Morning Reading List, 10.18.07

Good morning Washington. It's a close one, but it looks doubtful that Stephen Colbert's presidential bid in SC will do any major damage. Roll Call announced that Jay Heflin is going to be joining the CongressNow staff full-time beginning today. He will be covering taxes and trade. An ACLU release announced, "The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed disappointment with the version of the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 that passed in the House last night, but believes the reporters' shield legislation is a step in the right direction. H.R. 2102, introduced by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Rick Boucher (D-VA), will lessen the chance that reporters will be arrested or intimidated for their reporting, particularly when using government sources." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the House floor on Tuesday, "Nearly all states have some form of a press shield protecting the confidentiality of journalists' sources. However, that protection is lacking at the federal level and in federal courts. 'It is for this reason that I have long supported a federal press shield law, without which freedom of the press is threatened. The federal government's policies and actions should protect and preserve the press's ability to speak truth to power. And this legislation does so with appropriate national security safeguards, striking a careful balance between liberty and security." Poynter Online reports, "Today the U.S. Congress is slated to act on H.R. 2102, a proposed federal shield law. Not surprisingly, the White House has vowed to veto it, citing a fear of increased leaks. Here's the full statement from the White House Office of Management and Budget, which has been circulated to reporters but not yet posted on OMB's site." John Curley, the first editor of USA Today, and the man who succeeded Al Neuharth as president, chairman and CEO of Gannett Corporation and now a professor and distinguished professional in residence at Penn State University, and co-director of PSU's Center for Sports Journalism, "says it's time newspapers, instead of moaning and groaning about falling numbers, went back to doing more 'enterprise reporting' that they used to do and many still do." The Horses Mouth reports, "NY Times Editorial Board Announces New Group Blog" Radar Online reports, "Was Rowland Evans, Robert Novak's conservative lifelong reporting partner, secretly gay? Richard Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, thought so, and according to internal memos obtained by Radar through the Freedom of Information Act, they tasked the FBI with proving it." The New York Times reports, "Morgan Stanley has sold its 7.2 percent stake in The New York Times Company, people close to the matter said today." Daily Northwestern reports, "The Medill School of Journalism is forming a committee to explore a possible name change. Dean John Lavine said the committee will consider altering the name to better represent the school and what it offers." Check out a new tool on the Kaiser Family Foundation's health08.org website that allows for comparisons of the presidential candidates health care proposals. There's a game called Whack-A-Murdoch. Huffington Post has "Video Proof: Bill O'Reilly Doesn't Care About Black People" Check out TNR's The Stump. "We've conceived The Stump as the campaign blog you can consult to stay current without drowning in ephemeral detail." Roll Call reports, "With the House passage of a media shield bill yesterday, reporters across the country secured a legislative victory most were too uncomfortable to actually ask for." RTNDA reports, "The representatives voted by an overwhelming margin of 398 to 21 in favor of the bill. A similar bill in the Senate (S. 1267) was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now awaiting a vote by the full Senate. President Bush said yesterday he would veto the bill, but the margin of the House vote is wide enough to override a veto in that body." Oliver Willis writes, "Is it any wonder that the same publication that argued so strongly against Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King now attacks Al Gore?" Washington Post reports, "The House yesterday overwhelmingly passed first-ever federal protections for journalists pressured to reveal confidential sources, as lawmakers from both parties backed legislation that advocates for the news media have sought for a generation." TVNewser reports, "It has hosted Britney Spears, the Bachelorette and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition launch party. Tuesday morning New York City's Gotham Hall hosted a political convention of sorts; a sales pitch for advertisers to buy time or space on CNN and CNN.com." Steven Webber joins the First Friday Collective as a guest blogger. Los Angeles Times reports, "Extending an olive branch to restless TV and film writers, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said Tuesday that it had withdrawn an unpopular proposal on residual payments that had threatened to derail contract talks." IWR reports, "Google has damped down speculation that it will extend its Google Book Search platform to include magazines with an ISSN number. Technical difficulties with digitising magazines and a lack of existing archives were cited as the main reasons"." The Wall Street Journal reports, "As much as one-fifth of the audience for television's most popular shows are skipping the commercials, according to the first round of commercial data for the new fall season, released yesterday by Nielsen Media Research." The Hollywood Reporter reports, "Obama Girl has found a new friend in Herb Scannell, whose online video startup Next New Networks has acquired BarelyPolitical.com, the site behind the viral-video hit." The BBC reports, "Plans for sweeping changes at the BBC over the next six years are being discussed on Wednesday by the BBC Trust, which represents licence-payers." The New York Observer reports, "Murdoch To Times: I Will Bury You! Keller Bristles" A Comcast release announced, "Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services, announced today that David Krone will join the company as Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs, effective January 2, 2008." Compete reports, "Nearly a month after the New York Times shut down TimesSelect, the subscription-based service for premium content on NYTimes.com, traffic to areas of the site that were previously members-only is flowing fast and free. With popular columnists like Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd drawing thousands of curious readers and fans, the Opinion section has more than doubled unique visitors, while the overall NYTimes.com site has grown by roughly 10% in the same period." Bloomberg reports, "Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, said third-quarter profit fell 10 percent as classified advertising sales and television revenue dropped." TVNewser reports, "Tom Shales: 'Matt Lauer Is No Mike Wallace'" WWD.com reports, "Former Men's Journal and Details editor in chief Michael Caruso signed on last year as a contributing editor at large at Portfolio and came back as planned from a two-week vacation on Monday, but by the end of the day, staffers were told his contract hadn't been renewed." AP reports, "Gannett Co., the largest newspaper publisher in the country and owner of USA Today, said Wednesday that third-quarter earnings fell 10.5 percent, fueled in part by slumping real-estate ads and a tough comparison to year-ago results boosted by heavy political advertising." Media Newsline reports, "Jefferson Morley, a 15-year veteran at the Washington Post, has joined the Center for Independent Media as its National Editorial Director, with overall responsibility for guiding the Center's fast-growing network of 40 journalists, and overseeing the launch of a new Washington DC-based online news site with 10 reporters in late 2007." New York Post reports, "Time Managing Editor Rick Stengel once again is shuffling the deck among the magazine's top brass now that Priscilla Painton, one of his three deputy editors, has opted out." Arts Technica reports, "House passes federal journalist shield, includes bloggers" Washington Post reports, "Government repression in some countries has shifted from journalists to bloggers, with the vitality of the Internet triggering a more focused crackdown as blogs increasingly take the place of mainstream news media, according to Lucie Morillon, Washington director of the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders." New York Times reports, "Internet companies with funny names, little revenue and few customers are commanding high prices. And investors, having seemingly forgotten the pain of the first dot-com bust, are displaying symptoms of the disorder known as irrational exuberance." Jobs Atllantic Information Services, Inc. is looking for a Health Care Reporter/Editor. The Frederick News-Post is looking for a Page Designer. SmartBrief, Inc. is looking for a Freelance Writer for Telecom/Media. Bloomberg is looking for an Economy Editor. American Diabetes Association is looking for a Health & Wellness Staff Writer, a Science Writer and a Health & Wellness Features Editor. America Abroad Media is looking for an Assistant Producer. The Chronicle of Philanthropy is looking for an editorial intern. The Progress-Index is looking for a sports reporter. American Chemical Society is looking for Product Coordinators, Publishing. Hat Tips: DCRTV, TVNewser, IWantMedia, Romenesko, MediaBistro, JournalismJobs, JournalismNext

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Morning Reading List, 10.18.07

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