The New York Times reports, "For more than 25 years, The Washington Times has positioned itself against its more liberal cross-town rival, The Washington Post. But for its new executive editor, The Times tapped a Post alumnus, John F. Solomon, 41, who took control of the paper two weeks ago. Mr. Solomon, a longtime investigative reporter, was a surprise choice."
A release announced, "The New America Foundation, a nonpartisan ten-year-old think tank headquartered in Washington D.C., announced today the appointment of Dr. Eric Schmidt, the chairman and chief executive of Google, Inc., as the new chairman of New America's Board of Directors."
Richard Reeveswrites, "Yes, I still use AOL as my home page, probably because I'm too lazy to move on. And, yes, I start many days growling in hazy anger because folks in cyberspace seem to think Britney Spears is to the United States in 2008 what Winston Churchill was to England in 1940. But last Wednesday, I was even madder than usual when the first headline that popped up was: 'Media Gets It Wrong Again.'"
The Chicago Tribune reports, "Standard & Poor's Corp. put Tribune Co.'s already junk-rated debt under review for possible downgrade Friday, saying the Chicago-based media company's newspaper publishing group is likely to face further erosion of advertising revenue."
A release announced, "U.S. Air Force officials have revamped their subpoena practices to extend greater protections to journalists, according to newly released regulations. The changes, which followed a 2005 meeting between top Air Force attorneys and members of The Dart Society, are modeled after guidelines adopted decades ago by the U.S. Attorney General for use in federal civilian cases."
A tipster points out, "Chris Matthews: Joining me now is Jeanne Cummings of the Politico.com, sort of an online newspaper. It's also in print. It's a big thing in Washington now, to the dismay of the 'Washington Post.'"
B&C reports, "With poignant timing, the funders of the new Newseum in Washington, D.C., last week said the newly constructed version would open April 11. The irony, of course, is that in the last few months, the newspaper industry, which forms part of the spine of this 250,000-square-foot museum, has been caught in what seems to be a persistent downward spiral. To many Americans, newspapers belong in a museum with other artifacts."
"Helen Thomas looks back as an eyewitness to history and delves into her story when she sits for a conversation with Arlington Public Library Director Diane Kresh." For more info, click here.
The Wall Street Journal reports, "Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell has had talks with News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch about Tribune facilities printing the southern Florida and Los Angeles editions of The Wall Street Journal, according to a person familiar with the situation."
New York Time's David Carrreports, "The Wall Street Journal, which has historically had a thing for guys in pinstripes rendered in stippled drawings, is taking its makeover very seriously. During a week when the stock market fell more than 4 percent, a recession seemed more likely, and Microsoft was putting the moves on Yahoo, The Journal spent almost all of its front-page real estate above the fold on politics, replete with flashy graphics. Out with Ballmer and Bernanke; in with Obama, Clinton and McCain."
Dallas Morning News reports, "Belo Corp. said Friday that it had completed the spinoff of its newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News, and related businesses into a new publicly traded company called A.H. Belo Corporation."
A release announced, "CNN, Univision Communications Inc. and the Texas Democratic Party in conjunction with the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation will host a Democratic presidential primary debate on Thursday, Feb. 21. Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have accepted invitations to the debate. The program will air live from the LBJ Auditorium at the University of Texas in Austin on CNN and on CNN International from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (ET)/7p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (CT) and will air in Spanish on the Univision Network beginning at 11:30 p.m. (ET)/10:30 p.m. (CT)."
An NBC release announced, "Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann will anchor MSNBC's special live coverage of the 'Potomac Primaries,' in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C., tomorrow beginning at 6 p.m. ET. MSNBC will continue live coverage all day, with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, NBC News White House correspondent David Gregory, MSNBC anchor Dan Abrams and MSNBC Chief Washington correspondent Norah O'Donnell anchoring from New York and MSNBC's Tucker Carlson and NBC News' Andrea Mitchell anchoring live from Washington D.C."
"WCBSTV.com reports that two journalists working for CBS News in Basra, Iraq, are missing. As of now, their identities are not being released." TVNewser has the statement from CBS News.
Regarding this, a Salon reader writes, "It would have been fine if Hillary said the 'pimped out' remark was contemptible, Shuster apologized, and everyone moved on. But I agree that it is discomforting when the person who wants to be president demands someone be fired for an offensive comment."
From Fox News: "Out of Bounds? NBC Newsman Suspended After Harsh Remark About Chelsea Clinton"
A release announced, "Tune in to CN8, The Comcast Network on Feb. 12 at 9 p.m. as CN8 Political Director Lynn Doyle hosts a special edition of 'It's Your Call,' featuring live, expert analysis of the Beltway primary elections taking place in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The coverage follows CN8's launch of 'America's Next President,' the network's most expansive election package to date tracking all major events leading up to the presidential election and 'It's Your Call's' extensive live coverage of Super Tuesday events on Feb. 5. Doyle will be joined in studio by CN8 Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief Robert Traynham; CN8 political analysts Brad Brewster, Bill Pascrell III and Steve Ayscue; and political commentator Joe Watkins, all of whom will provide viewers with an inside look at the candidates, platforms and issues impacting the primary elections in the Beltway."
