Permanent link to MTA daily media news

UnAssociated Press
Bloggers beware, Associated Press are on the warpath, starting bogus copyright suits against those linking and quoting even the merest fraction of an AP news report.

Sign the petition,
join the boycott!

AP Rethinking Policy After Drudge Retort DMCA Takedowns (by Rogers Cadenhead)
I’m gratified by the ginormous amount of support coming in from around the blogosphere after the Associated Press issued DMCA takedowns last week to Drudge Retort bloggers for excerpting short snippets of its articles… As I was grappling with what to do about this situation, I got some great advice from my fellow liberal blogger Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen: “This is, by the way, a moment when every blogger ought to know immediately who to contact: Robert Cox of Media Bloggers Association.” Cox’s 1,000-member organization is like a blogger’s ACLU, ensuring that the civil liberties issues inherent in blogging are staunchily defended from laws and litigation that could imperil online expression… When AP meets with the Media Bloggers Association this week, the titan of old media has an opportunity to set precedent by embracing the way that new media share its stories.

Why Are Corporate Journalists So Afraid of Questioning Authority? (by Scott Ritter at Truthdig, posted at AlterNet)
Even after a former Bush spokesman says the press caved in on Iraq, the media are in total denial about their role in the invasion.

NICEST GUYS IN THE WORLD MAY SPEAK LAST: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
Here at THE HOWLER, we didn’t know Tim Russert, although we have no trouble believing that he really was, on a personal basis, the nicest guy in the world, as so many have said this past weekend… Sometimes, though, “nicest guys in the world” are the last to challenge conventional wisdom—even when it desperately needs to be challenged, examined, hollered about. In Tim’s case, we think he showed poor judgment in various instances over the years, as we’re all inclined to do…Over the weekend, other members of the mainstream press corps did the thing that comes natural inside their group; they went on the air and told Group Tales, tales which reflected quite wondrously on Tim’s journalistic work—and, of course, by extension, most importantly, on them. Telling the truth is pretty much the last thing that enters these people’s heads. And so, they handed out novelized tales about Tim’s always brilliant work—failing to make the slightest attempt to be balanced, objective or truthful.

The Canonization of Saint Russert (by Jack Shafer, Slate)
The media overdo the death of a journalist.

Why Brokaw should be the next “Meet the Press” moderator
Verne Gay says there are many reasons why Tom Brokaw should get the job, at least on a “transitional basis.” Here are a few: Soothing for viewers and the network; Brokaw knows the territory; no one else is ready; and Brokaw will get the bigshots to appear.
This is the first suggestion I’ve heard on this topic that makes any sense to me.

The Power of New Media (Political Wire)
New York Times: “Mr. Russert’s own death provided an object lesson in how much things have changed. More than an hour before his death was announced by Tom Brokaw on NBC, his Wikipedia page was edited to reflect that he had just died.”

Obama holding on to small lead over McCain: poll
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama opens the general election campaign with a narrow lead over Republican John McCain but the two score near even among independent voters, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Al Gore backs Obama, says US needs new vision
DETROIT (Reuters) – Former Vice President Al Gore pledged on Monday to do all he could to help Barack Obama win the White House, saying it was crucial the United States has not only a new leader but a new vision for its future. Gore, one of the most prominent figures in the U.S. Democratic party and known around the world for his push to combat climate change, publicly backed Obama for the first time at a huge rally in Detroit.
I am more disappointed than I can say.  I have lost all respect for Al Gore now that he, too, has given his stamp of approval to the use of Rovian tactics by a Democrat against another Democrat.

Monday: Hoodwinked and Bamboozled (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Have you ever been on the receiving end of some practical joke or confidence scheme? You know, where you’ve been lead on for a good long time only to find everything was a scam and deception from the word go? That’s the way I feel about this past primary season now that the DNC has effectively picked the winner and moved the whole racket to Chicago… I never thought I’d see the day that one democrat would use racist smears against another to get elected. I also never thought I’d see the day that one democrat and the party leaders would blatantly steal like they have this cycle. I just can’t get past this. I would rather see the party die altogether than get away with this. It can’t continue as a viable party if this is let stand.

