MSNBC stars Tim Russert and Brian Williams

Overlooked story: CNN Beats Out Fox News and MSNBC in New Hampsire
Submitted by: TimALoftis

As recent media reports have pointed out, the presidential race isn't just between Hillary, Obama, and McCain, but the three big cable networks: CNN, MSNBC, and Fox. And if CNN has long trailed behind Fox in the ratings race, the network placed first during the recent New Hampshire primary. According to the New York Times, CNN had 3.3 million viewers, nearly double the number of viewers during the 2004 New Hampshire primary, while Fox had 3.06 million viewers and MSNBC, which claimed 1.64 million viewers.

"This was one of the first times that CNN overtook Fox in quite a while," says Steve Krakauer, associate editor at TV Newser. "So it came as a bit of a surprise." According to Krakauer, CNN first raised its profile last summer by broadcasting the YouTube debates. Since then, the network has aggressively marketed itself to viewers, adopting the "Best Political Team" tag line, while bringing in special guests such as Carl Bernstein and Bill Bennett to round out coverage by longtime anchors Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper. Additionally, this week CNN announced a new nightly show, CNN Election Center. According to the AP, the show will air opposite competitors Bill O'Reilly on Fox and Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.

Sharpening its election coverage, Fox has shuffled programming, having Greta Van Susteren and Shepard Smith report together in a pairing that's unique for the network since the two don't usually share air time, according to Krakauer. The network is also prominently featuring longtime duo Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes. For its part, MSNBC is using Tom Brokaw as a special correspondent, while continuing to plug longtime anchors Tim Russert and Brian Williams, as well as Olbermann and Chris Matthews of Hardball.

Increased eyeballs translate to increased advertising dollars for the cable networks, points out Anthony Crupi, senior editor at Mediaweek. And given the WGA strike, is there anything better to watch? According to Crupi, some of the cable networks are quietly pitching the election to advertisers as the "ultimate reality television" show. "The fact that these debates can be factious is helping ratings," says Crupi.

If MSNBC's Russert raised his profile by covering the elections in 2000, and the same gig helped to make Ashley Banfield a star in 2004, there haven't been any breakout stars spotted at the news desk this season, according to Crupi. "My guess is that the networks want to have more established newspeople," says Crupi. "It's such a wide open field, and they want a sense of gravitas."

Nevertheless, with February's Super Tuesday primary elections looming, expect the competition between the networks to heat up as even more viewers to tune in. "People are generally interested in this process," says Crupi.

Story of the Week: California Malls Are Flyer Friendly
Submitted By: Deidre

This week the California Supreme Court considered a case that essentially looked at whether a mall is considered private property, or a town square where protesters can gather.

The case stemmed from a 1998 incident at the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego, during which union workers from The San Diego Union-Tribune distributed leaflets urging a boycott of the Robinsons-May department store. The protesters, who were unhappy that the store was among the paper's advertisers, were evicted from the premises about 15-20 minutes after arriving.

While the mall didn't outright ban demonstration, it had rules pertaining to "expressive" actions at its property, including applying for permits. Additionally, the mall outlawed any behavior that interfered with the business of its merchants.

The California Supreme Court Justice ruled 4-3 on the side of the protesters. In his summary, Justice Carlos R. Moreno, declared that "malls can enforce regulations on demonstrations to assure they don't interfere with normal business, but they can't block speech based on its content, such as calling for a store boycott."

The decision upheld a 1979 California Supreme Court ruling that defined shopping malls as the equivalent of public town squares. But last week's decision bucks a more recent nationwide trend of courts favoring property owners in free speech cases, according to the Los Angele Times. California "is out front" when it comes to free speech issues, according to Betsy Laird, senior vice-president in the Office of Global Public Policy at ICSC, a Washington, D.C-based trade organization for shopping centers. "The California constitution grants greater protections to freedom of speech than the US constitution does," Laird told Newsquake.

For her part, Laird said she didn't view this as a "wide-sweeping decision," given that the case centered around specific rules--for instance, the mall's requirement that groups obtain permits, which the protesters had bypassed. She also shrugged off larger implications the ruling may have, simply because she doesn't believe that most people think of malls as place to hold protests. "Shopping malls are in business for people to shop," she said. "The other activity is secondary."

One of the dissenters in the case, Justice Ming W. Chin, called the 1979 decision "ill conceived," according to the New York Times. "Justice Chin noted that in most states, there were no free-speech rights on private property," noted the paper.

