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A Leave of Presence — Thank you. Forty-six years ago on April 3, 1967, I became the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. Some of you have read my reviews and columns and even written to me since that time. Others were introduced to my film criticism through the television show …
Discussion:
timeoutchicago.com …, The Wrap, Guardian, FishbowlNY, @fromedome, @mcetera, ArtsBeat, @cosmicamericana, Los Angeles Times, @aliarikan, @mickimaynard, Associated Press, Hollywood Reporter, @davidaxelrod, nbcchicago.com, @esills, @brian_tallerico, WebProNews, @jayrosen_nyu, @peterhowellfilm, @shawnlevy, @tvoti, @embeedub, @scottfilmcritic, @mattzollerseitz, @bensherwoodabc, KMBZ, @anythingbutfifi, @williamfleitch and Inside Movies
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Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert cuts workload after cancer recurrence — Roger Ebert announced late Tuesday night that he is stepping back from some duties as the Chicago Sun-Times' film critic after a recurrence of cancer. — Calling the move a “leave of presence,” Ebert wrote on his online journal …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Daily Mail and JIMROMENESKO.COM


Leno Blesses ‘Tonight Show’ Succession Plan — “The Tonight Show” will begin a new era in February when Jimmy Fallon succeeds Jay Leno as host of the most storied and successful program in late-night television. — NBC plans to announce on Wednesday its plan to install Mr. Fallon …
Discussion:
JIMROMENESKO.COM, Deadline.com, Forbes, The Wrap, @jimmykimmel, The Huffington Post, Tampabay.com, Mediaite, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, Variety, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Wire, USA Today, Newsday, Reuters, Daily Mail, FishbowlLA, Inside TV, mediabistro.com, The Daily Caller, @huffpostmedia, The Verge, The Week, Grantland and www.wnyc.org
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How paywalls are evolving — Last week, I hypothesized that the publishing industry was going to informally settle on a single management-consultancy company to ask for paywall advice from. That consultancy, having seen everybody's internal figures, could then tell everybody else what “industry best practice” was.
Discussion:
GigaOM, Thanks:@ianchaffee
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This tipping-point for paywalls does not fix newspapers' larger crisis — Not even the smartest metered model can make up for paltry digital ad revenues and a failure to recruit younger readers — To the surprise of many digital evangelizers and old-media doubters, newspaper paywalls turn out to work.


Are You A Teenager Who Reads News Online? According to the Justice Department, You May Be a Criminal — During his first term, President Barack Obama declared October 2009 to be “National Information Literacy Awareness Month,” emphasizing that, for students, learning to navigate the online world …
Discussion:
JIMROMENESKO.COM
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With New Weather Channel Deal, Twitter Aims to Make It Rain for Brands — Forecast: Cloudy, with a chance of promoted tweets. — Aiming to attract more big-brand ad dollars, Twitter and the Weather Company have a new deal to create custom content around weather-related Twitter activity.
Discussion:
AdExchanger and Mashable
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Twitter adds more ‘Cards’ for app and photo gallery embeds
Discussion:
Twitter Developers, TechCrunch, GigaOM, 9to5Google, memeburn, Mashable, VatorNews, Digits, SlashGear, The Slanted, GigaOM, Engadget and The Verge


Fake Somali Pirates Scam Western Journalists — Time magazine, Danish filmmakers among the outlets apparently fooled by Kenyan actors pretending to be Somali pirates. … The story begins in the slums of Eastleigh, a sprawling suburb of Nairobi in Kenya and home to a huge Somali community.
Discussion:
Channel 4, @anonomia, @_shamkk, @jeffjohnroberts, @jamalmosman, @emerbeamer and @robcrilly


Google to sell second-gen Nexus 7 tablet from July: sources — (Reuters) - Google Inc will launch a new version of its Nexus 7 tablet powered by Qualcomm Inc's Snapdragon processor around July, two sources told Reuters, as the software giant pushes deeper into the cut-price mobile hardware market.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, AppleInsider, GigaOM, BGR, Droid Life, CNET, TechSpot, ZDNet, Unwired View, HEXUS.net Latest Content, VentureBeat, 9to5Google, Ubergizmo, Pocket-lint, WebProNews, Digital Media Wire, Electronista, The Verge, Engadget, The Next Web and Mashable


Politico Puts Web Show On Hold To Retool As Washington Post Staffs Up Video — Politico has quietly placed its thrice-weekly web show “Politico Live” on hold while retooling the format, perhaps to a weekly show featuring its marquee writers, according to newsroom sources.


Extra! Print newspaper reports politicians' arrest before it happens — Arrested: Independent Democrat Malcolm Smith, Republicans Dan Halloran, Jay Savino and Vince Tabone — In the predawn hours of this morning, as the yellow trucks carrying today's editions of the New York Post …
Discussion:
Daily Download, Capital New York, Politicker, Gothamist and Mother Jones


Times Internet Is Bringing Business Insider To India, Adding To Its Gawker Media Partnership — Today, Times Internet, the digital arm of Times of India, is announcing a strategic partnership with Business Insider, the online business news site founded by Henry Blodget, for the launch of Business Insider India.


Four years in the making, Vdio finally opens up to Rdio subscribers in the US and UK — Vdio, the premium video service founded by Skype co-founder Janus Friis, emerged from private beta Tuesday night with an offering that looks more like Vudu or iTunes than Netflix.
Discussion:
Rdio Blog, Broadcasting & Cable, VentureBeat, CNET, Fast Company, Variety, TechCrunch, Home Media Magazine, MacRumors, TechSpot, Pocket-lint, The Next Web, Engadget, @christinachaey and The Verge


Instagram and Vine Shake Up News Industry — News as we know it is poised to change, and it's in the hands of smartphone users. — On March 31, the New York Times ran a photo of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez taken by sports photographer Nick Laham — on his iPhone and edited in Instagram.
Discussion:
10,000 Words


Australian startup Newsmodo allows freelancers to name price for their reporting — After more than a decade-long career, Australian broadcast journalist Rakhal Ebeli realized his responsibilities had changed. He was no longer only chasing his own stories but also collecting those of others.


A Personalized News App At Its Simplest: No Articles, Just Data — INSTEAD OF TRACKING HEADLINES, NUMBEEZ TRACKS NUMBERS. HERE'S WHY THAT MIGHT NOT BE AS ABSURD AS IT SOUNDS. — When Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to build a “personalized newspaper,” he's talking about photos, conversations between friends, music and news articles.


Music Video Company VEVO Learns Dutch, Launches In The Netherlands — VEVO just became available in a whole new market, as its streaming music video service was launched in The Netherlands today. The launch will make more than 75,000 music videos available to Dutch viewers …
Discussion:
VEVO.com, Digital Media Wire and Music Week


Web discovery engine Trapit launches publisher tools, with Here Media as first client — Trapit, a discovery engine for web content from the team behind Siri, is rolling out a set of publisher tools on Wednesday. The tools allow publishers to serve up their content through white-label iOS …
Discussion:
TechCrunch and VentureBeat, Thanks:@dmfreeman


Inside Andrew Sullivan's Attempt To Turn The Digital Media Business Model On Its Head — This January, noted blogger Andrew Sullivan left his perch at The Daily Beast to embark upon a highly visible and seemingly risky enterprise. He took his blog, The Dish, independent and decided …
Discussion:
The Dish


Amazon adds vinyl to its AutoRip service, offering a free digital copy of every LP bought since 1998 — Amazon has expanded its AutoRip service, which gives consumers a free digital copy of every CD they buy from the online retailer, to include any vinyl record purchased since 1998.
Discussion:
Amazon.com, Wired, VentureBeat and CNET