Cash Cow (by Anglachel
[USA Today:] “[Former Clinton supporter Ed] Rendell, who plans to campaign on Obama’s behalf and raise money for him, said [Monday night’s] event in Philadelphia is a joint fundraiser for Obama and the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee. But in a sign of the urgency to raise campaign cash, Rendell said Obama didn’t want to reschedule tonight’s fundraiser, even though the governor warned him that many Philadelphia donors were headed to the New Jersey shore for the weekend. Rendell said Obama told him: ‘We don’t need the people. We just need the checks.’” And there, in a nutshell, is the Obama campaign. The Cash Cow has replaced the Unity Pony. Who needs people when you can just collect checks?

Obama adviser demonstrates severe lack of knowledge (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
In a stunning case of stupidity and historical illiteracy Obama policy adviser, Susan Rice, stated on CNN in regards to the Kennedy/Krushchev meeting in June 1961: “Thank God he did because if he hadn’t we would have not been able to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis”… The historical evidence suggests the opposite of Rice’s statement is the case. Krushchev came away from the meeting believing Kennedy was weak and inexperienced. Even Kennedy knew he had blundered:

Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur (by Paul Krugman)
I saw this phrase in Alan Furst’s new book The Spies of Warsaw; it means “The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived.” A good slogan for the Bush years – but not only in reference to Bush. I just read Naomi Klein: “Barack Obama waited just three days after Hillary Clinton pulled out of the race to declare, on CNBC, ‘Look. I am a pro-growth, free-market guy. I love the market.’” followed by a rant against Jason Furman. Look, Obama didn’t pose as a Nation-type progressive, then turn on his allies after the race was won. Throughout the campaign he was slightly less progressive than Hillary Clinton on domestic issues — and more than slightly on health care. If people like Ms. Klein are shocked, shocked that he isn’t the candidate of their fantasies, they have nobody but themselves to blame.

Campaign coverage puzzle (by Paul Krugman)
OK, I don’t get it. Barack Obama’s new Social Security proposal, love it or hate it, is huge news; it would push tax rates on some high-income Americans back to the levels of the 1970s. Yet the proposal has received minimal media coverage… I went over to the Tax Policy Center’s blog, and discovered that the Obama campaign is itself downplaying the initiative: “The campaign clarified that the threshold would be $250,000, but Senator Obama has not specified what the rate would be, when it would take effect, whether it would apply to employers, employees, or both, or what the tax base would be.” Um, if the Obama campaign hasn’t figured out what this policy is, perhaps it would be best not to speak about it?

Consolation’s prize: Chimps reduce stress with a kiss or hug
Researchers studying people’s closest genetic relatives found that stress was reduced in chimps that were victims of aggression if a third chimp stepped in to offer consolation.
But we don’t have that in the Democratic Party, oh, no.  What we have is Bush-style revenge appointments.  See below.

Obama’s Scorched Earth Policy (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
For the first time in memory, a candidate for the office of President has named the Chief of Staff for their eventual Vice Presidential candidate. Got that? Rather than trust the Vice Presidential nominee to choose their own guy or gal, the Obamas went and got it done. And the lucky winner? The New York Observer reports: “Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle has just been officially named ‘chief of staff to the Vice Presidential Nominee’ by the Obama campaign.” Now that is rich. Obama taps a person who is a demonstrated failure as a campaign director and gives her the task of riding herd on his eventual VP nominee. Gotta admire the chutzpah of the Obama. And how did top dollar Clinton folks react? New York Observer offered this catchy title, Clinton Bundler on Obama’s Doyle Pick: The Biggest ‘Fuck You’ Ever. Can you feel the warmth? Now there is hope we can believe in.