But editorials in California newspapers applauded the move. "The justices were divided over whether private property rights should trump the opportunity for peaceful political activity," wrote the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle. "The judges got it right: Until they start requiring invitations or tickets at the door, shopping malls fit the definition of a public place."

The Los Angeles Times pondered the possible loopholes: "No sensible mall owner would allow employees of the Apple store to demonstrate for a boycott of the Microsoft store. Why should that privilege apply to visitors, who aren't even paying the rent on the place?" The paper ultimately applauded the court's "expansive speech protections" in its editorial pages.

An interesting Propeller-submitted story that deserves a second look: Last week, German federal and state interior ministers urged the country's domestic intelligence agency to ban Scientology. According to the AP, Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the Church of Scientology "an unconstitutional organization" in remarks made in Bild am Sonntag, a German weekly. In the article, his comments appeared on the front page under a photo of Scientology member Tom Cruise, with the headline "How dangerous is the Cruise cult?"

Long suspicious of Scientology, Germany has been monitoring the group for nearly a decade, according to the AP. In January, the group opened a 43,000-square-foot Scientology building in Berlin, a move that brought added scrutiny. During this past summer, German officials initially refused to allow filming of a Tom Cruise movie in the country (although no explicit reasons were given), but in the end allowed production to continue.

Other European countries, including Belgium, France, Germany and Greece, have voiced concern about the group, according to the AFP, and in 2000, France pondered a ban. Still, Germany may be overreaching in its efforts to monitor the group. According to another AP story, the U.S. State Department regularly criticizes Germany in its annual Human Rights Report for its anti-Scientology practices. Additionally, efforts to ban the church may simply fail: some officials feel the move would be impossible to implement, and the AP, citing Der Spiege, notes that previous efforts to dig up legitimate dirt on the church have failed.

In reaction to German officials' statements, Sabine Weber, president of the Church of Scientology in Berlin, told another AP reporter that "she views the renewed attempt to ban the organization as a reaction to increasing acceptance of Scientologists in several European countries."

"It is very, very clear that the true picture of what Scientology is about is pushing its way through," Weber said. "The interior ministers are clearly reacting to that."

Last month, in fact, Spain's National Court recognized the right of the Church of Scientology to register as a religious organization. That ruling preceded a European Court of Human Rights decision in April stating that Scientology churches are entitled to be treated as religious organizations across Europe. (The latter decision emerged from Russia's refusal to re-register Scientology as a religious entity.)

Following the ruling in Spain last month, Propeller spoke with an Karin Pouw, a Los Angeles-based spokeswoman for the church. "It is extremely important that countries recognize Scientology," wrote Pouw in an email. "In countries that have an official recognition process, the failure to be registered leads to discrimination [against] members. What is important to us is that we be treated like all other religions."

Pouw reiterated that the Spanish decision would have a significant impact abroad. "This ruling, coupled with the unanimous decision of the European Court of Human Rights in April that Scientology churches are entitled to be treated as religious organizations, will have a positive effect throughout Europe," she wrote.

Pouw didn't respond to request for comment this week regarding the efforts to ban the group.

Story: Net Explodes Over Journalist Firing
Submitted by: TheVisionary

One story that generated very little buzz on Propeller concerned Jeff Gerstmann, who was fired last week by the CNET-owned website GameSpot. Rumors swirled that the 11-year veteran was canned after writing a negative review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, a heavily hyped video game released by the British company Eidos.

In his review of the game, Gerstmann awarded Kane & Lynch a "6" (out of a possible 10). Mike Krahulik, who, along with Jerry Holkins, edits Penny Arcade, a Seattle-based blog that takes a satirical look at the gaming industry, says that's basically like handing out an "F." "This was a huge game," Krahulik tells Propeller. "People expected it to generate a 9 or 10 based on the hype surrounding it."

Following his firing, the text of Gerstmann's review on the site was edited. The video edition of his review was initially pulled, although later replaced on the site. In the days following his departure, GameSpot staffers alluded to total discord at the office. When Gerstmann was canned, wrote GameSpot editor Alex Navarro on his personal blog, it was "like someone hit the disaster button for me."

On Monday, GameSpot management directly addressed the controversy, denying a rumor that Edios had threatened to pull advertising dollars off the site following the poor review. On Wednesday, the site followed up with a Q & A called "Spot On: GameSpot on 'Gerstmanngate,'" written by staffer Tor Thorsen. While the management stated that they were unable to talk about the firing for legal reasons, they did provide some information. An excerpt:


The Q&A also disclosed that Eidos representatives "expressed their displeasure to their appropriate contacts at GameSpot, but not to editorial directly." And management reiterated that advertisers never dictate any editorial policy at the company.

