Mediagazer: Subject: In defense of the besieged email interview (Eric Zorn/Change of Subject)

4:15 AM ET, February 9, 2013

Top News:

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

AOL Earnings: Revenue Turns Positive, But Patch Disappoints. Bad Omen For Hyperlocal? — Here's the good news: AOL managed to boost its total revenues on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2012, the first time in eight years that's happened. And it wasn't a close-run thing, either.

Discussion: AdExchanger and NetNewsCheck Latest

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Tim Marches On: AOL Turns in Solid Q4 Earnings, With First Year-Over-Year Growth in Eight Years

Discussion: Business Insider, CNET, Street Fight, @jeffjohnroberts, Wall Street Journal, 24/7 Wall St., San Francisco Chronicle, TechCrunch, AdAge, Forbes, VentureBeat and FishbowlNY

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: AOL's Hyperlocal Effort Patch Misses $40M-50M Sales Target, Partly Because Of Sandy …

Bernard Lunn / Emergent Business Networks:
Hyperlocal Slough of Despond. After EveryBlock, Hipster & Patch Will Authentically Local Create The Sustainable Model?

Discussion: Street Fight

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:
LOL no more: it's time to take AOL seriously as shares soar again

Discussion: BGR and The Atlantic Online

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

A Fish, Er, Storm Named Nemo — “We're ready for Nemo,” the Twitter account for the New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote on Thursday before listing all the tools at the city's disposal for the blizzard that is expected to form on Friday. — Wait — Nemo?

Caity Weaver / Gawker:
Snow Panic Has Driven Weather.com Completely Insane

Discussion: Quartz, AccuWeather.com, TVNewser, Gothamist, New York Magazine and @mathewi

Matt Buchanan / BuzzFeed:

Meet The Next Version Of Twitter — It's like Facebook's Newsfeed. But on Twitter. — There was a time when the trajectory of Twitter was at least somewhat uncertain, like it could shoot off in any direction. But it seems quite fixed now, as the Twitter stream flowing down your screen congeals …

Discussion: Business Insider

Eric Zorn / Change of Subject:

Subject: In defense of the besieged email interview — This school year alone, three prominent college newspapers have issued general prohibitions against email interviews. — And since “if it happens three times, it's a trend” is an informal law of journalism, I consider it my duty to weigh in.

Discussion: mediabistro.com and 10,000 Words

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

Aereo Amps Up Marketing Efforts Before Expanding To New Cities, Hires Former Apple Exec As CCO — Aereo has been making headlines lately, not only for expanding its streaming cloud DVR service to 22 new markets in the coming months, but for being in active litigation with some of the nation's biggest …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and Broadcasting & Cable

Nick Collins / Telegraph:

BBC to launch programmes online first — BBC television programmes are to be broadcast online before reaching TV screens under a new trial as the corporation attempts to rival web services like Netflix. — BBC iPlayer is growing in popularity and last month announced its highest ever number …

Discussion: BBC, The Next Web, The Verge, Electronista and Engadget

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Warner Bros. Defends Allegations It Abused Anti-Piracy Tool — In court papers filed this week, the studio reveals its views on whether fair use needs to be considered when causing files to be removed from the Internet. — Very few actions cause more controversy online than when a copyright holder causes …

Discussion: Techdirt

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Alexander Lebedev: Evening Standard TV will boost profit push — As he prepares to stand trial for alleged hooliganism in Russia, the Russian mogul reveals the planning behind his launch — Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev has a lot of things on his mind this week …

Discussion: The Independent

Ronald Grover / Reuters:

Fox to unveil sports channels for ad buyers in challenge to ESPN — * Fox to use channels to raise cable fees, advertising rates — * Regis Philbin in discussions on afternoon talk show — News Corp will unveil its long-rumored national sports channel to advertisers in early March …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Macmillan settles with DOJ, leaving Apple last defendant standing in ebook pricing case — Macmillan, the last remaining publisher holdout in the Department of Justice's ebook pricing antitrust lawsuit against five publishers and Apple, has decided to settle about ten months after the lawsuit was originally filed.

Discussion: Tor.com Frontpage Partial, The United States Department …, Media Decoder, Publishers Lunch, Media & Entertainment, CNET, The Week, Reuters, Hillicon Valley, Digital Book World, The Wrap, PublishersWeekly.com, AllThingsD, GalleyCat and Electronista

Alex Wilhelm / The Next Web:

Bing teams with Fox News to build ‘largest live online poll’ ever for the State of the Union address — Today Bing announced that it would be rolling out several new products and features for the coming State of the Union address by President Obama next week.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Former publisher's bill would have compelled newspapers to ID commenters — A panel in Idaho's legislature rejected a bill that would have forced newspapers to disclose the identities of commenters in the event of a lawsuit, Betsy Z. Russell reports in The Spokesman-Review.

Discussion: Spokesman.com