UPDATE: Was Doyle a mole? Did she deliberately sabotage the Hillary campaign? Turns out she had worked with David Axlerod, Obama’s guy and her brother is a Chicago alderman and she worked for Richard Daley. Did she deliberately tank Hillary’s campaign and betray the trust put in her? Legitimate questions.

And Obama’s veep is … a Republican? (by Mike Madden, Salon)
Some are buzzing about Chuck Hagel, a strong critic of Bush and the war, for the Democratic ticket. A bold idea or political fantasy?

Many See Nunn Leading Veepstakes (Political Wire)
The Boston Globe looks at the possibility that Sen. Barack Obama will choose former Sen. Sam Nunn and his running mate, noting that the “personal and intellectual affinity” between the two men “makes him a real possibility. Those close to Nunn, speaking on condition of anonymity, say he seems more prepared to accept a vice presidential offer this year, helping to offset Obama’s lack of experience on national security and giving the Democrats a fighting chance in Georgia.” Said former aide Arnold Punaro: “He sounds like he may be more open to it. He has never before endorsed anybody. That was a surprise to me.”
Choosing Nunn would be another huge slap in the face to the Clintons.  That’s why I’m thinking he will be the one.

The Fall and Rise of Hillary Clinton (by John Heilemann, New York Magazine)
The victor and the vanquished are standing in a cluttered hallway backstage at the Washington Convention Center… Obama and Clinton are here to speak to the annual conference of the influential Jewish lobbying group AIPAC… The scene unfolding in front of me is a semiotician’s fantasia. For months, Clinton and Obama have battled (and battered) each other more or less as equals. But now there is no longer even a faint pretense of parity. When they first spy each other in the corridor, Clinton hugs the wall deferentially to let Obama pass; their brief tête-à-tête only ensues at the latter’s instigation. When the chat is over and the nominee strides toward the freight elevator to make his exit, his Secret Service agents brusquely shoo away Clinton’s aides: “Stand aside for Senator Obama! Make way for Senator Obama!”…

The Hillary I encounter a few minutes after Obama leaves the building is somber, prideful, dark-humored, aggrieved, confused—and still high on the notion that she is leading an army… What strikes me as inarguable is that Hillary is today a more resonant, consequential, and potent figure than she has ever been before. No longer merely a political persona, she has been elevated to a rarefied plane in our cultural consciousness. With her back against the wall, she both found her groove and let loose her raging id, turning herself into a character at once awful and wonderful, confounding and inspiring—thus enlarging herself to the point where she became iconic. She is bigger now than any woman in the country.

It’s now 36 years since Clinton, while she was working in Texas on George McGovern’s campaign, was told by her husband’s future chief of staff, Betsey Wright, that she might have what it took to be the country’s first female president. Dreams held that long are dreams that die hard, especially if they’re held as fiercely and tenaciously as Hillary has always held the ambitions that propel her forward. The endless, brutal, wrenching campaign of 2008 would have wrecked a lesser woman. Hillary tells me she feels just fine: “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Spoken like a true Clinton.
It’s a very long article, but informative.

The Illinois Combine II: The DNC Moves Into Chicago (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

How many ways has the DNC made it clear that Hillary Clinton [and] her supporters are a distraction to a preordained coronation of Barack Obama? Here is yet another, even though the convention is 2 months away and no delegate has voted for the Democratic nominee. Move a hunk of the DNC to Chicago now, and rub it into 18 millions voters’ noses. The larger question is why would anyone want to combine Obama and the DNC in a geographical area that is known for its corrupt politicians that mock everything we value in a democratic society? Did they think that the connection between Chicago and Obama’s looming background issues would go unnoticed?

The first “Combine” is an ugly story. The characters are men who make ill-gained treasures off teachers, hospitals, people already living in poverty, and whoever else they could fleece… See Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass’s column, “In Combine, cash is king, corruption is bipartisan.” So now the next “combine”—a combination of Chicago and the DNC—rumbles into town to be taken over by the Obama campaign. Let’s watch to see what happens when the DNC as we all knew it is transformed. Will the pieces ever come together again in a way that instills pride in ALL Democrats?
If you refuse to endorse this utter corruption of the Democratic Party, you can Just Say No Deal.