Throughout the controversy, Gerstmann has publicly stated that he is unable to comment on his departure due to legal constraints. Additionally, editor Navarro referred our request for an interview to CNET PR, who emailed us the above Q & A article.

But an anonymous source at GameSpot spoke to Krahulik and Holkins last week. The conversation followed a company-wide meeting held last Thursday, November 29 (the day after Gerstmann's firing). According Krahulik and Holkins, the source told them that Gerstmann was fired because management didn't like the tone of his reviews, a sore point that had been an ongoing issue with Gerstmann's employers.

Holkins points out that Gerstmann had a tendency to score his games slightly lower than competing reviewers. In the case of Kane & Lynch, the game scored a 6.7 on Metacritic, which aggregates scores. But Krahulik and Holkins believe that GameSpot's reviews are closer to an accurate representation than those on competing sites like IGN or OneUp. "They have the fairest scores out there," says Holkins.

Still, the Penny Arcade team discounts reviews and scores as not particularly important for die-hard fans. Edward Woo, a research analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, a Los Angeles-based investment bank that tracks the gaming industry, disagrees. "It's like giving a good review to a movie. It increases the odds of having the game do well."

"But there are some movies that do well, regardless of reviews," he adds. The release of Kane & Lynch was particularly important for Eidos, says Woo, noting that the game had been heavily promoted in company press releases.

In an apparent show of solidarity, on Friday, employees of the Ziff-Davis-owned 1up.com demonstrated outside of GameSpot's San Francisco offices. Across the Web, the fallout continues, with commenters still launching attacks--fair or unfair--on GameSpot.

Given the legal muzzling, Krahulik doesn't believe the truth of what happened will come out anytime soon, although with his new notoriety, Gerstmann should be able to snag another job elsewhere. As far as long term damage to the game review industry? "This is the Web," says Krahulik. "Nothing is long term."

Overlooked submission: "YouTube Tackles Bullying Online"
Via Propeller user: idreamed

This week's overlooked story on Propeller concerned the problem of cyberbullying. It's a timely topic, given the recent suicide of Megan Meiers, a 13-year-old Missouri teen who was duped into sending instant messages to a fictitious boy who was allegedly the mother of one of Meiers' classmates.

While the Meiers story shot to the top of the Propeller page, another story about YouTube's efforts to curb cyberbullying--defined as harassment by email, cell phone, IM, or social networking sites--received less attention. Last week, in conjunction with a UK-based group called Beatbullying, YouTube launched a new channel on the topic. Visitors can view UK and American celebrities talking about how to counter cyberbullies, and teens can submit their own related videos.

"If you can't say it to someone's face, then don't post it online," says Isaac Slade, lead singer of the Fray, a popular band from Colorado, in one of featured videos. "There's no shame in being bullied, it's not a sign of weakness...report it."

While it's not clear whether YouTube will launch a US-centric anti-bullying channel (the California-based Google subsidiary didn't return our calls by deadline), the site already has a library of videos on the topic, including a tribute video to teens who've committed suicide as a result of cyberbullying.

Among those who appear on the video is 13-year-old Ryan Patrick Halligan, an Essex Junction, Vermont teenager who committed suicide after a female classmate pretended to have a crush on him, but then mockingly passed their IM exchanges around to friends. John P. Halligan, Ryan's father, launched a web site to commemorate his son. There he writes: "It's one thing to be bullied and humiliated in front of a few kids. It's one thing to feel rejection and have your heart crushed by a girl. But it has to be a totally different experience than a generation ago when these hurts and humiliation are now witnessed by a far larger, online adolescent audience."

While there's conflicting data on the prevalence of cyberbullying, an AP story published this week noted as many as "one in three U.S. children have been ridiculed or threatened through computer messages." The harassment is just an extension of real-life bullying, which many teens likely consider an unavoidable part of adolescence. According to the AP story, "roughly 17 percent of early adolescents say they are victims of recurring verbal aggression or physical harassment."

Because of Halligan's lobbying efforts, Vermont legislatures passed a law a year after his son's death that requires bullying prevention procedures for schools, and similar legislation has passed in other states. If laws may help to curb bullying, grassroots initiatives may have the most impact. After all, Meiers' story reached the mainstream media via the blogosphere. Perhaps YouTube's new channel--and particularly the videos made by actual teens-- will bring more attention to the problem.