B&C reports, "With hot races still ahead, cable networks reap ratings and rake in cash"
New York Times' Brian Stelterreports, "Mr. Conroy, whose job title is 'off-air reporter,' (because he does not normally appear on television) is one of many young journalists hired by the networks to follow the candidates across the country, filing video and blog posts as they go. Originally hired to cut expenses -- their cost is a fraction of a full television crew's -- these reporters, also called 'embeds,' have produced a staggering amount of content, especially video. And in this election cycle, for the first time, they are able to edit and transmit video on the fly."
Huffington Post's Cenk Uygur is "Defending David Shuster"
"Starting when the Virginia polls close at 7:00pm ET ... washingtonpost.com and Newsweek will join forces again to host a live video Web cast of Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland's 'Potomac Primary.' (Last week the two sites covered Super Tuesday with 7 hours of live web video.)"
CNet News.com reports, "Planned job cuts at Yahoo are expected to come on Tuesday, with managers possibly finding out Saturday who is on the list, according to sources inside the company."
The Times reports, "Yahoo! is seeking to restart merger talks with AOL as a means of defending itself against the $45 billion (£23 billion) hostile bid approach from Microsoft, The Times has learnt."
NJ.com's Danny Gloverwrites, "OK, ya'll get to decide whether Beltway Blogroll has been a good blog, but it is coming to an end. My tenure at National Journal ends tomorrow with the final issue of Technology Daily, where I served as the managing editor for six years before being promoted to the editorship in November 2006. Beltway Blogroll, a direct outgrowth of the interest I developed in politics and technology while at Tech Daily, will cease publication at the same time."
Information Week reports, "U.S. Online Video Views Top 10 Billion"
Guardian.co.uk reports, "Reuters has forged a deal with the Guardian to sell advertising slots on the pages viewed by US users of the newspaper's website. Under the agreement, Reuters will get the exclusive rights to sell ads targeted at the American audience of Guardian.co.uk."
Newsweek reports, "Craigslist, the online classified-ad giant, has become the unwitting host to criminals of every description."
The Hill reports, "Another anonymous D.C.-based blog has hit the streets. Written by a smattering of Hill political wonks, K Street lobbyists, PR gurus and even an undisclosed journalist, it is called FamousDC (www.famousdc.com) and aims to cover the famous-for-D.C. intersection of politics, media and sports."
A release announced, "Paul E. Steiger, editor-in-chief of ProPublica, a non-profit newsroom producing journalism in the public interest, today announced the appointment of a journalism Advisory Board. The Board will advise ProPublica's editors from time to time on the full range of issues related to ProPublica's journalism, from ethical issues to the direction of its reporting efforts. The members of the new Advisory Board are: Jill Abramson, a managing editor of The New York Times; Martin D. Baron, the editor of The Boston Globe; David Boardman, the executive editor of the Seattle Times; Robert A. Caro, historian and biographer of Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson; John S. Carroll, the former editor of the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun; L. Gordon Crovitz, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal; David Gergen, professor of public service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of its Center for Public Leadership; Shawn McIntosh, the director of culture and change at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Gregory L. Moore, the editor of The Denver Post; Priscilla Painton, the new editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster; Allan Sloan, a senior editor at large for Fortune magazine; and Cynthia A. Tucker, the editor of the editorial page of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution."
Media Week reports, "Since CNN embraced the citizen journalist movement back in August 2006 with the launch of its iReport initiative, the news organization has received nearly 100,000 news-related photos and videos from viewers, including nearly 10,000 this past January alone. Yet less than 10 percent of those submissions have appeared on CNN.com or the cable channel. That's all about to change. Time Warner's CNN this week will enter YouTube territory with the launch of iReport.com, a new Web site built entirely on user-produced news."
Folio reports, "Publishers are facing a cost crunch and a potential revenue shortfall in 2008, particularly as the economy seems to inch toward recession."
A release announced, "NPR News 'Election 2008' presidential campaign coverage will offer a live one-hour broadcast and webcast special on the 'Potomac Primaries,' Tuesday, February 12, 10:00PM-11:00PM (ET). The special will cover the preliminary results in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Michele Norris and Melissa Block, hosts of NPR newsmagazine All Things Considered, will anchor. They will be joined by Election 2008 team including Audie Cornish, Don Gonyea, David Greene and Brian Naylor."
A release announced, "The NPR Podcast Directory, which features hundreds of free podcasts produced by NPR, NPR Member stations and other public radio producers, just reached the 617-title count with the addition of the new NPR News 'In Character' series profiling classic fictional characters, seven podcasts from new participant 91.3fm WYEP Pittsburgh and nine from current station contributors. The podcasts, covering 40 topic areas, can be found at www.NPR.org/podcasts"
His Extreme-ness reports, "A loyal Extreme Mortman reader and Rush Limbaugh listener reports right now that since Rush’s show started at noon today on local WMAL-AM radio, he’s heard three paid ads for Barack Obama."
The New York Times reports, "In an attempt to increase book sales, HarperCollins Publishers will begin offering free electronic editions of some of its books on its Web site, including a novel by Paulo Coelho and a cookbook by the Food Network star Robert Irvine."
Washington Post's Ellen Ullmanreviews Against The Machine, Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob by Lee Siegel.
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