By Kevin McCauley
SOROS DONATES TO MEDIA MATTERS, NPR
Noted liberal billionaire George Soros has donated $1M to Media Matters, a watchdog group that keeps a close eye on the doings of Fox News.
In his Oct. 20 statement, Soros says he decided to support Media Matters because it is "one of the few groups that attempts to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information that they so often broadcast."
He wants to "more widely publicize the challenge Fox News posed to civil and informed discourse in our democracy."
Soros and his Open Society Foundations also announced on Oct. 18 a $1.8M grant to National Public Radio to support an initiative to improve coverage of the 50 state capitals. The gift is to offset the dramatic decline in news coverage of state legislatures.
NPR's "Impact of Government" program will be built on the talent of reporters, editors and analysts from its nearly 800 members stations.
SHALES EXITS WAPO
Tom Shales, long-time TV writer for the Washington Post is going to exit the paper when his contract expires at the end of the year.
Since last summer, the 65-year-old served as at-large culture critic of TV and other subjects. Hank Stuever is WaPo's lead TV critic.
Shales has been with the paper since 1971.
NEWS CORP. PULLS PLUG ON DIGITAL NEWSTAND
News Corp. has shelved plans for a digital newsstand designed to bolster online revenues for the media industry.
"Project Alesia" aimed to develop a single web destination at which publishers could sell subscriptions for tablet users such as Apple's iPad.
More than 100 News Corp. staffers in the U.K. were working on Project Alesia, which was killed because it failed to attract the "critical mass" needed for it to launch. The workers are to be reassigned within News Corp.
TABLET USERS TO PONY UP FOR CONTENT
Nielsen Co. released its first "Connected Devices Playbook" to find people are comfortable with paying for content and receiving ads to get free access to paid content.
The research house found that more than six-in-ten (63 percent) owners of Apple's iPad have downloaded a paid app. Paying for games at 62 percent of downloaders tops the list. That is followed by books (54 percent), music (50 percent), shopping (45 percent), news/headlines (45 percent) and celebrity/entertainment news (44 percent).
Nielsen reports that 57 percent of iPad customers are "okay" with ads in return for access to paid content. About half (48 percent) aren't particularly fond of viewing ads, but don't mind seeing them either.
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