Video: Using the same social media techniques they cover, Mashable.com's popularity has snowballed to the tune of 2 million Twitter followers. In today's episode of Media Beat, editor-in-chief Adam Ostrow lays out the more technical aspects of his newsroom, explaining, "As we've grown, it's become a much more professional structure."
Media Beat: Mashable Editor-in-Chief Adam Ostrow on How Digital Journalism Works (WebNewser)
Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Daily Newsfeed via email.
Howard Stern Confirms Idol Talks (The Wrap)
Howard Stern told his satellite radio listeners on Monday that he is considering leaving Sirius -- and radio altogether -- to become a judge on American Idol. Stern confirmed a report that Fox is interested in hiring the Sirius shock jock to replace Simon Cowell on the reality show.
For New and Healthy Recipes, a Magazine Turns to Leftovers (NYT)
When Health magazine promoted "Your New Favorite Dinners" in its December issue, there was just one problem: the dinners weren't exactly new. Real Simple, which like Health is owned by Time Inc., had created and run essentially the same five recipes in its February 2009 issue.
Veteran Journalist Concedes Plagiarism in Daily Beast Article (Slate)
Veteran journalist Gerald Posner acknowledged Friday that he copied five sentences from a Miami Herald article for a piece he wrote for The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast appended an editor's note to the beginning of Posner's piece, explaining that the copying was "inadvertent" and that The Daily Beast had deleted the copied passages.
Greta Van Susteren and Glenn Beck Get the SNL Treatment Again (TVNewser)
A Saturday Night Live skit over the weekend made fun of Fox News. Cast members did a send-up of On the Record with Greta Van Susteren and her guests, Karl Rove, Ollie North, Glenn Beck and "Fox News correspondent, an attractive blonde lady."
Arbitrator Sides With Former News-Press Editor (AP)
An arbitrator has rejected the Santa Barbara News-Press' $25 million claim against its former editor, Jerry Roberts, and ordered the newspaper's owner to pay more than $900,000 in fees stemming from their dispute.
How MyYearbook Crowdsourced Its Relaunch (min)
In late January the very popular 20-million member social network myYearbook launched a new design that was created in collaboration with its own users. The company had asked members for suggestions and even design mock-ups for the redo, and this eventually led to their voting on the final shape of their network.
More Newsfeed here...
Today's guest on the Morning Media Menu was editor and author Danielle Ofri.
She discussed her new book, "Medicine in Translation"--a literary look at her relationship with her patients at Bellevue Hospital.
She also talked about her work as editor of the Bellevue Literary Review, a journal that features "previously unpublished works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that touch upon relationships to the human body, illness, health and healing."
Press play on the embedded player below to listen. The show will be archived around the mediabistro.com network all morning.
She offered this advice for writers looking to pitch the journal: "What we're looking for at the Bellevue Literary Review (or anything literary) is something that actually transcends the plot of what happened to reveal some greater truth about what happened... I would recommend reading the Review to see how other people interpret these issues."
The show was hosted by GalleyCat editor Jason Boog and AgencySpy editor Matt Van Hoven. You can listen to all the past podcasts archived at mediabistro.com or download episodes for free on iTunes. Click here to download the MP3 version.
Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Daily Newsfeed via email.
Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Daily Newsfeed via email.
The Story Behind That Leno-Letterman-Oprah Super Bowl Promo (USAT)
The late-night TV skirmish continues: Jay Leno and David Letterman, who traded sharp barbs last month over NBC's late-night maneuvering, appeared on camera in a short promo for CBS' Late Show with David Letterman during Sunday's Super Bowl -- with Oprah Winfrey as the referee. WSJ: Denny's, Doritos and Snickers score big in the ad bowl. NYT: In Super Bowl commercials, it was the Nostalgia Bowl. NYP: After a brutal two-year slump, Madison Avenue is hoping the Super Bowl has kicked off a Hail-Mary comeback for the beleaguered ad business. THR: How Hollywood fumbled its Super Bowl ads. AgencySpy: Y&R's Lora Schulson says the best Super Bowl ad belongs to E*Trade.
Macmillan Books Return to Amazon After Dispute (NYT/Bits)
Electronic and paper books from the publisher Macmillan were returning to Amazon.com on Friday evening, ending a week-long public conflict. Details of the resolution have not been made public, but the restoration of Macmillan books to Amazon's site indicates a peaceful settlement was reached. NYT: The fight over who sets prices at the online mall. Christian Science Monitor: Hachette emerges as new challenger in Amazon pricing war.