Tuesday: He doesn’t need us (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
He doesn’t need Ohio and Florida. No, he doesn’t need us… And he doesn’t need women. No, he can do fine without us. All he needs is Pretentious Liberals, mountain west libertarians, some young college people, moderate Republicans with money and African Americans. And Evangelicals. But that’s all he needs! He doesn’t need anything else.

The “angry white women” problem (by Joan Walsh, Salon)
I’ve heard reports of Clinton followers who refuse to support Obama — and we will hear more from them, and about them, as the campaign wears on — but the vast majority of female Clinton supporters do. As Matthew Yglesias wrote over at the Atlantic.com, “The idea that Democratic women would defect en masse to the GOP in a fit of pique is a preposterous notion that seems to be founded on the underlying assumption that women can’t respond to their political choices as rationally as men can.”
Because a white male in his twenties (Yglesias) who was educated at an Ivy League university and presumably lives on one of the appropriate coasts and was given a leg up in the world by having a well-known father knows exactly what older white women living in flyover country will do.

One Angry Man: Is Keith Olbermann changing TV news? (by Peter J. Boyer, New Yorker)
[J]ust as Obama must work to win Clinton supporters for the fall campaign, Phil Griffin [at MSNBC] has to repair a fractured audience base, a portion of which saw sexism in his network’s Clinton coverage and vowed to boycott MSNBC. Griffin knows that some of that anger is aimed at his star anchor [Keith Olbermann]. “It was, like, you meet a guy and you fall in love with him, and he’s funny and he’s clever and he’s witty, and he’s all these great things,” Griffin said of the relationship between Olbermann and the Clinton supporters among his viewers. “And then you commit yourself to him, and he turns out to be a jerk and difficult and brutal. And that is how the Hillary viewers see him. It’s true. But I do think they’re going to come back. There’s nowhere else to go.” [Emphasis added.]
Au contraire, Phil.  As it turns out, some conservative news sources were much more objective about the Democratic primary than your extremely skewed one.  I believe that some folks are still finding their coverage more truthful than yours.

Lanny Davis joins Fox News (Washington Post)
Fox News has picked its newest official contributor, and the choice shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who follows the network. The new hire? Lanny Davis, who worked as a special counsel to the president in Bill Clinton’s White House and who was a prominent surrogate for Hillary Clinton this spring. Davis has been trending Fox News’ way for some time now, first as a supporter of Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman during his reelection fight in 2006 and then as a Clinton surrogate this year. During one appearance he made on the network in May, under prompting from conservative radio host Laura Ingraham about allegations of bias against Clinton, Davis said he “now know[s] what it feels like to be a Republican” and added that, in his view, Fox was the most balanced of the cable networks.

McCain’s Disgusting Supporter (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Oliver Willis is right about this disgusting McCain supporter: “So a guy makes a sick joke about rape that was highlighted in a campaign ad, but the McCain camp still thought it was perfectly fine to take his money and have a fundraiser with him until the press comes a knockin…” Absolutely. Perhaps now Willis can see this psycho ex-girlfriend stuff was not funny. That in fact it was sexist and offensive.

Historians Give McCain Little Chance (Political Wire)
According to Politico, historians “belonging to both parties offered a litany of historical comparisons that give little hope to” Sen. John McCain. “Several saw Barack Obama’s prospects as the most promising for a Democrat since Roosevelt trounced Hoover in 1932.”
Yes, well, who would have thought McCain would come from so far behind to be the presumptive Republican nominee?

Quote of the Day (Political Wire)
“Jindal would be far and away the best candidate for vice president in the country.” — Newt Gingrich, in an interview on Face the Nation, suggesting Sen. John McCain should pick Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) as his running mate.

