Media News

Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Morning Media Newsfeed via email.

Casey Anthony Found Not Guilty Of Murder (TVNewser)
"You are seeing the inside of a stunned courtroom." Those were Nancy Grace's first words following the not guilty verdict against Casey Anthony in the murder of her daughter, Caylee Anthony. TVSpy: All the local stations in Florida's major markets, like Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa, aired special reports on the stunning verdict. Tampa stations had an especially unique local angle on the story, as all of the jurors were from the Tampa area. TVNewser: While the trial has been a ratings winner for cable TV news -- particularly HLN -- its culmination sent millions to the Web. Trial watchers were given a 45-minute heads-up that the verdict was coming -- plenty of time for social media sites to share the news. Daily Beast / Spin Cycle: Anthony's lawyer was half-right in complaining about "media assassination" soon after she was acquitted of murder and manslaughter. TheWrap.com / Media Alley: Led by Grace, the entire cable landscape -- and now the broadcast news networks -- seems to have gotten drunk on the Anthony trial. PRNewser: Strange and sad as it is, cases like the Anthony trial have a way of turning some people into celebrities. The O.J. Simpson trial had a slew of them. For this case, it's defense attorney José Baez and Judge Belvin Perry. TVNewser: Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera got an interview with Baez and Cheney Mason. Mediaite: The universal media revulsion with the verdict in the Anthony trial continued throughout Tuesday night's O'Reilly Factor, as a livid Bernie Goldberg told Bill O'Reilly he was "so disgusted with this thing I can hardly speak straight tonight." But unlike most in the media, Goldberg wasn't just upset at the jury or Anthony herself, but at his colleague, Geraldo Rivera, who he predicted would not "be so open-minded" if the victim in this case were "a Hispanic immigrant." THR: After Anthony was declared not guilty by a jury Tuesday, her defense team went out to a local restaurant to celebrate, a move that was criticized by some. AllFacebook: Outraged Facebook users posted at a rapid-fire pace. NYT: Thanks to social networking websites like Facebook, members of the public reacted to every moment of the televised testimony in real time, driving even more coverage on national morning news programs and on local newscasts. Slate / Browbeat: Perhaps due to the fact that the trial has been so media-saturated all along, the Twitter hive mind has come up with a ghoulishly meta way of redressing what some see as a terrible breach of justice: Send Dexter Morgan, the killer who only targets other killers, after Anthony.

Keith Olbermann Lost Nearly 30 Percent Of His Viewers In His Second Week (Business Insider / The Wire)
After an impressive first week, which saw him beating CNN in the demo on his first night out, Keith Olbermann's ratings have taken a tumble.

Comedy Central Says Sheen Roast Schedule Deliberate (Adweek)
Comedy Central knew exactly what it was doing when it scheduled its roast of Charlie Sheen to air Sept. 19. According to sources at the network, the fact that Ashton Kutcher is set to premiere as Sheen's replacement on CBS series Two and a Half Men that same evening was a factor in scheduling Sheen's roast.

Strauss-Kahn Accuser Sues New York Post (WSJ)
The hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault filed a libel lawsuit Tuesday against the New York Post and five reporters over recent articles that said she had worked as a prostitute.

Phone-Hacking Allegations Rattle News Corp. Tabloid (WSJ)
News Corp.'s tabloid reporting scandal swelled anew Tuesday, as allegations about the possible hacking of a dead teenager's phone unleashed public outrage and placed the company's top U.K. newspaper executive in the hot seat. Business Insider: Rebekah Brooks' rise through the ranks of News International is legendary, starting as an editorial assistant before gaining editor positions at two of its most successful papers. Now Brooks' position as chief executive of News International is looking shakier by the hour. Gawker: Murdered teenager Milly Dowler wasn't the only person whose voicemail was hacked by the unscrupulous folks at News Corp. paper News of the World -- it now appears that the families of victims of the 7/7 terrorist bombings in London were "targets," as well. Business Insider Europe: Perhaps most damningly, it now appears police are contacting the families of Jessica Wells and Holly Chapman about the possibility that their phones were hacked. Forbes / Mixed Media: Big and important though it undoubtedly is, the gradually unfolding saga of illegal cell-phone hacking by operatives of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World has lacked a face. That changed Monday when The Guardian reported that NOTW journalists and/or private investigators working for them perpetrated a particularly repellent bit of espionage. Adweek: Two businesses are reportedly reviewing their advertising relationships with British tabloid News of the World in response to revelations that newspaper had hacked the cell phone of a missing 13-year-old girl who would later be found murdered. AdAge / Global: Following a Twitter campaign, Ford Motor pulled its advertising from the United Kingdom's best-selling newspaper, Murdoch's News of the World.

