martinstabe

Cohen: "If you have subscription content, the user response to it will in effect tell the algorithm this isn’t not a relevant result, I’m not clicking on this. By making it free or by in essence saying it’s paid but Google treats it as free [because of First Click Free], there’s a significant advantage to them, because all their content is indexed, and I think at the end of the day probably helps the results. People are more likely to link to it and all the different ways it can be beneficial." - martinstabe

Michael Arrington: "If other media companies joined Murdoch Google could actually find itself in a very difficult position, where Bing had content that Google didn’t. If you knew that Wall Street Journal and, say, New York TImes content was only in Bing search results, mainstream search users would suddenly have a big reason to go to Bing. This would shift the balance of power away from search engines and to the content sites..." - martinstabe

Cory Doctorow on November 8: "So here's what I think it going on. Murdoch has no intention of shutting down search-engine traffic to his sites, but he's ... hoping is that a second-tier search engine like Bing or Ask (or, better yet, some search tool you've never heard of that just got $50MM in venture capital) will give him half a year's operating budget in exchange for a competitive advantage over Google." - martinstabe

"Bloomberg may lack the pedigree and gloss of some of its rivals, but it has one thing they don’t right now: money to throw around. This year alone, Bloomberg, deploying the cash spouting from its data business, has recruited refugees from The Wall Street Journal and Fortune and opened bureaus in places like Ecuador and Abu Dhabi. Its editorial staff (which includes radio, TV and Web site workers) now numbers 2,200, compared with 1,250 journalists at The [New York] Times and 1,900 at Dow Jones" - martinstabe

"Microsoft plans to launch an assault on Google’s flank, by cosying up to major content providers, especially newspapers, that feel hard done by Google News. It plans to use Bing as a way to entice them out of the Google eco-system, into one where, increasingly, the content of major newspapers could well be found more often on Bing than on Google. ... Our sources say Microsoft has pledged to help fund research and engineering into ACAP to the tune of about will put £100,000. This is the more granular version of the robots.txt protocol which has been proposed by publishers to enable them to have a more sophisticated response to search engine crawlers. " - martinstabe

"The goal of hNews is to make certain elements of news articles machine-readable. In and of itself, this may not sound like much. One benefit is that it will help search engines and other parties do a better job sorting and analyzing information contained in news content (cover your ears, Rupert Murdoch!)." - martinstabe

"Wolfgang Werlé and Manfred Lauber became infamous for killing a German actor in 1990. Now they are suing to force Wikipedia to forget them. The legal fight pits German privacy law against the American First Amendment." - martinstabe

News Corp chief digital officer Jonathan Miller: “The traffic which comes in from Google brings a consumer who more often than not read one article and then leaves the site. That is the least valuable of traffic to us… the economic impact [of not having content indexed by Google] is not as great as you might think. You can survive without it.” - martinstabe

Dallas Morning News web editor Anthony Moor on why he is leaving to head Yahoo's local news division: "Part of this is recognition that newspapers have limited resources, they are saddled with legitimate legacy businesses that they have to focus on first. I am a digital guy and the digital world is evolving rapidly. I don't want to have to wait for the traditional news industry to catch up." - martinstabe

"Full list of the most senior decision-makers at the BBC senior staff, with job titles and details of salaries." - martinstabe

"Reed Business Information is to cease publication of its 130-year-old weekly construction magazine Contract Journal and its accompanying website at the end of the month." - martinstabe

"Who Knows Who is Channel 4's new website which shows the connections between politicians, celebrities and business leaders, and where power really lies in the UK. We hope that it will reveal the surprising and often hidden stories behind the headlines. This is the first iteration of an ongoing process to develop this tool to be rich in content and functionality and over time build the biggest network of connections in the UK." - martinstabe

George Monbiot: "Like my colleagues, I mourn [local papers'] death; unlike them I believe it happened decades ago. For many years the local press has been one of Britain's most potent threats to democracy, championing the overdog, misrepresenting democratic choices, defending business, the police and local elites from those who seek to challenge them. Media commentators lament the death of what might have been. It bears no relationship to what is." - martinstabe

Guardian leader: "Since the information commissioner first reported on the widespread use of private investigators by journalists in 2006, the only bodies to have made a determined effort to find out what was going on have been the information commissioner, the police and parliament. The PCC has repeatedly declined to make its own detailed inquiries, pleading that it is beyond its remit. Most neutral observers would conclude from this pattern of behaviour that the only effective scrutiny and regulation of the press currently comes from outside, which is a dangerous state of affairs. The PCC has just announced a governance review. Unless it proposes serious reforms, the cause of effective self-regulation will be unsustainable. That would be very troubling." - martinstabe

"Here’s how Murdoch replied when [Sky News political editor David Speers] asked why he hasn’t blocked sites from being seen by search engines: 'I think we will. But that’s when we start charging. We do it already with the Wall Street Journal. We have a wall, but it’s not right to the ceiling.' ... He also raised the idea of challenging the doctrine of 'fair use' in court, then reigned it in a bit. “We’re getting a lot of advertising revenue so we’ll take that slowly.'" - martinstabe

...And not just in print: "The National Enquirer, based in Miami, blocked British readers after it was successfully sued in London by Cameron Diaz, the Hollywood actress. Her lawyers showed that an article she deemed defamatory had been viewed 279 times by British internet users. ... Some of the most prestigious US newspapers are now considering similar moves. A source at The Washington Post said blocking British readers online could be considered to avoid defamation suits in London." - martinstabe

Peter Preston: "[Stephen Glover] could go on now to inquire whether it's really good enough for poor editor Paul Dacre to cover an all-powerful superstate via its political staff in SW1. And, to be frank, because nobody bar the FT quite escapes the blight of shrunk or shrinking EU coverage, similar logic closes over all Fleet Street like a vice." - martinstabe

Disgraceful comment moderation at the Guardian. After a Guardian blogger calls for help finding the fate of former Woolworths shops, my comment linking to our three-month effort to collect information on the fate of more than 500 former Woolworths sites was removed. - martinstabe

"[Having] signaled that its newly acquired Businessweek.com may raise the paywall for certain types of content, Bloomberg is now considering charging Bloomberg.com users up to $1,000 a year to access certain areas of the site starting next year." - martinstabe