Face The Nation: Jindal Thinks Intelligent Design Should Be Taught With Evolution (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
I try very hard to be tolerant of others’ beliefs. I don’t pretend to have all the answers and I certainly don’t want to begrudge others answers that work for them. However, I draw the line at the whole false equivalence of the Intelligent Design/Evolution argument. In fact, even though I recognize it goes against the Constitution, I’m not sure that shouldn’t be a test for elected office: If you feel that the idea of Intelligent Design (which can not be proven in any kind of scientific way) should be taught alongside with evolution (which is as much a theory as gravity is), then you do not belong in a position where you can make that decision.
Click through to watch the video.

Pelosi Promises Dem Capitulation By The Fourth On FISA (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she wants the [FISA] matter settled before Congress breaks for Independence Day at the end of next week, suggesting she is ready to bring the issue to a head. ‘We want to pass a bill that will be signed by the president,’ she said. ‘And that will happen before we leave for the Fourth of July.”… How bad a Speaker has Nancy Pelosi been? Even now she craves the chance to cave in to the most unpopular President in history. Just unbelievable.
Where is Obama on this?  Now that he owns the Democratic Party, he could stop it.  Why doesn’t he?

Bush dines with Rupert Murdoch. (Think Progress)
[Sunday], President Bush “arrived at Downing Street for a private dinner hosted by Gordon Brown and attended by Rupert Murdoch, a clutch of ministers and a mini-faculty of historians.” Thousands of Britons turned out to protest the President, chanting, “George Bush terrorist” and “Arrest George Bush.”

Will: Americans are economically better off today than they were eight years ago. (Think Progress)
In a USA Today/Gallup poll released earlier this month, a record number of Americans — 55 percent — said that their families are worse off financially than they were a year ago. But conservative columnist George Will thinks these people are just misinformed. On ABC’s This Week yesterday, Will brazenly claimed that average Americans “are better off today than they were in 2000-2001.”
Click through to watch the video.

Gay Marriages Begin in California (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft)

Despite the contrary opinion of the Bush adminstration and conservatives, gay marriage is now legal in California. The state began issuing licenses [Monday]. CA, MA and 48 more to go.

How Does a Falling Dollar Raise Oil and Food Prices? (by Dean Baker)
The NYT tells us that “many economists say [the falling dollar] has helped drive up oil and food prices.” It doesn’t tell us how or give us any names of economists who hold this view. Again, this one is not very complex — suppose that shoe prices were falling. Then the price of oil and food measured in shoes would be increasing. However, anyone who did not use shoes to buy their oil and food would not be affected by the fall in the price of shoes. [I]t is the same story with the dollar. If the NYT or any economists have a different view, it would be interesting to see it presented.

Perot launches website to highlight government spending
Billionaire former presidential candidate Ross Perot has started a website to highlight what he calls the “economic crisis” facing the country because of deficit spending.
I wonder if he criticizes the government spending that made him a billionaire?

Media Matters for America headlines

Radio host Heidi Harris on Hardball: Women vote for Dems because they “tend to think with their hearts and not with their minds”

Fox News anchor Jarrett failed to note study he cited contradicted GOP strategist’s false claim about Obama’s tax proposal

MSNBC’s Buchanan called Obama “exotic,” said “[h]e’s like the guys in the Harvard faculty lounge” who “don’t know anything about their country”

Matthews said, “I don’t hear Democrats talk … about the need to reduce the number of abortions,” but they do, often, and on his show

Despite own reporting on flip-flop, Wash. Times asserts “Maverick” McCain’s support of bill “to overhaul immigration” “could help more than harm”

NY Times blog ignored poll showing Obama’s Hispanic support

Matthews did not challenge Republican strategist’s false claim that “it was Senator McCain who called for Don Rumsfeld to be sacked”

Roll Call flags absence of American flag lapel pins in Obama’s campaign store, but not their absence in McCain’s store

Woman Pleads Not Guilty in Internet Suicide
The Missouri woman accused of posing as a teenage boy on the Internet and harassing a 13-year-old girl who later committed suicide pleaded not guilty in a federal court.

