Mediagazer: Google Dishes Out PageRank Penalties To UK Newspaper Web Sites For Selling Links (Barry Schwartz/Search Engine Land)

6:45 PM ET, February 22, 2013

Top News:

Beth Healy / Boston Globe:

New York Times exec outlines Boston Globe sale process to employees — New York Times Co. vice chairman Michael Golden told Boston Globe employees Friday that the company has a duty to seek the highest bidder in a sale but hopes to leave the newspaper in responsible hands.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Nieman Journalism Lab and Smartertimes.com

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

New York Times Offered More Than $100 Million for Boston Globe — New York Times Co. received a formal bid valuing the Boston Globe at more than $100 million last month from a former Globe executive and a Boston private-equity firm, though about a third of the value would come from the buyers assuming …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Christine McConville / Boston Herald:
‘Scared’ Globe staffers press for sale answers

Discussion: The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, Nieman Journalism Lab and Poynter

Alexander C. Kaufman / The Wrap:
Will Rupert Murdoch Buy the Boston Globe?

Discussion: Media Nation and NetNewsCheck Latest

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 and Broadcasting & Cable

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:
Washington Post Co. reports fourth quarter 2012 loss

Discussion: Business Wire and RTTNews

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: FishbowlNY, LA Observed, @ledbetreuters, Adweek and Poynter

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Here's How You Buy Your Way Onto The New York Times Bestsellers List — An endorsement from Oprah Winfrey. A film deal from Steven Spielberg. A debut at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list. These are the things every author craves most, and while the first two require the favor …

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal: Authors Buy Way Onto Best-Seller Lists

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 …

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

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: Guardian, @joshhalliday, @julian5news, Sky News, @steven_swinford, @benfenton, @legalbrat and Telegraph

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

Discussion: @skynewsniall and Daily Mail

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

Discussion: Telegraph, Deadline.com, Guardian, @benfenton, Sky News and The Independent

Dylan Byers / Politico:

ABC News in final-stage talks with N.Y. Times reporters Jeff Zeleny, Susan Saulny — ABC News is in the final stages of job negotiations with New York Times reporters Jeff Zeleny and Susan Saulny, and is expected to make a formal announcement early next week, sources familiar with the negotiations tell POLITICO.

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 …

Discussion: GeekWire

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

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: New York Magazine and Capital New York

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Former CBS Exec Lurie Joins Former Yahoo Levinsohn at Guggenheim Digital Media — Well-known digital media exec Zander Lurie has been hired by former Yahoo exec Ross Levinsohn to become one of his key lieutenants at Guggenheim Digital Media. — Lurie will be an EVP there …

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, Adweek, City Desk, Poynter, Business Insider and The Dish

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:

Google Dishes Out PageRank Penalties To UK Newspaper Web Sites For Selling Links — Google has downgraded the Toolbar PageRank scores for several dozen UK operated newspapers and news sites today. — It is believed the reason Google has downgraded their PageRank scores is because they were selling links on a massive scale.

Discussion: paidContent, Google Webmaster Central Blog, WebProNews and SEO Blog by Dave Naylor