Mediagazer: Crowd Funding the Right to Know (The Huffington Post)

9:30 AM ET, December 17, 2012

Top News:

Group Aims to Be a Conduit for WikiLeaks Donations — A group advocating a more transparent government has formed a nonprofit organization called the Freedom of the Press Foundation to serve as a conduit for donations to organizations like WikiLeaks. The goal is to insulate …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Freedom of the Press …, Forbes, The Verge, Boing Boing, @digiphile and @xeni

The Huffington Post:

Crowd Funding the Right to Know — “A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know.” — Judge Murray Gurfein, Pentagon Papers case …

Discussion: Boing Boing

New York Times:

Newtown has Mixed Feelings About the Media Horde in Its Midst — NEWTOWN, Conn. — Wolf Blitzer understands that his presence here is not appreciated by some local people, who wish that the TV satellite trucks, and the reporters who have taken over the local Starbucks would go away and leave them to ache, grieve and mourn in peace.

Discussion: danah boyd, JIMROMENESKO.COM, mediabistro.com and Guardian

Matt Bors:

I am Facebook Friends With Ryan Lanza, Which Became A Problem — I woke up late Friday morning and posted my latest comic before realizing no one would be talking about it or any other issue that day except the latest massacre unfolding before our eyes - this time involving children. Not “this time.”

Discussion: GigaOM, The Age and Washington Post

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
It's not Twitter — this is just the way the news works now

Discussion: Softpedia News, The Daily Beast, Garcia Media, ANIMAL, Adweek, The Huffington Post, Mediaite and Chickaboomer

BuzzFeed:
A Local Crisis Meets The Global Social Web

Discussion: Poynter, @jaredbkeller, @max_read, @glennf, @buzzfeedben, @julesdwit, Poynter and Poynter

David Carr / New York Times:

Buffeted by the Web, but Now Riding It — When the consumer Web exploded in the mid-1990s, part of the promise was that it would transform careers and the concept of work. Remember the signs on telephone poles and banners all over the Internet? “Work at home and turn your computer into a cash register!

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Nat Ives / AdAge:

A Look at Newspapers Turning a Profit — Yes, There Are Some — and Those That Are Not … The Times of London — Unprofitable — The upscale broadsheet is running in the red, with an operating loss equivalent to $21.4 million before taxes and other charges for the 12 months ended July 1.

Discussion: USA Today and @michaelroston

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Print in 2013: Newspapers cut costs and seek tablets of salvation — Alexander Lebedev needs an investor, there's a new boss at Pearson, and the regional press faces further advertising woe — With Rupert Murdoch set to spin off his newspapers, Alexander Lebedev on the hunt for an investor …

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Mobile's Rude Awakening — Mobile audiences are large and growing. Great. But their monetization is mostly a disaster. The situation will be slow to improve, but the potential is still there — if the right conditions are met. — This year, a major European newspaper expects …

Discussion: Guardian

Allison Goldstein / American Journalism Review:

Blogging about the Mob — A longtime organized crime reporter takes a buyout from the Philadelphia Inquirer and tries his hand at blogging for a new Web site that provides gavel-to-gavel coverage of big trials. A couple of big differences: no editing, and he doesn't have to resort to ‘expletive deleted.’ " Fri., December 14, 2012.

David J. Hill / Singularity Hub:

Patented Book Writing System Creates, Sells Hundreds Of Thousands Of Books On Amazon — Philip M. Parker, Professor of Marketing at INSEAD Business School, has had a side project for over 10 years. He's created a computer system that can write books about specific subjects in about 20 minutes.

Discussion: broadstuff

Sarah Laskow / CJR:

I am a journalist; ask me anything — Media figures are flocking to Reddit to converse with fans — On Wednesday, Chris Anderson, the ex-EIC of Wired, went on Reddit and told users to ask him anything. On Monday, it was Carl Zimmer, the science journalist.

Jack Shafer:

The best of the year in review! — From their lazy fingers to your scratchy eyeballs, journalists are now transmitting their “year in review” articles and “best of 2012″ lists if, unlike the New York Times Book Review, they haven't already published their lists of 100 notable books or their 10 best round-up.

Discussion: Melville House Books