Mediagazer: Here's something new: Little, Brown UK launches digital-first imprint for literary fiction (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

1:50 AM ET, February 23, 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, Gannett Blog 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 …

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

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and Media Nation

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

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

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Here's something new: Little, Brown UK launches digital-first imprint for literary fiction — Several publishers have launched digital-first imprints for genre titles — science fiction/fantasy, romance and so on. In these instances, books are published first as ebooks and aren't released in print unless they take off.

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.

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 …

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: googlewebmastercentral …, paidContent, WebProNews and SEO Blog by Dave Naylor

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

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 …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

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 …

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: RTTNews and Business Wire

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

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: TVNewser, Politico and Talking Biz News

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Mother Jones receives Polk Award for ‘digging’ on Romney video — By Erik Wemple, Published: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1:21 PM ET — In this year's batch of George Polk Awards, David Corn of Mother Jones took a big one — the prize for political reporting. The accolade commemorates …

Discussion: msnbc.com

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Visual Effects Industry Does a Disappearing Act — The Oscar for best visual effects on Sunday is widely expected to go to Ang Lee's “Life of Pi,” which uses a digitally created tiger so realistic that it serves as the main character's sole companion for most of a journey across the Pacific.

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.