So far the response from YouTube users has been largely positive, with a few doubters. Writes one skeptic: "I honestly don't think that there is a way to stop bullying... I think the only way to stop bullying...possibly, is to always be with people...then you can never be alone and you wont get hurt." Another user is more supportive: "This is so important! Bullying KILLS!! We must hold the bullies accountable for what they do. I think we are doing wrong looking the other way, and do not react to the crime that is bullying."

(A rendering of the Philip Johnson-designed chapel)

An interesting story submitted last week by Propeller Scout Tim Loftis concerned the groundbreaking for the Interfaith Peace Chapel in Dallas, Texas. Designed by noted architect Philip Johnson, who passed away in 2005, the chapel is on the campus of the Cathedral of Hope, a congregation serving gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals.

Johnson is known for his Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut and for his work with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe on New York's Seagram Building. The Cathedral of Hope commissioned him to create a master plan, one that would encompass 11 acres in Dallas, in 1995.

With 3,500 members, the Cathedral of Hope had been looking to move to a bigger church, according to David Plunkett, spokesman for the congregation. Accordingly, Johnson's master plan included not only the 175-seat chapel but a 2,200-seat cathedral, as well as the John Thomas Memorial Bell Wall, an AIDS memorial that was constructed in 1998. At a 1996 press conference in New York City, Johnson called the Cathedral of Hope project "the finest job I've ever had in my life."

"In the first place, I have waited all my life to design a church, but this is a big civic statement, a big urban statement, a big emotional statement of us," he noted at the conference. "This will be the thing by which I intend to be memorialized."

With its striking curves and slopes, the Interfaith Peace Chapel was inspired in part by works of sculpture, according to principal architect Alan Ritchie at Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects, who attended Sunday's groundbreaking. "Johnson wanted to create new ideas, and clients don't always want that," said Ritchie. "In this instance, the client was very receptive... and Johnson very much liked this project."

Accepted into the United Church of Christ (UCC) last year, the Cathedral of Hope is the fourth-largest congregation in the denomination. (By way of comparison, the average Presbyterian congregation in 2005 numbered 212.) An anomaly in largely conservative Texas, the church, which is located in a predominately Hispanic section of Dallas, was founded in 1970 by a group of 12 people. The church formally changed its name to the Cathedral of Hope in 1990.

"As a community of faith, our theology is more liberal than progressive," says Plunkett. "The Bible is a guiding ministry, [but] unlike fundamental Christians, we don't believe it's the inherent word of God. It was written more than 2,000 years ago for a different people."

Scheduled to be finished sometime in 2009, the Interfaith Peace Chapel will serve as an intimate venue for weddings, as well as for occasionally contentious religious discussions. ("Too often, religion can be a dividing point rather than a point where people come together," Plunkett concedes.) Fund-raising efforts continue for the larger cathedral, a project that Ritchie and the congregation would like to see completed. Plunkett views Johnson as the only architect truly suited to the project, due both to his professional attainments and to his personal life as a gay man. "He wasn't a person of faith, but he was a person of great vision," says Plunkett. "In order to accomplish our goal and build something that would be a symbol, it took a visionary person."

This week, a popular story on Propeller concerned Stephen Colbert dropping out of the presidential race. While that story prompted much discussion, our users seemed less concerned with a glaring fact: Colbert wasn't even on television anymore. After failing to come to an agreement on residual payments with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild of America commenced its strike on Monday. And the first shows to go into reruns were daily shows like the Colbert Report and Late Show With David Letterman.

Although some networks stockpiled extra scripts in anticipation of the strike, there wasn't enough material for others. Having run out of scripts, ABC's Desperate Housewives was scheduled to finish filming on Wednesday. Other shows, like Fox's Back to You, starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, were canceled, according to the Associated Press.

During the last strike, which lasted for more than three months, the networks lost 10 percent of their audience; this time around, audiences have the Internet and YouTube to turn to, not to mention DVDs and video games. (Ironically, part of the rift between the WGA and the networks is over compensation for Internet streaming.)

To follow up on this story, and to see how the strike would impact certain shows, NewsQuake posed a few questions to a Los Angeles-based striking writer, who asked to remain anonymous.

What kinds of reruns will we be seeing over the next few months? Are there any surprise reruns the networks will bring back to retain their TV viewers?

I don't think we'll be seeing more reruns so much as new programming that you usually don't see in network prime time during the season. For instance, I heard that CBS may launch Big Brother in the spring rather than the summer. It wouldn't surprise me if some broadcast networks run the scripted programming of their sister cable networks. For instance, I could see Fox running FX's Damages and NBC running USA's Burn Notice.

