Netly News

A great "second" read?

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From David Carr's column today on Rupert Murdoch's gut renovation of the Wall Street Journal:

There is certainly no evidence that Mr. Murdoch has turned the newspaper into a tool of his business or political interests — something that had been widely feared and predicted. But there are clear signs that a sui generis business paper is fast becoming a very common general-interest paper, albeit one with a really dynamite business section.

Hmmmm, hang on a second... You mean the Journal might be veering more directly into competition with Carr's employer, the New York Times? Carr continues:

Mr. Murdoch has a few more billions to his credit than I do, but the paper looks to me to be surrendering much of its fundamental value. In order to make The Journal a first-read, Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Thomson are toying with the interest of those of us who have always thought of it as a can’t-miss second read.

Right, it'll never work. Better to keep the Wall Street Journal exactly what it was... Oh wait, this just in:

Circulation numbers for the six-month period ending March 31, 2008:
* New York Times down 9.2% on Sunday, 3.8% daily
* Wall Street Journal up 0.3%
(From Editor & Publisher)

The business plan behind MyDamnChannel

Almost as interesting as who created my favorite web series, You Suck at Photoshop, is the video channel that hosts it, MyDamnChannel.

Rob Barnett, who had worked at VH1 and MTV, had just left his job as president of CBS Radio in the summer of 2006 and was trying to figure out his next act. "I was on the beach for about 15 seconds when I made two decisions," he told me. "The first was, that’s it! I'm not working for anyone ever again. And the second was, I'm going to start MyDamnChannel, because the timing is perfect."

The way Barnett saw it, Google's purchase of YouTube would cause a bunch of wannabes to jump into the user-generated video game. "It became obvious to me that there was the 'HBO hole'—he or she who creates the best original content wins."

Are we moving to a post-blog world?

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After months of speculation, my old buddy John Battelle confirmed today that his ad-network-for-blogs company, Federated Media Publishing, got a $50 million investment. The Sausalito, CA.-based startup sells ads on behalf of nearly 150 blogs, including such heavy hitters as BoingBoing, TechCrunch, Silicon Alley Insider and GigaOm. This C round of funding reportedly gives FM a $200 million valuation. Way to go, John!

Most people outside of the Bay Area don't realize how big a deal getting funding is these days. But winter is coming—the recession—and startups of a certain maturity are looking to put on a little fat to survive. From the largest to the smallest, this generation of Web 2.0 companies is hunting for cash. I've had conversations with bosses of places that are really profitable now, and still they're trying to lay in some dough...