Mediagazer: Why online book discovery is broken (and how to fix it) (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

5:20 PM ET, January 20, 2013

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Katie Couric to Interview Manti Te'o — 1:42 p.m. | Updated Katie Couric has landed the first television interview with Manti Te'o, the Notre Dame football star who said he was tricked into believing first that he had a girlfriend and then that the girlfriend died of leukemia. The girlfriend never existed.

Discussion: Reuters, @david_schwab, Deadspin, SBNation.com, TVLine and CBS News

David Folkenflik / NPR:
The Manti Te'o Story: Why The News Media Let Its Guard Down

Discussion: ESPN, Deadspin, Rolling Stone, Forbes, L.A. NOW, International Business Times and The Sherman Report

Jim Romenesko:

Memo: The Atlantic president explains Scientology advertorial ‘screw-up’ — The Atlantic president Scott Havens sent this staff memo about the Scientology advertorial “screw-up” shortly after 6 p.m. Friday: — From: Havens, Scott — To: companywide.TheAtlanticMonthly — Dear Atlantic Staff,

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @jackshafer, @ckrewson and Poynter

Tim Carmody / The Verge:

Wikileaks claims Aaron Swartz was an ally and possible source, breaking anonymity — Unsubstantiated statements implicate US Secret Service in his prosecution and break the organization's own rules by ‘doxxing’ Swartz — Aaron Swartz died a week ago, from suicide.

Discussion: emptywheel, CNET, VentureBeat, AllThingsD, @wikileaks, @jason_pontin, @dangillmor, @tcarmody, Mashable! and @wikileaks

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Senator John Cornyn Asks Eric Holder To Explain DOJ Prosecution Of Aaron Swartz

Discussion: The Public Domain, Lessig Blog, v2, The Huffington Post, United States Senator …, The Verge and emptywheel

Mike Taylor / Guardian:

Hiding your research behind a paywall is immoral — As a scientist your job is to bring new knowledge into the world. Hiding it behind a journal's paywall is unacceptable — Publishing science behind paywalls is immoral. There, I said it. — I know, I know. It's an easy trap to fall into - I've done it myself.

Discussion: Globe and Mail, Nature and Techdirt

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Why online book discovery is broken (and how to fix it) — Figuring out how to get their books discovered online isn't a new problem for publishers, but it's one that is becoming more pressing as channels and competition proliferate. New research shows that frequent book buyers visit sites …

Discussion: Publishing Perspectives

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Elsevier In Advanced Talks To Buy Mendeley For Around $100M To Beef Up In Social, Open Education Data — The world of ed-tech is ramping up another notch, and getting a lot more open in the process: educational publishing giant Elsevier is in advanced talks to buy Mendeley …

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of the body shop — We can look at the first 15 years or so of newspapers on the web as a slow-motion car wreck: agonizing to live through, fascinating to watch. — As we pull the pieces apart, we find one key culprit: misalignment. Now, in the age of paywalls, membership …

Patrick B. Pexton / Washington Post:

The Post uses someone else's words — again — Has technology made us all plagiarists? The Internet and Google have enabled every reporter, blogger and columnist to have what amounts to a million encyclopedias at their fingertips. We can search for material on virtually any subject …

Discussion: Top Digital Journal News, @rajunarisetti, @jswatz, @macloo and Poynter

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

Magazines Use Digital Editions to Ramp Up Pricing — Cosmopolitan readers can get their first year's subscription to the print magazine for $10. But if they want the digital edition on their iPads, they will have to fork over $19.99. — That's a pricing maneuver so bold it may make even Cosmo readers blush.

Discussion: LNR Journalism

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

YouTube halts funding for WSJ and Reuters channels; Reuters cuts positions — YouTube has cut off funding to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters that formed part of its $150 million dollar plan to help launch more than 100 premium channels. The termination of the one-year deals …

Discussion: GigaOM

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

Digital First goes the Newhouse route in upstate New York — The three-day-a-week newspaper model pioneered by Advance Publications in Michigan is now spreading to Digital First Media. The company will move its Oneida Daily Dispatch from six days a week to three, including a new a Sunday edition, on February 3.

Drew Olanoff / TechCrunch:

Circa Raises $750K From Group Including Lerer Ventures To Revolutionize Mobile News Delivery — We've learned today that mobile news-delivery company Circa has raised another $750K on top of the $900K raised previously. The company launched its app of the same name, which allows you to follow …