Among your peers, what are writers doing with the extra time? Are they getting other jobs?

People are writing scripts "on spec," which they hope to sell when this is all over. Some people are delving into the novel or the tantric poetry cycle they always wanted to write. If this goes longer than three or four months, I think you'll see some people looking for day jobs. But writers are used to economic instability.

What kinds of writers are hardest hit by the strike? Which striking writers have it more cushy?

Nobody has it cushy. Anyone who was working on an in-production show last week is now on strike and not collecting a paycheck. Obviously, junior writers get paid less and have less of a cushion than more senior writers.

The networks may decide to use the strike as a way to cancel underperforming shows, right? Is there any other silver lining for the networks?

Networks don't need an excuse to cancel shows. But they may decide it's not worth keeping marginal performers, especially because in some cases they would still have to pay the cast without actually producing new episodes.

They can cut some overall deals via "force majeure" for some upper-level writers and producers, if they've decided those deals aren't worth the money. But that's outweighed by the amount of ad money they will have to return in an extended strike--advertisers buy time in advance for new programming.

Also, if the strike goes on long enough, American Idol will have even less competition than usual. That will be good for Fox.

Right, reality shows like Survivor will continue to air. How else will this affect reality programming?

An extended strike will see even more reality shows on the air, and the public may decide they've had their fill, much like what happened to sitcoms in the late Nineties.

A Los Angeles Times article mentioned that during the 1988 strike, Moonlighting never fully recovered. It was a successful show at the time. Which currently successful shows are in danger?

None in particular, though there is a danger that overall viewership of television will decline.

What sort of impact will the strike have on the type of shows that we're watching next fall?

It could have a big impact. Pilot scripts for the next season are usually turned in by writers around Thanksgiving. This year, many were rushed in anticipation of the strike, which means that the pool of shootable material might be smaller than usual. If the strike extends into the spring, then pilots will need to be shot and produced without the writers' involvement, which networks may balk on. Some networks, particularly Fox, anticipated the strike and ordered pilots straight to series to avoid this problem. But even these shows only have a few scripts ready to shoot (at most). Still, if the AMPTP offers the WGA a decent contract by January--and this is more likely, I suspect--then these issues will be avoided.

In a new weekly feature, NewsQuake will highlight posts that were lost in the shuffle, attracting little in the way of votes or comments. Perhaps the post in question was nudged out of the way by bigger news--or perhaps the community disliked the story enough to give it a silent burial. In any case, feel free to message the anchors with more suggestions for this feature, which will appear every Wednesday.

One story that failed to hit the home page was the news that Robert Chambers Jr., aka the "Preppy Killer," was arrested in New York on drug charges. Chambers served 15 years in jail for the 1986 strangling of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. According to the New York Times, the 41-year-old and his girlfriend Shawn Kovell, 39, were the subject of an undercover drug sting over three months, during which police purchased 246 grams of cocaine, worth about $9,600, from the pair at their 57th Street apartment.

While the arrest brought his face back into the news, the real story was less about rehashing the sordid Levin trial and more about reexamining Chamber's addiction problems. Many newspapers noted his drug and discipline problems as a high school student. As his father, Robert E. Chambers Sr., told the New York Post: "He is sick. He has a disease, an addiction." He added: "Between his mother and I, we have spent well over six figures to straighten young Robert out."

Chambers was released from prison on Valentine's Day in 2003. Due to disciplinary problems behind bars, notes Newsday, including dealing drugs, he served his full term. Linda Fairstein, who was the chief prosecutor in the 1988 murder trial, spoke about Chambers in a CNN interview with Paula Zahn. "He's a sociopath," she said, "and I think he's never shown any remorse for killing this friend of his with his bare hands. And he's had this terrible record in prison of drug addiction, of possession of cocaine and heroin. I think that he hasn't used this time to detox, to rehab--that he comes out still a substance abuser, still without remorse--is a bad sign."

And his drug use continued: In November 2004, Chambers was arrested for misdemeanor heroin possession and unlicensed driving, and sent to jail for 100 days, notes the New York Times.

Last week, the paper once again caught up with Fairstein. "I'm not the least bit surprised that it's drugs that would ultimately lead to his downfall," Fairstein told the Times. "But when I did get the call last night, I was shocked at the level--that he was dealing, stupid enough to be dealing out of his home to undercover cops on multiple occasions and that it was a high amount of cocaine. I was shocked at the brazenness."

