If Google can’t make money off the news, who can? That’s the heart of a brilliant post by C.D. Nixon which says a bunch of things most journalists and many publishers can’t bear to admit. Nixon’s post  features a picture of a Google search for “Afghanistan war.”  

Our industry is caught between “what was” and “what will be.”  Which means that “what is” is up for grabs. And when things are up for grabs, people get busy.  Busy preserving their livelihoods, their positions, their power.

Ironically, the preservation of editorial power comes down to language.

The Atlantic is looking to a new commenting system to help increase reader engagement on its newly redesigned website.

The Atlantic, a 150-plus-year-old magazine that publishes in print 10 times a year, covers culture, business and politics. The website redesign, launched earlier this week, is designed to better integrate magazine content, blogs, videos and other Web content around seven topic areas.

There’s plenty of talk, most of it negative, about the “content factory” model that’s gaining traction on the Web. Media companies including Demand Media, Associated Content and About.com have created high-volume, commodity editorial businesses, relying on a network of freelancers who are compensated solely on how many page views their articles generate.

Let’s get something out of the way: I absolutely enjoy reading Silicon Alley Insider. Its tech and media stories often find their way into our Daily Buzz email and the publication is big part of my morning Google Reader binge.

However, after reading the site for a few months I’ve noticed the publication often relies on the shameless use of women and sex-related headlines to drive pageviews. 

A few examples:

AOL is attempting to become a real web-based newspaper by hiring real experienced journalists and producing original content.

One question: Why?

For years now fools like me having been saying that in this new media world, “Content is king.” After all, good content will bring in the readers and drive bad content out! It’s a solid, logically defensible argument. However, so is “The laws of probability say The Cubs will play in a World Series someday.” Unfortunately experience has disproven both.