The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Media

The Politics of Media

Time Warner continues to look for ways to bring CNN back to life — at least make it respectably competitive with the other cable nets. [NYT]

The departing public editor at the New York Times wrote in his final column that the paper’s “progressivism” sometimes “bleeds through” in the paper’s reporting. [Column] NYT Executive Editor Jill Abramson sharply rebutted the charges of liberal bias to POLITICO. [Rebuttal]

Barry Diller’s IAC is buying About.com for $300 million. [Forbes]

The death of the homepage: Direct links have many news consumers “coming in the side door,” meaning bypassing the homepages of many news Web sites. [Nieman Journalism Lab]

Twitter paves its path into the future with corporate media partnerships (NBC) and the breaking down of old ones (Instagram and Tumblr). [Gigaom]

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Tech

The Politics of Tech

Matthew Inman of “The Oatmeal” successfully managed to raise $500,000 in two days to go towards a museum honoring Nikola Tesla. [Guardian]

In 6 days, with help from Inman the project raised it target amount of $875,000. With NY state matching the raised amount that puts the project at over $1.7 million. [The Next Web]

“Google’s Motorola division claims Apple is infringing on seven of its patents and wants to block iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers from being imported to the U.S.” [Digital Trends]

Here is a list of the 20 Most watched TED talks so far. If you don’t know what a TED talk is you should acquaint yourself with them by watching a couple of the videos on the list that sound interesting to you. [TED Blog]

Instead of buying Instagram for $1 billion cash, the deal was $300 million in cash and about 23 million shares of Facebook stock. The Instagram founders are out almost $300 million. [NY Times]

In a move that I’m surprised took this long to happen “eBay bans ‘intangible’ items including spells, curses & advice” [Wired]

 

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Faith

The Politics of Faith

David Jang, an influential Christian leader in Asia, is hailed by some followers as the “second coming of Christ.” [Christianity Today]

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney share their perspectives on faith in the latest edition of the National Cathedral’s Cathedral Age magazine. [National Cathedral]

Catholics are split over voting for the Romney-Ryan ticket. Paul Ryan, Romney’s choice for VP, is a Catholic. [CNN]

A new study shows that the size of megachurches are part of their appeal to members, and that members find it easier to worship in a crowd and get involved. [Live Science]

Ministers are finding social media, especially Twitter, to be a teaching tool and a way to connect with church members. [Baptist Press]

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Laughter

The Politics of Laughter

Goldie [Buttersafe]

Ass [Cyanide and Happiness]

Honest Signage [picture]

Sorry Crocs fans [picture]

The ‘ol Bait and Switch [.gif]

 

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Pigskin

The Politics of Pigskin

There was some hooplah recently regarding the leaked college transcript of Julius Peppers. Watch out UNC. [Sporting News]

After losing 50 lbs. to get into shape DT Shaun Rogers is out for the season with a blood clot. [ESPN]

The Titans have named sophomore QB Jake Locker as their starter. Locker beat out the veteran Matt Hasselbeck who looked rejuvenated last year when he has several good games. [PFT]

If you haven’t seen any of SI’s training camp postcards just follow the link. [SI]

The Onion always nails it. This time they target T.O. as he decides which Seahawks QB he should undermine. [The Onion]

Check out this goofy hand-off from Cam Newton. [.gif]

Here’s the picture to the left in .gif form. [.gif]

 

 

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Media

The Politics of Media

While networks plan to keep hours they devote to the GOP and Dem conventions in primetime slim, networks will continue to offer gavel-to-gavel coverage – but online. [WSJ]

The selection process for moderators of presidential debates is nearly as secretive as a papal conclave. Here’s a look at the politics behind the choosing of this cycle’s moderators. [NYT]

Local TV news and ’60 Minutes’ received the top ratings in a new credibility poll by Pew Research. Fox News and USA Today ranked lowest in believability. [Pew Research]

The White House has granted Michael Lewis, author of “Moneyball,” almost exclusive access to the President for the coming days. Lewis will pen an article for the October issue of Vanity Fair. Neither the White House nor the magazine will comment on the topic of the article. [NYT]

C-SPAN’s political editor, Steve Scully, previewed the cable channel’s convention coverage plans:

Some at NBC’s ‘Tonight Show’ are getting pink slips. Jay Leno himself is taking a pay cut to “save jobs.” [Deadline]

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of The Screen

The Politics of The Screen

On the TV ‘screen’, the head of PBS is “extremely disappointed” by Mitt Romney’s suggestion that the federal government would slash federal funding for the programming service under his administration. [WaPo]

Warner Brothers has shuttered Warner Premier — it’s direct-to-video publishing arm — citing shifting business models and priorities. [THR]

Dale Olson, one of Hollywood’s most iconic publicists, died this week. He represented the likes of Rock Hudson, Shirley MacLaine, Steven Speilberg, Gene Kelly, and Joan Crawford. [NYTimes]

Movie etiquette changing? Some theaters are now welcoming heckling and cell phones and more. [Chicago Daily Herald]

Actor-turned Governor-turned actor again Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his first appearance in a film since leaving office in ‘The Expendables 2’, opening this weekend. [NYPost]

 

 

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Tech

The Politics of Tech

Wikileaks reveals US government spy network “TrapWire” and is subsequently smacked down by DDOS attacks. [io9]

How many times have you read all the way through a Terms of Service agreement before click “I accept” on the Internet? Probably very few. There is a new project on the way that would change things. [TechCrunch]

“Samsung: Whether or not we ripped off Apple’s tech, Apple stole it to begin with” — Provides video evidence of a tablet built by Mitsubishi to show that Apple’s patent on pinch-to-zoom technology should not be valid because it already existed for years before the first iPhone launched. [BGR]

German government officials are claiming that Facebook is maintaining a database of facial recognition and are demanding they erase it. [ars technica]

Scientists have invented particles that will keep you alive even if you can’t breathe. [Gizmodo]

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Faith

The Politics of Faith

The Romney-Ryan ticket is making religious history, at least in presidential politics, by becoming the first major party’s ticket to not include a Protestant Christian. [CNN]

Some wonder if the evangelical principles in both Romney’s and Ryan’s respective churches might put the two candidates at odds. [TIME]

As the NFL pre-season gets ramped up, Tim Tebow talked about how his faith comes before football. [Fox Sports]

A Catholic-run business in Colorado received an injunction against the Department of Health and Human Services mandate to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives. The Catholic owners are asking the President to respect their beliefs. [Catholic News Agency]

Prominent religious history author David Barton’s “The Jefferson Lies” has been pulled from bookstores after the publisher determined there were many unsupported claims or factual errors in the book. [CNN]

The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Laughter

The Politics of Laughter

The facial expressions at the end of this are priceless. [MLB.com]

The Little Squeeze [Whomp!]

Super Heroes as Manatees [Geeks n Gamers]

Why fly when you can take a train! [picture]

Creepy Earth [Halorvic]

Cheeky move [.gif]

 

The Recovering Politician Bookstore

     

The RP on The Daily Show