If convicted, he could face 150 years behind bars, meaning that he would spend the rest of his life in prison. NewsQuake asks: Why didn't this story interest Propeller users? Are people simply tired of hearing Chambers' name, or has so much time passed that the Preppy Murderer's squalid resume is no longer familiar to Propeller users?

(A shot of NYTimes.com, judged the best newspaper site on the web by the Bivings Group)

Last week, Netscape received an interesting story submission: A list of the 10 best newspaper web sites, as judged by Bivings Group, a Washington, D.C.-based web site developer.

Studying the "design, aesthetics and general usability" of the sites from the top 100 newspapers in circulation, the Bivings Group ranked NYTimes.com first ("pleasing to the eye" and "easy to navigate"), WashingtonPost.com second ("love its database applications"), and USAToday.com third (the site was praised for its social networking features). Notably, the group singled out sites' use of web 2.0 technology; for example, the DenverPost.com (# 5) allows users to launch personal blogs, while the Houston Chronicle (#4) has a "great RSS system," wrote the researchers.

Looking at similarities between the sites on the list, the majority of sites were early adopters of web technology, according to John Morton, a Silver Springs, Maryland-based newspaper analyst. Additionally, the newspapers--and their sites--are run by companies with deep pockets.

"These are all major newspapers in terms of their size and financial capability," said Morton, noting that USA Today, for instance, is owned by Gannett Company, while the Houston Chronicle is owned by Hearst Corporation. One major company not on the list: the Tribune Company, which owns numerous papers including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. Sites LATimes.com and Chicagotribune.com were deemed weak by the group, according to Todd Zeigler, senior vice-president at the Bivings Group, and one of three staffers who worked on the list. "For major market papers, we were surprised by the sites," he said.

But personal preference must be considered when making up a list like this, said Howard Finberg, director of Interactive Learning at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school in St. Petersburg, Florida. (He's a fan of LATimes.com, he noted.)

Despite the fact that online advertising revenues make up just a fraction of total newspaper advertising revenues, (5-6 percent, according to Morton), newspaper companies are under tremendous pressure to expand their online offerings. But there's no magic formula on how to create the perfect site, said Finberg.

"It's not just a question of money and resources," he said. "It's how the resources are spent, the right climate in the organization, and the right leadership. And it's also knowing who your audience is, and why they are coming to the site."

Comparing Bivings' list to the most trafficked newspaper sites, only four of the top sites appeared on a recent Nielsen//Net Ratings' study of the 30 most-visited newspaper sites. The New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post are in the top three, while the Houston Chronicle comes in at number seven. (Click here for the full list.)

Since the Bivings Group published their top 10, Zeigler said he's been tracking comments about the list on the blogosphere. "Everyone seems to hate their hometown paper," he said. But even among the smaller newspaper sites, there are standouts, he said. Both Bakersfield.com, run by the Bakersfield Californian, and LJWorld.com, the Lawrence, KS-based web site for the Lawrence Journal-World & News, impressed the group, according to Zeigler.

Proving to be one wily alligator, Reggie managed to escape from Los Angeles Zoo early this morning, according to news reports. Zoo officials tell the Daily Breeze that Reggie escaped by climbing a 5-foot chain-link fence wall in his new habitat. The gator was found shortly afterward on zoo grounds, not far from the Children's Discovery Center, according to the Los Angeles Times. Quoting an official statement from the zoo, the Times reports that Reggie's habitat will be modified, presumably so he can't escape again.

Reggie lived for two years in Lake Machado, a 50-acre lake in southwestern Los Angeles, until he was captured by wildlife rangers earlier this summer.

Read Newsquake's previous coverage on Reggie here: See You Later, Gator

The latest news from yesterday's collapse of Minnesota Interstate 35W bridge:

According to this AP story, "structural deficiencies" were found in the 35W bridge two years ago. Also, Congress is working on $250 million federal aid package, while President Bush will visit the bridge region this weekend.

Already, engineers in other states are being asked to review the safety of thousands of structures. According to the AP: "States such as Missouri and Massachusetts had already identified bridges similar to the one that collapsed in Minnesota. Missouri, for instance, has 11 so-called truss bridges and plan to examine them first."

How do you even check to see if a bridge is at risk? Today, Slate looks at how bridges are examined, while the New York Times blog breaks this news: "Only three of the 787 bridges maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation are rated in poor condition, and the Brooklyn Bridge--opened in 1883--is one of them."

