These are some of the things that caught my attention:

• YouTube Takes Another Shot at Journalism | BuzzYA! – "The question remains, though: are their journalism programs and contests good first steps or are they completely misguided window dressing?

  I’ve got a feeling it’s the latter…"

• The media, poverty and public opinion in the UK | Joseph Rowntree Foundation – "This report analyses how the media reports UK poverty and its impact on public understanding and opinion.

  The media fulfils an important role in shaping, amplifying and responding to public attitudes toward poverty. This study, part of the Public Interest in Poverty Issues programme, explores the role of national, local and community media in reflecting and influencing public ideas of poverty and welfare."

• Sir Martin Sorrell tells ITV not to cut programme budgets | Times Online – “Google is effectively the biggest media owner in the UK and is unregulated,” Sir Martin said. These comments will be welcomed by Mr Grade, who regularly invokes Google's liberty when campaigning to overhaul CRR and other regulatory burdens.

  As broadcasters such as ITV struggle with declining audiences and falling advertising revenues, Sir Martin said that the Government should be more open to new revenue streams, such as product placement..

• Beijing’s relaxed rules for journalists to expire next month | cnews.canoe.ca – China says the relaxed rules governing foreign journalists during the Beijing Olympics will expire next month.

  China loosened its decades-old controls on foreign journalists in 2007. The changes, among other things, allowed reporters to interview Chinese citizens without government approval…

  The relaxed rules never applied to Chinese journalists.

• Queensland ponders legal guard for journalists | thewest.com.au – Journalists could be granted special privilege to protect sources under laws to be considered by the Queensland government.
  The move followed uproar over new laws making it possible for journalists to be jailed or fined for not revealing their sources to the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC).
• And Now A Moment Of Silence Over This Whole Matthews Olbermann Thing | Jon Fine – Olbermann-Matthews was a sports talk radio thing dressed in political clothes: two hosts, apparent mutual antipathy, arguments, a jagged edge to the simplest interactions. And, by the way, I’ve got no problem with such a set-up, given that we’re talking about what’s essentially color commentary. Like sports, everyone on live political TV is working off the exact same fact-set, which is revealed to everyone at the same time.
• War Stories | Andrew Tyndall – "At US urging British police moved in well before the men had finalized their plans," Ross recalled. In fact, it was so far before any final plans were drawn up that all eight were acquitted of a specific plot to blow up jetliners; five of the eight were acquitted entirely. The remaining three were convicted of a murder conspiracy. Officials at the FBI told Ross that it was the right decision to shut down the plot "even if it was not fully formed and led to difficulties in court."
• How to dodge the downside of democracy | FT.com – "Unfortunately, many non-profit and state organisations operate like this. They have no controlling shareholders, so committees and boards debate everything endlessly and then too often agree some sort of feeble compromise that achieves little. The status quo tends to reign, because no one is absolutely in charge and no one has enough upside from taking a meaningful risk. Vocal minorities of every sort can challenge any radical move and produce a stalemate." Right sermon, wrong preacher?
• Promising ‘Change’ For Newspapers’ Ad Revenue, Politico.com Launches Ad Network | paidContent – In return for combining ad sales, Politico's promise that it can fill staffing holes and serve almost like a wire service for DC news coverage. Politico will sell national advertising for network members' sites. Revenue from those ads will be shared between Politico and participating news outlets.
• In D.C. antitrust circles, how Google became the hunted | CNET News – "The way the political establishment of the East Coast treats the technology firms of the West Coast in some ways resembles a shakedown racket: Tech firms and their CEOs are viewed as rich sources of untapped revenue for politicians. (It would be a shame if something happened to that nice, shiny search engine you've got there, wouldn't it?)
  AT&T (itself once broken up by a federal antitrust action) has a larger market capitalization than Google, with the lion's share of U.S. DSL customers, and grew by gluing together former Ma Bell assets including Southwestern Bell and BellSouth. But thanks to its generous political giving (or, more charitably, a genuine confluence of ideologies), AT&T's mergers have won the applause of Republicans including Rep. Joe Barton, who personally lobbied the FCC to "act expeditiously on the AT&T-BellSouth application so that consumers will have an opportunity to reap the benefits."
  When it comes to Google, though, Barton is an anti-trust enthusiast."
• We edit Wired so they don’t have to [Great Moments In Journalism] | Valleywag – Wired's admirable attempt at transparency meets with an admirable attempt at parody.
• ITV set to drop from Footsie elite | Press Association – Broadcaster ITV looked set to end a four-year reign in the FTSE 100 Index as the latest reshuffle is expected to evict a raft of blue chips from the top tier.