MSNBC

HuffPo Co-Founder Ken Lerer’s Stealthy Start-Up Aims at CNN, Fox

Peter Kafka in Media on March 27 at 6:48 am PT

Ken Lerer helped build an Internet news powerhouse out of thin air. Now he wants to do it again — this time using video.

27,000 Reasons Why Twitter Is Rolling Out Its Own Photo Service

Peter Kafka in Media on June 6, 2011 at 5:35 am PT

This photo of an almost-empty baseball game became a hit overnight on Twitter–and made money for Twitter photo-sharing service TwitPic. What if Twitter sold that ad inventory itself?

Backstage at the Onion's New TV Show

Peter Kafka in Media on January 21, 2011 at 8:05 am PT

The Onion lands its second TV show in a month–this one is the pitch-perfect “Onion News Network” on IFC–and we sit down with head writer Carol Kolb.

Voices

Time Warner Cable Offers Cheaper TV Package Without ESPN

Nat Worden, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 18, 2010 at 10:15 pm PT

Time Warner Cable Inc. is rolling out a lower-priced cable TV package called “TV Essentials” that excludes major cable networks like ESPN, Comedy Central, TNT, Fox News, MSNBC, Fox regional sports networks and MSG.

Viral Video: Keith Olbermann's Non-Apologetic Apology

Kara Swisher in News on November 10, 2010 at 12:40 am PT

MSNBC cable television host Keith Olbermann was back on the air last night after a short suspension and chatting up a storm–as usual, almost entirely about himself. This time it was supposedly to apologize for handing over some dough in support of a trio of Democratic candidates, which is against NBC ethical guidelines for its news folk. It turned into more of a pat on the back.

Exclusive: BermanBraun Strikes Big Ad Deal with Starcom

Kara Swisher in News on August 17, 2010 at 5:57 pm PT

In an interesting move for premium online content, Hollywood’s BermanBraun has signed an advertising deal with Starcom MediaVest Group, the media agency unit of advertising giant Publicis Groupe, sources said. As part of the deal, Starcom gets a “first look” at all of the online properties created by the innovative production company headed by Lloyd Braun (pictured here) and Gail Berman. BermanBraun produces both digital and mainstream content.

MSNBC Readies a Cautious Move Onto the iPad

Peter Kafka in Media on June 23, 2010 at 12:40 pm PT

MSNBC is preparing its own entry into the iPad app derby. But the cable network is moving cautiously into the race: Its upcoming free app will feature programming from just one of its shows. Maddow? Olbermann? The network won’t say.

Voices

Q&A: Aggregation and the Future of Local News

Jeremy Caplan, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on April 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm PT

Hunting through thousands of local blogs for quality tidbits of regional interest is too time-consuming for overtaxed, understaffed news teams. Why not rely on clever algorithms, much the way Facebook manages social news? That logic has inspired news giants to place big bets this past year on aggregation. MSNBC bought automated news site EveryBlock.com, AOL picked up local blog network Patch.com and CNN invested in Outside.in. The next target might be Fwix.com, an automated newswire with a silly name but serious ambition.

Michael Jackson’s Last Performance on the Web: Big, but Not Obama Big

Peter Kafka in Media on July 7, 2009 at 6:07 pm PT

Depending on your perspective, this is either interesting news or heartening news: Michael Jackson’s funeral and memorial were indeed a giant Internet event. But they don’t seem to have been as big as Michael Jackson’s death, and they weren’t as big as Barack Obama’s inauguration. So, let’s call them the third-biggest Web event of the year. To date.

How the Web Survived Michael Jackson’s Death

Peter Kafka in Media on June 26, 2009 at 6:49 am PT

The “fail” meme is one of the digerati’s least pleasant contributions to pop culture. Wouldn’t be accurate, anyway. Instead, let’s just say that the Internet was…challenged yesterday by the crush of people who flocked to it when Michael Jackson died. And that it seemed to do a pretty good job in the end. That’s a more interesting story, right?