Meanwhile, don't head over to YouTube to see any videos. Users aren't interested in watching footage, notes a ZDNet blog. A video of the collapse from a security camera is available at this CNN.com link.

And here are some interesting, basic facts about the bridge and the river from the Washington Post site. Finally, the Minnesota Twins will resume playing at the Metrodome, which is located blocks away from the bridge, after postponing today's game against the Kansas City Royals, reports Bloomberg News.

Copyright infringement or coincidence? Two singers from the 70s band Rubinoos have filed suit against Avril Lavigne in U.S. District Court in Northern California, alleging that Lavigne's song "Girlfriend" is similar to their song "Boyfriend." The suit also names "Girlfriend's" co-writer Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald and RCA Records. (Check out a comparison of the two songs at YouTube.)

"We are not so naive as to chalk it up to some sort of cosmic coincidence," said Rubinoos singer Tommy Dunbar in a statement released last week. "The lyric, the meter, the rhythm ... they're identical."

"Girlfriend's" co-writer Lukasz Gottwald, who has also written songs for Kelly Clarkson and Pink, told the LA Times that he hadn't even heard of the Rubinoos until the suit was filed. "I never heard of the song and neither has Avril," he told the paper." I would take a polygraph on that in front of them."

Lavigne herself responded with a press statement that also appeared on her MySpace page: "Off the top of my head, two other songs that I can immediately think of with this type of lyric are 'Hey, hey, you, you get off of my cloud' by the Rolling Stones and 'Hey little girl I want to be your boyfriend' by the Ramones," "Simply put, I have been falsely accused of ripping their song off. Luke and I have done nothing wrong and there is no claim to their part."

According to the LA Times, both sides hired musicologists to look at any similarities between "Girlfriend" and "Boyfriend." From the story:


Meanwhile, Newsquake asked a noted New York-based music writer, who asked to remain anonymous, to compare the songs. The musician, who also writes songs for commercials, often "borrowing" chords and melodies of licensed songs but then subtly tweaking the original music to avoid copyright infringement, offered this assessment: "Avril's song borrows a little from that song, but both songs are a rip off of the Rolling Stones' "Hey, Hey, You, You get off a My Cloud," he said.

"It doesn't sound like [the Rubinoos] have much of a case," he added, noting that proving copyright infringement is pretty tough. "But I wouldn't be surprised if the band received some money, say $10,000, just to go away. Avril doesn't want this kind of attention."

There's an interesting (or, depending on your perspective, idiotic) fight underway between Mark Goldberg, a Washington, D.C.-based political reporter, and Dave Mustaine, the lead singer of Megadeth. The spat started in June 2006, after Mustaine criticized the United Nations in Billboard. Citing the organization's "failure to perform" in crisis situations, he announced that the band's next album would be named United Abominations.

Goldberg, a writer for the UN Dispatch blog (which is supported by the United Nations Foundation but has no official editorial affiliation with the organization), quickly fired back at the singer, calling Mustaine an "aging rock star"--and worse, noting an allegiance to Metallica.

Fast forward to May 2007. Megadeth releases United Abominations on Roadrunner Records, which eventually peaks at number 8 on the Billboard Top 200. Goldberg didn't respond immediately, since he "forgot to pencil the [album's] release date into my calender." But on Tuesday he posted a lengthy reply to the Megadeth title track on UN Dispatch. "We listened so you don't have to," he writes, following up with a verse-by-verse response to the song. Among other things, Goldberg disputes Mustaine's assertion that the UN helped enable the 9/11 attacks, and that Kofi Annan's son, Kojo, was involved in an Oil-For-Food program scandal. He also states that the singer has confused Hamas with Hezbollah.

Yesterday, Mustaine issued an equally lengthy response on both his own personal site and the Roadrunner Records website. Apparently his comments are aimed at his supporters: "Whether my facts are right or wrong, and whether you agree with me or not, I know I have your support--most of the time and that is all that matters."

While praising Goldberg's writing, Mustaine accuses him of bias and contends that the two "won't be having tea" anytime soon. The singer also wonders about Goldberg's background. "One question would be, who is the writer that is complaining? Is he a real writer or some blogger? Does he do news, journalism, or tabloid reporting? Does he represent the UN or the American people or is he just an American like me, and is just venting? And why is he so intent on going after me? Why not use that energy constructively? He is obviously educated well (or has a thesaurus)."

NewsQuake can provide that information: Goldberg is a writer-in-residence at the United Nations Foundation and a senior correspondent for The American Prospect magazine.