MySpace wins verdict against alleged spammer
MySpace can collect $6 million from a notorious Internet marketer accused by the popular online hangout of spamming its users.

Ex-Courant reporter says he was laid off for reporting a crime
Gary Libow claims in a lawsuit that he was laid off from the Hartford Courant because he reported an alleged crime to the attorney general against the orders of his editors. He’s seeking reinstatement, lost wages and benefits.

Growing Up Online
In Growing Up Online, FRONTLINE takes viewers inside the very public private worlds that kids are creating online, raising important questions about how the Internet is transforming childhood… As more and more kids grow up online, parents are finding themselves on the outside looking in… At school, teachers are trying to figure out how to reach a generation that no longer reads books or newspapers.

School paper that ran flag-burning photo gets second chance
The Shasta High School Volcano, which was shut down two weeks ago over a photo of a student burning an American flag, will be published again this fall, thanks to student Amanda Cope, who was set to take over as editor-in-chief. She called the district superintendent and asked for a chance to prove that she could make the Volcano a respectable publication. “We’re going to give her that shot,” says the school official.

USC Annenberg Kills Funding for Online Journalism Review (by Robert Niles
After a decade, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication has suspended publication of OJR. The decision to suspend OJR for now means that I have left the University of Southern California. But I am not going offline. I will continue to write, daily, about new media and journalism at my new website, SensibleTalk.com.

Small Publishers Feel Power of Amazon’s ‘Buy’ Button
Amazon, the online retailing giant with a fast-rising share of the consumer book market, has adopted the literary equivalent of a nuclear option for rebellious publishers who balk at its demands. In the latest in a series of disputes over the division of revenue from online sales, Amazon has disabled the “buy now with 1 click” icon on its British Web site for hundreds of books published by the British unit of Hachette Livre.

Mutter says Orlando Sentinel’s radical redesign is “scary”
This redesign of Tribune’s Orlando paper may do more far more harm than good, says Alan Mutter. It’s scary, he writes, “not because it represents an abrupt change, though it does. And not because it is unconventional, though it is. But because the combination of abrupt and unconventional change is almost certain to unsettle the valuable core of loyal subscribers who obviously think their newspapers are just fine.”

Is the Journal Getting… Better?
Jack Shafer: Some time around the beginning of the month, my disposition changed, and the Journal moved to the head of my daily newspaper line — not because of its political and international coverage but because it was swinging hard again in its traditional wheelhouse to produce great enterprise journalism.

McClatchy to Cut Work Force By 10% to Save $70 Million
McClatchy Co. plans to cut its work force by about 10 percent amid a difficult advertising market as the media company reported a 15 percent drop in May revenues, hurt by a 17 percent drop in advertising sales. Chief executive Gary Pruitt said, “The effects of the current national economic downturn — particularly in real estate, auto, and employment advertising — make it essential that we move faster now to realign our workforce and make our operations more efficient.”

Times Archive Offers 20m Articles For Free
Times Online has rolled out an elaborate digital newspaper archive stretching back more than 200 years.

Cable Networks Hoping to Generate Heat Again This Summer
These days, no basic cabler worth its salt goes without a summer-scheduled scripted drama, including TNT (The Closer), Lifetime (Army Wives) and AMC’s Golden Globe-winning Mad Men. Monday brings The Middleman on ABC Family, followed in July by The Cleaner with Benjamin Bratt, A&E’s first scripted foray in six years.
Don’t forget Burn Notice on USA, it’s one of my favorites.  And new episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent are also on USA.  I’m also liking In Plain Sight on USA.  I actually like the summer season better than the winter season.

After 38 Years, Soul Train Gets New Owner
People who think of Soul Train as an artifact from 1970s television may be surprised to learn that the 38-year-old song-and-dance show was never canceled. Although no new episodes are produced, it lives on in reruns. Now a production company, MadVision Entertainment, has bought the Soul Train franchise from its founder, Don Cornelius, and plans to breathe new life into it.

