Mediagazer: An inside look at Google's news-ranking algorithm (Jaikumar Vijayan/Computerworld)

1:10 PM ET, February 22, 2013

Top News:

BBC:

BBC Savile inquiry: Who said what — The BBC is publishing thousands of emails and interview transcripts gathered by former head of Sky News, Nick Pollard, in his review of why BBC Newsnight axed a report into abuse by Jimmy Savile.

Discussion: @legalbrat, Sky News, @benfenton, @steven_swinford, @joshhalliday and @julian5news

BBC:
Savile inquiry: Paxman says DJ rumours were ‘common gossip’

Discussion: Guardian, Telegraph, National Updates and @benfenton

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
BBC Moves Former Head of News Show That Dropped Jimmy Savile Abuse Report to Archive Post

Discussion: Daily Mail and @skynewsniall

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
BBC releases Jimmy Savile scandal transcripts - live coverage

Discussion: Telegraph, Deadline.com, @anunou, Telegraph and The Independent

Telegraph:
BBC acting like ‘secret service’ by censoring criticism, Lord McAlpine says

Discussion: Sky News, The Independent and National Updates

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Print advertising revenue at Washington Post was down 14% in 2012 — Revenue at the Washington Post Co.'s newspaper operations was down 7 percent over 2011, the company said in a release of its fourth-quarter and year-end earnings Friday. Revenue from print advertising was down 12 percent …

Discussion: City Desk

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

Washington Post Co. reports fourth quarter 2012 loss — The Washington Post Co. reported a fourth quarter 2012 loss of $45.4 million, or $6.57 a share as it took $113 million of charges for goodwill write downs and restructuring, mostly in its Kaplan education subsidiary.

Discussion: Business Wire and RTTNews

Jaikumar Vijayan / Computerworld:

An inside look at Google's news-ranking algorithm — Patent application seeks to refine algorithm for third time since 2003 — A patent application filed by Google last year provides a detailed look at some of the metrics the company considers when ranking news stories and deciding …

Discussion: WebProNews and Kirk LaPointe's …

Quartz:

Here's the secret list of journalists who start judging the Pulitzer Prizes today — Today at Columbia University in New York, deliberations begin to determine which works of American journalism published last year are deserving of Pulitzer Prizes, the most coveted award in news.

Discussion: Adweek, Poynter and @ledbetreuters

Mat Honan / Wired:

Zendesk Security Breach Affects Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest — Customer service software provider Zendesk announced a security breach that allowed attackers into its system, where they could access data from three customers this week. Wired learned those three clients were Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr.

Discussion: Zendesk.com, mediabistro.com, TechCrunch, SocialTimes, CNET, Telegraph, VentureBeat, ZDNet, AllThingsD, Electronista, The Next Web, The Verge, Mashable!, Daily Dot and Softpedia News

Jack Marshall / Digiday:

What Online Ads Really Cost — Publishers love to talk about the rate card prices, but in reality agencies pay nowhere near the figures listed publicly or fed to the trade press. Everything in the world of online media is open to negotiation, and things like package deals, upfront commitments …

Discussion: MarketingVox News & Trends

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Ben Smith sets off Andrew Sullivan's ‘Orwell bells’ in Flatiron fracas — A standing-room-only crowd packed the hang-out area on the 11th floor of Buzzfeed's Flatiron District headquarters last night, draining plastic wine glasses and beer bottles, but tasting blood.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, City Desk and NYConvergence.com

Andrew Sullivan / The Dish:
Guess Which Buzzfeed Piece Is An Ad

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Poynter, Business Insider, @buzzfeedben, @dkthomp, @joshpetri, @dkthomp, @antderosa, @mathewi and @mathewi

Christine McConville / Boston Herald:

‘Scared’ Globe staffers press for sale answers — Blindsided Boston Globe employees — still reeling after The New York Times Co. put the Hub paper up for sale again — are slated to come face-to-face this morning with a top Gray Lady exec for the start of what could be a messy split …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, The Boston Globe, The Huffington Post and Boston Herald

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Who will buy The Boston Globe?

Discussion: Smartertimes.com, The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Nieman Journalism Lab

David Folkenflik / NPR:

CNBC Adopts Tougher Tactic In Booking Wars … CNBC is far and away the television ratings leader in the financial cable news business. Now, evidence arrives that its executives, producers and reporters are going to great lengths to maintain its status. — The channel has adopted a policy …

Discussion: Politico, TVNewser and Talking Biz News

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Fox Asks Judge to Stop Dish's New Ad-Skipper (Exclusive) — Six weeks after Dish adds place-shifting to its Hopper service, now called “Dish Anywhere,” Fox files new court papers in another attempt at an injunction. — Fox Television is again making an attempt to shut down Dish Network's advertising-skipping DVR services.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Reuters, The Verge, multichannel.com/rss and Adweek

Neal Ungerleider / Fast Company:

Egypt Crowdsources Censorship — Egypt's communications ministry is asking citizens to report web pages showing blasphemous content. — The Egyptian government is now crowdsourcing censorship efforts. A new web page created by the country's National Telecommunications Registry Agency …

Discussion: @emilydparker and CNET

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

NBCU Spent $195 Million To Buy Back Half Of MSNBC.com — Thanks to Comcast's 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, we now know how much NBCUniversal spent to buy back the 50% of MSNBC.com that was owned by Microsoft. — The total purchase price for Microsoft's stake was $195 million …

Erik Maza / WWD:

Ken Kurson Staying Busy at The New York Observer — SHIFTING SLOWLY: A few weeks ago, Ken Kurson, the new editor in chief of The New York Observer, was at the party for the redesigned New Republic. He had come to the soiree as his boss and friend Jared Kushner's guest.

Discussion: Capital New York

BBC:

Hacking: No charges for ex-NoW deputy editor — The News of the World newspaper closed in 2011 — The former deputy editor at the now-defunct News of the World newspaper will not face any charges regarding phone hacking, the CPS has announced. — It said Neil Wallis will not face prosecution …

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk

Lisa de Moraes / Washington Post:

Soledad O'Brien to leave CNN morning show to produce specials for the network — CNN is sweeping aside its morning-show host, Soledad O'Brien, to make way for new network chief Jeff Zucker's better idea: a morning show anchored by Chris Cuomo and Erin Burnett.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Sturgis, MI, AL.com, Adweek, Broadcasting & Cable and Media Decoder