UPDATE, 4:52 PST: It never ends. Goldberg has responded to Mustaine's post. Link is here.

What do you do if you already own a stake in Craigslist, but yearn for a bigger slice of the online-classified pie? If you're eBay, you launch a U.S. version of Kijiji, with the hope of rivaling the San Francisco-based market leader.

Already well known internationally, Kijiji launched in China in 2005, and currently does business in 27 countries. In terms of unique visitors, it is the most trafficked site in Canada, Germany, Italy, and Taiwan, according to eBay communications manager Jose Mallabo.

Like Craigslist, Kijiji, which launched in the U.S. earlier this month, has a relatively simple interface and a wide range of categories. The similarities aren't accidental: eBay purchased a 25 percent stake in Craigslist so "we could learn how to do this," says Mallabo. He adds that the new site is more user-friendly than the market leader, requiring only two pages to post an item for sale, versus up to seven pages on Craigslist.

Kijiji and its corporate parent won't interact on a technology level, but the two sites will complement each another. "Let's say you want to put a mattress on eBay," says Mallabo. "You can also list it locally on Kijiji. So this is on a more grass-roots level."

On some of its overseas sites, Kijiji charges posters or allows users to pay $1 fee to bump up a listing to the top of a page. The U.S. site hasn't ruled out charging users for listing certain items, according to Mallabo.

What does the management at Craigslist think of Kijiji? Largely due to its decision to forgo traditional web advertising, the 12-year-old market leader has already become the go-to place for listers, publishing 17 million classifieds every month and generating a reported $25 million in revenue last year. In an email to Newsquake, Craigslist CEO and President Jim Buckmaster said he is unfazed by Kijiji's entrance into the marketplace.

"We generally don't think in terms of competition, or concern ourselves with what other companies are doing," wrote Buckmaster. "Certainly there are hundreds if not thousands of companies offering online classifieds."

Meanwhile, users are slowly discovering Kijiji. "It's something different," says Kevin Emerson, a Los Angeles resident looking to sell his Buick Centurion. A friend recommended the site to Emerson, who says he had previously posted the car for six weeks on Craigslist, but had received no offers. It takes less time to post on Kijiji than on Craiglist, says Emerson. But has he gotten any offers on that car? Not yet, he says.

Princes William and Harry at Sunday's Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium

"Summer in London this year will be a summer of commemoration for Diana, Princess of Wales," wrote Rob Dunlop in the Sydney Morning Herald. "There will be no escaping the outpouring of images, memorabilia, tributes, memorial services and more grief to mark the 10th anniversary of her passing."

Sunday night's "Concert for Diana" was a celebration, a party held on the late Diana's 46th birthday, rather than a somber occasion. But was it a success? Some rock critics rolled their eyes at P-Diddy performing "I'll Be Missing You," but "it was the party [Diana] would have wanted," wrote the Guardian.

More public and private tributes and services for Diana, who died in a Paris tunnel in August 1997, will follow. On August 31st, an official private service will be held at the Guards' Chapel in Wellington Barracks in London, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The service will be broadcast by the BBC. On the same day, a public event at Althorp, Diana's Northamptonshire family estate, will take place.

Exhibitions are also planned. "Diana: A Princess Remembered," the largest collection of photographs of the princess to date, according to CBSNews.com, opened last weekend at Kensington Palace.

And expect an onslaught of media coverage: U.S. weekly magazines are likely to devote pages to Diana, while British magazine Majesty is already selling a special 132-page issue dedicated to the late princess. And at least a dozen books will be re-issued or released this summer, according to USA Today.

A number of television documentaries and mini-series are also scheduled, including "Diana: Last Days," a TLC drama appearing this August. The project, which reportedly cost $4 million to make, stars Genevie O'Reilly of "The Matrix: Reloaded" in the role of Diana.

Not surprisingly, all the Diana hype has family members worried her memory is being exploited. "In her life, Diana was a cash crop for a lot of people in terms of writing books and selling stories," Charles Spencer, Diana's brother, told Reuters last week.

But most of the emotion surrounding Diana's death seems genuine. Owners of Diana fan sites are compiling links and materials marking the anniversary of Diana's death, and YouTube already boasts a library of homemade, touching tribute videos.

Additionally, last night's concert, which helped benefit the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Sentebale, a charity for Lesotho children, founded by Prince Harry, brought many in the crowd to tears, reported the Guardian. "This evening is about all that my mother loved in life: her music, her dance, her charities, and her family and friends,'' William told the crowd, according to news reports.