologized but “doesn't have the strength of character to do that publicly.” Ricks disputes.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite and Politico

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Guest on Fox News to Discuss Benghazi Attack Is Given a Quick Exit — Thomas E. Ricks, the veteran defense reporter and author, said he expected his Monday morning appearance on Fox News to last about three minutes. It ended, in fact, after 90 seconds — his last sentence was a description …

Discussion: The Week, Chickaboomer, Gawker, New York Magazine, Slate, TVNewser, Softpedia News, The Huffington Post and Pressing Issues

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:
Fox Interview Ends After Guest Accuses Network Of Operating As ‘Wing Of The Republican Party’

Discussion: Politico, The Raw Story and Erik Wemple

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:

Old media's problems are the costs not the lack of paywalls — GigaOm's Mathew Ingram is one of my favorite bloggers (who doesn't work at PandoDaily), so I'm delighted that this time, I actually agree with him on something. — Go read his post on why paywalls are not the answer to dying newspapers right now.

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Why pushing for a paywall at the Washington Post completely misses the point

Discussion: The Buttry Diary and NetNewsCheck Latest

Dean Starkman / CJR: The Washington Post needs a paywall—now

Nigel Morris / The Independent:

Lord Patten: Licence fee payer will foot the bill for Jimmy Savile sex abuse investigation — The cost of two BBC inquiries set up following the exposure of the Jimmy Savile scandal will be borne by licence fee-payers, but will not affect the budget for programmes, corporation chiefs have told MPs.

Discussion: PressGazette, Telegraph and ITV News

Alan Cowell / New York Times: Top BBC Figures Acknowledge ‘Errors’ in Reporting Scandals

Associated Press:

GI returns to Fort Meade for pretrial hearing in WikiLeaks case; seeks dismissal of charges — FORT MEADE, Md. — An Army private charged in the biggest security breach in U.S. history is trying to avoid trial by claiming he was already punished enough when he was locked up alone in a small cell …

Discussion: PRI's The World, NPR and Baltimore Sun

Ed Pilkington / Guardian: Bradley Manning to speak for first time since arrest in pre-trial testimony

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Lord Patten: BBC needs ‘sufficient heft’ to take on Google and Apple — The BBC needs “sufficient heft to be able to argue its corner” with global corporations likes Apple and Google, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten said last night. The peer also accused the press of trashing the reputation …

Alison Flood / Guardian:

Former OED editor covertly deleted thousand of words, book claims — Efforts to rewrite the dictionary in the 70s and 80s to omit entries with foreign origins described as ‘really shocking’ by author — An eminent former editor of the Oxford English Dictionary covertly deleted thousands …

Discussion: Telegraph, Melville House Books, The Verge, Gawker and bookforum.com

Jessica Wohl / Reuters:

Amazon says big weekend Kindle sales more than double 2011 level — (Reuters) - Cyber Monday was the biggest day ever for sales of Amazon.com Inc's Kindle electronic devices, the online retail giant said on Tuesday, without saying how many it actually sold.

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Guardian and BBC battle for traffic in the Big Apple — The Guardian is making a song and dance about its web traffic having surpassed that of BBC News in the U.S. (via release). — That is a significant milestone for the UK publisher in the battle to win American hearts, minds, eyeballs — and advertisers.

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:
The Guardian goes responsive with its new mobile site following a month-long beta trial

Discussion: Guardian

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

With ‘Defiance,’ Comcast's Syfy Bets $100M On Convergence Of TV And Videogames — On a sprawling soundstage on the outskirts of Toronto, Kevin Murphy is giving a tour of the alien world he's helping bring to life. As silver-eyed humanoids stroll silently past, Murphy …

Cary Spivak / American Journalism Review:

Are These Guys Crazy? — It has happened in newsrooms across the country. News breaks that somebody is buying a newspaper, undoubtedly at a deeply discounted price. Buyout-weary reporters and editors look around their own newsrooms filled with empty desks and wonder: “Who are these guys buying newspapers?

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

How we read, not what we read, may be contributing to our information overload — Every day, a new app or service arrives with the promise of helping people cut down on the flood of information they receive. It's the natural result of living in a time when an ever-increasing number …

Erik Maza / WWD:

Bloomberg L.P. Names Ted Moncreiff Editor of Pursuits — BACK TO EDITING: Bloomberg L.P. is getting some Condé Nast blood for its newish luxury glossy. Ted Moncreiff, a magazine lifer who until this week had been at Condé Nast Ideactive, the ad agency-like outfit within …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Manuel Roig-Franzia / Washington Post:

Pulitzer wanted for reporter who broke story on Nazi Germany's surrender — In headier days, Ed Kennedy personified the hard-drinking, hard-charging war correspondent of another era. The first time his future wife saw him, he was sidled up to a hotel bar in Paris with none other than Ernest Hemingway …

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Report: Cameron will oppose calls from Leveson for ‘state meddling’ in the press — With Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly set to oppose any calls from Lord Justice Leveson for ‘state meddling’ in the press, leader of the opposition Ed Miliband has insisted that Leveson's recommendations should be implemented.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, CNN, Guardian and Telegraph