The Rise and Fall of Former NY1 Anchor Dominic Carter (New York Mag)
When he was on top, Dominic Carter was the boxy political anchor for NY1 and longtime host of the cable news program Inside City Hall. But Carter's world imploded spectacularly last fall after the New York Post discovered he was standing trial in an upstate courtroom on charges of spousal assault.
Times Ombud: Jerusalem Bureau Chief Should Be Reassigned (NYT)
Public Editor Clark Hoyt: Ethan Bronner, the Jerusalem bureau chief of The Times, now has a son in the Israeli military. I have enormous respect for Bronner and his work, but even the most sympathetic reader could reasonably wonder how that would affect the father, especially if shooting broke out. NYT: Editor Bill Keller responds, writing of Bronner "I have no doubt that if a situation arose that presented a real conflict of interest, as opposed to an imaginary or hypothetical one, we would discuss it, and he would not hesitate to recuse himself."
How Fox News Censored Jon Stewart vs. Bill O'Reilly (Gawker)
Fox News has generously placed the full, unedited conversation between Bill O'Reilly and Jon Stewart online, so we can see precisely how unfairly and deviously Fox edited the interview in order to weaken Stewart's case: A lot! FoxNews.com: Bill O'Reilly says he understands "the shock and awe that some liberals feel about Fox News."
Google's Display-Ad Sales Should Top $1 Billion (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)
Display ads are likely to contribute a little more than $1 billion, or about 4 percent of Google's total sales this year -- an increase of as much 40 percent over last year -- say analysts. That marks an important threshold for Mountain View, Calif.-based company.
Lifetime CEO Andrea Wong Out (Deadline Hollywood Daily)
Andrea Wong is out as CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services. Wong insists she wasn't fired, but an insider says, "She wasn't making money. Her P&L statements were getting worse and worse. This was strictly business."
White House Press Corps Feels Bypassed by Obama in Favor of TV Shows, YouTube (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: President Obama hasn't held a full-scale news conference since July. Instead, he answered a dozen people's questions last week on YouTube, most of them easily finessed and -- extra bonus! -- no annoying follow-ups of the kind posed by real, live journalists.
Many Magazines That Cut Subscription Prices Lose Subscribers Anyway (AdAge)
Nearly two-thirds of 344 magazines analyzed dropped their per-copy subscription prices between 2002 and the first half of 2009, but nearly 75 percent of those price-choppers also saw individually paid subscriptions decline anyway, according to an analysis of Audit Bureau of Circulations reports.
Amid Losses, Johnson Repositions Ebony and Jet (Folio:)
Following a difficult magazine market last year, Johnson Publishing has revamped the editorial brand strategies at Ebony and Jet magazines in an effort to attract new, younger audiences as well as to position the company as the go-to source for news and entertainment with a "unique black point-of view."
What Will Happen to Media When All the Billionaires Bail? (AdAge)
Simon Dumenco: If you're a certain sort of still-employed media person, you're probably wondering how much longer you can hold on to your job. But the larger question might be: Just how unreal -- illusory, delusional, unmoored from the realities of the marketplace -- has your job been all along?
Thomson Reuters 'Illegally' Imposing Pay Cuts on U.S. Journos, Guild Charges (E&P)
Thomson Reuters Corp. is "illegally imposing drastic" pay cuts on U.S.-based unionized journalists and technicians at the financial information and news service, the Newspaper Guild of New York alleges in a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board.
NBC Removes Conan Tonight Show Episodes From the Web (AllThingsD)
Remember the whole Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno imbroglio from last month? Perhaps NBC wishes you didn't. The GE unit has removed every episode of the show's seven-month run from its NBC.com site, as well as Hulu.
The Next Glenn Beck (Daily Beast)
Talk radio still has the power to spur grassroots rebellions and crown kings -- as the Tea Partiers and Scott Brown can attest. The current political ferment on both right and left are fertile soil for the next generation of talkers to exploit. So who should we keep an eye on?
Are the Olympics Worth It? (B&C)
NBC says it will lose a quarter of a billion dollars on the Vancouver Games. And if the network fails to deliver its ratings guarantees, the news could get worse. Nonetheless, NBC and others including Disney, News Corp., Time Warner and CBS are considering lining up for a shot at the next round of Olympics rights.