Mediagazer: Google's Media Barons (John R. MacArthur/Harper's)

3:40 PM ET, January 18, 2013

Top News:

Gawker Media sets traffic record with Deadspin's Manti Te'o blockbuster — For the first time ever, Gawker Media drew more than 10 million U.S. visitors in one week. The memo to Gawker staff: … * Te'o story is still on top of the Gawker Media Big Board (gawker.com/stats)

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

With All Eyes on Manti Te'o Hoax Story, Deadspin Doesn't Immediately Cash In — Scoop Highlights Difficulty Publishers Face When Traffic Spikes — Deadspin's blockbuster article revealing that the girlfriend of star Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o never existed eclipsed 3.5 million views Thursday evening.

Discussion: Poynter, The Wrap, blogs.bostonmagazine.com, GeekWire, Hollywood Life and Yahoo! News

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:
So the Manti Te'o Scandal Is Some Sort of Indictment of Online Culture? Nonsense!

Discussion: Sports Illustrated and The New Yorker Blog

Jen Doll / The Atlantic Wire:
Manti Te'o and the New Burden of Internet Truth

Discussion: Forbes, AdAge and NPR

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

John Geddes, Managing Editor, Is Leaving The New York Times — John M. Geddes, left, with the executive editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson, and a fellow managing editor, Dean Baquet. — 2:37 p.m. | Updated John M. Geddes, a managing editor for The New York Times for the last decade …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY, Politico and The Huffington Post

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:
Alice DuBois Takes Times Buyout to Go to BuzzFeed

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Politico

John R. MacArthur / Harper's:

Google's Media Barons — I had to cheer when I read the news the other week about a French company that's selling an ad-blocking service on the Internet. Xavier Niel, the entrepreneurial owner of the web-service provider Free, is threatening to smash the advertiser-supported “free-content” model.

Discussion: paidContent, New York Magazine, @alexismadrigal, Hit & Run, @waxpancake, The Verge, @waxpancake, @clarajeffery, Beyond Search and Boing Boing

Dylan Byers / Politico:

POLITICO interview: Piers Morgan — To Piers Morgan, the answer is simple: pro-gun advocate and conservative radio show host Alex Jones was the best guest he ever had. — “The best thing about Alex Jones is that 8 million people watched that video on YouTube,” Morgan told POLITICO …

Discussion: Mediaite, Capital New York, Chickaboomer, Guy Fawkes' blog, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post and The Daily Dish

Al Jazeera English:

Al Jazeera reporter killed by sniper in Syria — Qatar-based media network says freelance journalist Mohammed al-Horani was killed by a sniper in the province of Deraa. — A sniper has shot dead Al Jazeera freelance reporter Mohamed Al-Massalma in the southern Syrian province of Deraa, the Qatar-based media network has said.

Agence France Presse:
Sniper kills French journalist in Syria's Aleppo

Discussion: Alarabiya.net English and Radio Free Europe/Radio …

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

How news organizations can sell sponsored content without lowering their standards — Advertisers want to be let out of the box. — They want to break out of the constrained 300-pixel display ad box that everyone's eyes have learned to ignore, and leap into the stream of engaging content that readers actually pay attention to.

Discussion: SPEAKEASY, Gawker and CNN

Andrew Pugh / PressGazette:

Sunday Times: £1m fraud claim ‘strengthened’ after Lance Armstrong's Oprah confession — Sunday Times: 'We watched Lance Armstrong's interview with interest' Paper seeking to recoup 2006 costs plus interest Case is ‘stronger’ after Oprah confession The Sunday Times today warned Lance Armstrong it will …

Discussion: TVNewser, Media Decoder, Yahoo! News, The Wrap, Adweek, Forbes, FishbowlNY and Guardian

Ben Webster / The Times:

John Witherow appointed as Acting Editor of The Times — John Witherow, the editor of the Sunday Times, has been appointed acting editor of The Times. In a statement, Mike Darcey, Chief Executive of News International, said: “Following a meeting of the Independent National Directors …

Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Major papers' longform meltdown — No one equates story-length with quality. Let's start with that concession. — But still. Story-length is hardly meaningless when you consider what it takes to explain complex problems, like say, the financial crisis, to the broader public.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Keach Hagey / Corporate Intelligence:

Tribune's New CEO: Not A Newspaperman, Or A Hatchetman … Veteran television executive Peter Liguori just became CEO of a company named after a newspaper - Tribune Company , owner of the Chicago Tribune - but he says he doesn't “profess to be a newspaperman by any stretch of the imagination.”

Discussion: Media Decoder, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
New Tribune CEO Peter Liguori sees opportunity to grow

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Media Decoder, tribune.com, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Publicist sues FishbowlDC for libel — Washington, D.C., publicist Wendy Gordon has filed a lawsuit over a series of unflattering photos that the media-gossip site FishbowlDC ran of her, Zoe Tillman reports. … Gordon's complaint says she isn't a public figure, and the posts …

Discussion: The BLT, Politico, City Desk and The Huffington Post

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Media roll out plans for Inauguration Day, stressing how ‘multiplatform’ they'll be — Over the last couple of days, news outlets have been rolling out their plans for covering Barack Obama's second swearing in as President of the United States on Monday at the National Mall …

Discussion: The Wrap, TVNewser and The Huffington Post

Erik Maza / WWD:

American Society of Magazine Editors Under Fire From Industry — PROFILES IN UMBRAGE: A noted editor was on the phone recently discussing the American Society of Magazine Editors, the industry's main professional club, whose board is comprised of 18 rotating editors in chief from magazines as varied as Redbook and BusinessWeek.

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

PCC to investigate Julie Burchill column — The Press Complaints Commission is to launch an inquiry into the publication of Julie Burchill's controversial column in The Observer that caused outrage among transgender people. The commission decided to act after receiving 800 complaints.

Discussion: @jeffjarvis

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

BuzzFeed's Michael Hastings: Rahm Emanuel Physically Assaulted Me — BuzzFeed reporter Michael Hastings is alleging that Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel physically assaulted during a contentious exchange in 2010. Emanuel, former White House chief of staff to President Obama, is known for his hardball tactics.

Discussion: BuzzFeed