Young Media Doomsayer Rivets Industry

Site posts updates on industry firings and (less often) hirings

(NEWSER) - The rapid shrinking of the media industry is generating enough news to have a Twitter feed all to itself. The "Themediaisdying" feed, started by a PR firm employee, covers hirings, layoffs, and circulation changes in 140 characters or less, the New York Times reports. More»

Move represents major policy switch

(NEWSER) - Twitter has apparently decided corporate relations are more important than content. Company officials have announced that they will voluntarily restrict Twitter content in specific countries to comply with government limits on what citizens are allowed to read. "As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," Twitter wrote in a blog post yesterday . "Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country while keeping it available in the rest of the world." More»

Co-founder is one of 4 staffers let go

(NEWSER) - Slate co-founder Jack Shafer, who has been with the online magazine since before its official launch in 1996, is being laid off, it was announced yesterday. The media critic is one of four staff members being let go; Timothy Noah , June Thomas , and Juliet Lapidos are the others, reports the Washington Post . (The Washington Post Co. bought Slate in 2004 from Microsoft.) Some reactions:

• "If you weren't reading [Jack, Tim, June, and Juliet's] stuff, you're in luck—it'll be online 'til the Internet dies," writes Slate colleague David Weigel. "If you write, you should study it, because these people think and write circles around most everyone in the job-formerly-known-as-the-Life-of-Kings."

Taking same White House correspondents gig, but with new boss

(AP) - CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry is jumping to Fox News to take the same job over there, the network announced yesterday. Henry joined CNN in 2004 from Roll Call, and he covered the president, Congress, and politics for the network. A Fox News exec says the network has been "impressed with Henry's reporting for a long time." More»

Paper aims to firm up pay barrier before launch

(NEWSER) - The pay barrier for the New York Times' online content goes up on Monday and the newspaper is scrambling to make it more like a wall and less like a curtain full of holes. Users will be allowed 20 page views a month before the barrier comes down. But articles linked to from Twitter and Facebook can be viewed independent of the limit, leaving a huge loophole that the Times is now seeking to plug. More»