Reality TV’s ‘Next Big Thing’ Could Come From You
It sounds as if it could be a reality series: Earn money by creating your own TV format. Producer John de Mol says it’s the real thing. Deal or no deal? De Mol, co-founder of the international media giant Endemol, says anyone can have a great idea for a reality show, and he’s starting a Web site to solicit concepts.

Tribune Plans Safety Net for Stations
The Tribune Co., which owns 23 television stations, is beefing up its library of programming, providing the company flexibility either to launch a new national broadcast network or invigorate the slate of its rebranded WGN America channel. The contingency plans are being spurred in part by concern about the future of the company’s 15 CW affiliates, multiple people at Tribune said.

Where TV and the Web Converge, There Is Hulu
Scott Collins: In a very short time, Hulu has rocketed from nothing to being one of the top video destinations on the Internet. We’ve all heard the years of trade-show claptrap about television-Web “convergence,” but Hulu has come as close as possible to turning your computer into a TV without actually sending a tech to monkey around with the hardware and wiring.

The Web Time Forgot
In 1934, [Belgian Paul] Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.”

Twitter Killed Technorati, Too (by Pete Cashmore at Mashable)
Once a 10-posts-a-day blogging addict, I would typically verify a tip and dig for up-to-the-minute info on Technorati. A year ago – even 6 months ago – that was the only way. And then…Twitter. This service for sharing text updates with friends proved itself a veritable rapid-transit system for breaking news, and soon it was this microcontent production house, not the blogosphere, that became the check-digit for the established blogging pro.

AOL Sale Up Next for Time Warner
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes hopes to move swiftly to find a buyer for AOL’s dial-up business after the company completes its separation from the Platform A advertising division in the next month. According to sources inside the company, Time Warner held talks with rival dial-up provider EarthLink as recently as March about a combination.

High Gas Prices Drive Consumers to Find Deals on the Internet (by Ian Eccleston at comScore)
Average U.S. gas prices recently reached a record high of $4.09 per gallon in the week of June 9, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This hasn’t been good news for consumers and most businesses, but it has generated a lot of traffic to the Gasbuddy Organization, the largest web property which publishes the location of the cheapest gas prices available within local areas. Gasbuddy recorded a record high of 2.5 million unique visitors in May 2008 according to comScore Media Metrix. Interestingly, Gasbuddy’s Web traffic and the fluctuation in average monthly gas prices have a striking correlation

AllRecipes Helping You With Food Ideas As Prices Rise (Mashable)
AllRecipes is a popular site for recipe aficionados from all over, and as food prices continue to skyrocket, people are turning to it more and more for suggestions. The site has been known for its social networking aspects, and the ability to build a personal recipe box, but according to company spokes person Esmee Williams, people are turning to it for ideas of how they can stretch their grocery budget even further.  “We have been looking at these changes, what are these people looking at that may be different from before,” she said.  She continued with some examples of this new trend, saying, “Not surprisingly, steak, as an ingredient people search for, is down, where as ground beef is up.  We’ve also seen a huge increase in the number of pasta recipes.”

Move Over iGoogle, Feedly Launches Public Beta (by Alana Taylor at Mashable)
If you use iGoogle, I suggest you pay attention. The latest news and RSS feed aggregator to enter the “homepage” ring is Feedly. Feedly has officially launched it’s public beta release today… Feedly takes the concept of the homepage and takes it to the next level by providing a real-time summary of the most relevant content available on the web based on your interests, your reading patterns, and recommendations from your friends. You can take your different profiles, bookmarks, and accounts from sites like Twitter, Yahoo Mail, GMail and Friendfeed, and apply them to your Feedly.

