There is quite a bit of media news to keep up with these days, what with the constant threat of local newspapers become a thing of the 20th century, new pay models being introduced by major online news sites like the Wall Street Journal, just to keep afloat, online video becoming the new “television”…the list goes on.
Luckily, the new news site Mediagazer was just introduced yesterday. It’s a relatively simple site by design (similar to Techmeme.com, which isn’t surprising since it’s the Techmeme creators that are behind Mediagazer), and conveniently presents you with all of the most important of the day’s media news in one spot.
According to the site’s own introduction article:
“We’ve combined sophisticated automated aggregation technologies with direct editorial input from knowledgeable human editors to present the one indispensible narrative of an industry in transition. We collect relevant takes on an issue and package them together in a comprehensive group of links. That way, you not only get the lead opinion on an issue, but you can easily find the supporting, opposing, smart, controversial, notable, and previously unseen viewpoints. You get the big picture.”
Mediagazer’s algorithm has been built to focus on news from the content production and distribution business, with topics from journalism, to blogging, to video production, to e-books, to digital distribution technologies.
The site’s designers have put together a media user-friendly site – they’ve made it easy to share stories (with a “share” button right next to the headline), and there is a mobile phone-friendly site for those getting their media news fix on the go (www.mediagazer.com/m). It’s organized into five sections: Top News, which is the large section, to the left of the page, and Latest News Finder, in a red-tinted box on the top right. Underneath Latest News is Sponsor Posts, where the site’s sponsors post links to their blogs, and their other company news, and there are also sections for site news, and a See Also bit with links to other useful site (including, of course, Techmeme).
Mediagazer says that they are self-funded, and independent – something key to the news media sites’ ability to be objective. That being said, they also expand on this point to say that they have five sponsors – so I guess they aren’t entirely independent.
The entire site is overseen by former Techmeme editor Megan McCarthy, who says she is fascinated by the convergence of technology and media, and will now be focusing solely on Mediagazer. McCarthy was Techmeme’s first human editor, and has worked for both Gawker and Wired.
On a monthly basis, the site will be listing the publications it features most frequently, in the same fashion Techmeme does. Currently, they are using sources like Poynter.org, SearchEngineLand.com, the Chicago Tribune, HollywoodReporter.com, and The Guardian.
AllThingsDigital points out that Mediagazer is just one of many media news aggregation sites out there. But, they also predict that people will read this one, since there will always be an appetite for media news, and since Techmeme is backing it.
All in all, Mediagazer is meant to be something that doesn’t replace, but augments the way we consume media news. So far, the site has received pretty positive reviews in this regard.
Kaila Krayewski is a freelance journalist with a passion for all things internet. Having worked for nearly two years as the public relations manager for an internation search engine optimization company, and publishing hundreds of articles (how-to, informational, and otherwise) on SEO, she knows a thing or two about the field. Furthermore, having just started up her own website blondetraveler.com, she is doing her best to keep one step ahead of the search engines in order to keep the traffic flowing.
Read other articles by Kaila Krayewski
Tags: mediagazer, news aggregation site, techmeme