British News Outlets Flock To U.S. Touting Global Perspective (HuffPost UK)
The Daily Mail may soon have a new, yet familiar, neighbor in downtown Manhattan. Recently, The Guardian has been checking out office space in media-favorite SoHo, just a few blocks from where The Daily Mail set up shop this past February.

God Save The Queen: The Arianna Invasion Of Britain Begins! (AllThingsD)
The British version of The Huffington Post, which has been expected, went live Wednesday. paidContent: The launch of HuffPost UK has come with impeccable, if unplanned, timing. With all the controversy surrounding News of the World, specifically those sordid allegations of mobile phone hacking to collect information, some have speculated that it's a controversy that could extend beyond just the one newspaper. At the same time, all eyes have been on the Internet to catch the latest revelations.

Game, Set, Snatch: ESPN Grabs Wimbledon Rights Away From NBC (Yahoo! News / The Cutline)
Two days after Novak Djokovic upset Rafael Nadal to win his first Wimbledon title, ESPN delivered a Wimbledon upset of its own, announcing that the network had acquired the exclusive U.S. television rights to the world's most prestigious tennis tournament, ending NBC's 43-year run at the All England Club. NYT: ESPN's new 12-year, nearly $500 million deal to carry Wimbledon was driven by the All England Club's desire to have a single media entity carry the entire tournament and to show every match live -- ending NBC's past practice of tape delays. B&C: Under the new agreement, ESPN will air all of its Wimbledon matches live on an array of platforms, including simultaneous live coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 during the second week's Round of 16 and quarterfinals. ESPN will carry the semifinals and finals. paidContent: Mobile viewers may have more in common with Andy Murray or even Andy Roddick, at least for the next few years, as ESPN leverages the new rights in its own distribution negotiations. Meanwhile, broadband-reliant viewers will get a boost next year, with semis and finals being streamed live.

Newsweek's 'Diana' Issue Sells Just 13.8 Ad Pages? (Folio:)
Newsweek's July 4 cover featuring a simulated Princess Di next to Kate Middleton as part of piece in which editor Tina Brown imagines the late princess at age 50 (an illustration of Diana holding an iPhone is part of the package) provoked critics, who claimed that the image was in poor taste, but the issue also underperformed with advertisers just as Newsweek seemed to be gaining traction on the business side.

Condé Nast's Scott Dadich On Reinventing Mags For The iPad And Why Partnering With Apple Matters (Nieman Journalism Lab)
As the man tasked with giving new life to magazines on new platforms for Condé Nast, Scott Dadich says there are some things, old-school things, that don't change whether you're dealing with print or tablets.

StumbleUpon Sends More Traffic To U.S. Websites Than Facebook (GigaOM)
For months, Facebook has been the biggest social media site that drives Web traffic in the United States. Those days are over -- for the moment, at least.

Lady Gaga Official YouTube Account Back Online (SocialTimes)
The official Lady Gaga YouTube channel, ladygagaofficial, was back online after temporarily being terminated, taking with it all of the episodes of the singer's popular GagaVision Web series.

Twitter Seeks $7 Billion Valuation (WSJ)
Even as Internet companies such as Zynga and Groupon file to go public, Twitter is taking a different route: It is continuing to tap private investors. Mashable: Twitter is testing a Facebook-like message wall on profile pages, prompting users to send public tweets (a.k.a @ replies, or mentions) to specific users directly from their profile pages. LA Times: The feature lets people reply quickly and easily to other users through a text field that appears on the other user's Twitter page.

Will And Kate Royal Visit: LAPD Has Plan To Rein In Paparazzi (LA Times / L.A. Now)
Paparazzi anticipating a veritable royal feast of photographs when Prince William and his wife, Catherine, visit Los Angeles may be in for a rude awakening -- and a potential jail stay -- if they expect to take shots of the royal couple in certain parts of Hancock Park.

Helen Thomas, One Year Later (Politico)
It was last June that longtime White House scribe Helen Thomas was interviewed on camera by RabbiLive.com's David Nesenoff, an interview that landed Thomas in such hot water that she was ultimately dropped by her employer, Hearst Newspapers, and left the White House press corps.