Search, Shop, Sell, with Shopit on AIM (Mashable)
ShopIt’s new AOL instant messenger application has widened the distribution channels for its users, enabling them to sell products directly through AIM chat. The majority of ShopIt’s service is available as an AIM application, giving users the option to search and shop directly from within their AIM desktop tool, without having to open their browser at all. The biggest benefit of an AIM app is the ability to share that integration with one’s buddy list. It’s a word-of-mouth marketing tool that AOL is providing to developers, finding better ways to get inside of people’s conversations. This mountain is also being climbed by other IM platforms, like Meebo.

Hard Times For Newspapers Gets Harder, As Q1 Online Ad Growth Stalls At 7.2 Percent Gains (Paid Content)
Growth for online newspapers’ ad revenue slowed sharply in Q1, rising only 7.2 percent to $804 million versus the 22 percent gains posted the year before, ClickZ reported, citing numbers from the National Newspaper Association. That yawning gap in online growth rates is perhaps one reason that the NAA told ClickZ that it’s abandoning its quarterly ad revenue reporting. Combined print and online ad spend dropped about 13 percent to $9.2 billion during the quarter from Q107′s $10.6 billion, the NAA said. Additionally, the NAA’s report offers more evidence for the declining print side, as Q1 national ad revenue slid 9.5 percent, while classifieds, hit hard by struggling real estate and employment ads, saw the worst retreat years, plummeting 25 percent to $2.5 billion from $3.4 billion year-over-year.

The Upfront: Broadcast, Syndie Benefit From Buyers’ Bigger Budgets
While media buyers were dumbfounded by the strength of the broadcast network upfront marketplace the week prior, they were equally astonished last week with the syndication market. Many top-tier first-run and off-network shows were landing price hikes in the 8-9 percent range.  And much like their sales counterparts on the broadcast side, which saw prime-time ad revenue for the Big Four networks grow by 3.5 percent, TV syndication sales executives were making bullish predictions that they could cumulatively see a dollar volume increase of about $100 million, to $2.4 billion–up 4.2 percent over last year’s syndication total.

Microsoft Pacts With Online Video Aggregator YuMe To Handle Unsold Inventory (Paid Content)
Microsoft has struck a deal with online video ad network YuMe that’s designed to move unsold inventory across Microsoft’s web properties. The arrangement also intends to provide improved services to advertisers. Working with YuMe also offers a clue to Microsoft’s ad strategy in the wake of the latest collapse of its talks with Yahoo, by concentrating on alliances with and investments in smaller partners that can round out its offerings.

MySpace Might Have Friends, but It Wants Ad Money
When the News Corporation added MySpace to its portfolio nearly three years ago, it expected that if its base of 16 million users kept growing, the advertising dollars would roll in. The social networking site has grown — to 118 million worldwide users. But the cash is not coming in as quickly as the company had hoped.

MP3 Blogs Have Hipster Readers; Make For A Perfect Ad Network (Paid Content)
Here’s a quick summary of Fortune’s look at the world of MP3 blogs: Sites like Peter Rojas’ RCRD LBL and TheFader.com attract hip readers that advertisers salivate over. But on their own, they’re too small to easily attract big advertisers. The familiar solution: an MP3 blog network. Music marketers Jon Cohen and Rob Stone of Cornerstone Promotions (which owns TheFader) have already sold Fortune 500 advertisers like Microsoft and Toyota on the network, which claims 240,000 readers.

TBS Gives Interruption a Whole New Meaning
To tout the coming season premiere of TBS’s The Bill Engvall Show, the network has been running a promo at the bottom of the screen during episodes of Family Guy that is impossible to miss. Mr. Engvall, with a remote control in hand, starts speaking over the dialogue being uttered by Stewie, Peter, Brian, and other members of the animated comedy’s Griffin clan.

Congresswoman Wants FCC to Turn Down Volume on TV Ads
A bill introduced By Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., aims to turn down the volume on loud commercials. It would direct the FCC to enact new rules within a year requiring that television ads not be excessively noisy. “Most Americans are not overjoyed to watch television commercials, but they are willing to tolerate them to sustain free over-the-air television,” Eshoo says.
Puh-leeeeeeeeze!