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Mediatwits #16: Why Google Bought Motorola; Yahoo Scoops ESPN Big-Time

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Welcome to the 16th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This show looks at the week's big news, including the head-turning buyout of Motorola Mobility by Google for $12.5 billion. What was driving the search giant to become a hardware maker? Was it the patents, the handsets, the set-top boxes? Special guest Tim Carmody of Wired has been on the story all week and gives his excellent perspective.

Plus, the show looks at one of the biggest, most explosive in-depth investigative reports in quite awhile -- by Yahoo Sports, of all places. Joe Lago, managing editor of Yahoo Sports, explains why the company is committed to doing long-form investigative reports, including its recent 11-month report on a rogue booster at the University of Miami. Lago says Yahoo might begin doing more investigative reports outside of sports after the success of this expose.

Check it out!

mediatwits16.mp3

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Intro and outro music by 3 Feet Up; mid-podcast music by Autumn Eyes via Mevio's Music Alley.

Here are some highlighted topics from the show:

Back from vacation

1:10: Mark connects from the Big Island

2:10: Rafat will be heading to India for a post-Ramadan feast

What happened during the break

3:45: Role of social media in London Riots

5:10: Rise of e-books and cord-cutting

6:40: Rundown of topics for the show

Google gets Motorola

7:40: Pays $12.5 billion, will get 20,000 patents and pending patents

10:10: Motorola cable boxes could be interesting for Google

11:10: Tim Carmody from Wired joins the show

12:30: Motorola had a full dance card

15:49: What does the deal mean for average consumer?

19:00: Deal should get through antitrust concerns

Yahoo Sports' big story on University of Miami

Joe Lago.JPG

21:00: Background on Joe Lago from Yahoo Sports

23:10: Told story with text, photos, audio and video

26:10: Yahoo Sports makes commitment to investigative reporting

30:10: Yahoo considering doing more investigative reports outside sports

More Reading

Google + Motorola = Android Patent-Troll Repellent at Wired

Behind Google's Huge Breakup Fee in Motorola Deal at NYT DealBook

Microsoft Feels Quake Of Google's Motorola Gobble-Up at Forbes

3 Ways Google-Motorola Doesn't Make Sense at MediaShift

Presto, Change-o! The New Google at Huffington Post

Google's Big Mistake - Buying Motorola to Save Android at Forbes

Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players at Yahoo Sports

Yahoo's Miami Investigation Is Their One Shining Moment at Awful Announcing

Death penalty is an option for NCAA in University of Miami scandal at Miami Herald

Yahoo sports reporter wins praise for probing story at TheWrap

Yahoo Sports reporter Charles Robinson details how he attacked Miami story at Orlando Sentinel

Yahoo Sports investigations

Weekly Poll

Don't forget to vote in our weekly poll, this time about who won in the Google-Motorola deal:


Mark Glaser is executive editor of MediaShift and Idea Lab. He also writes the bi-weekly OPA Intelligence Report email newsletter for the Online Publishers Association. He lives in San Francisco with his son Julian. You can follow him on Twitter @mediatwit.

How will Google digest Motorola? Will it get heartburn or Android satisfaction?

"Our editor-in-chief Jai Singh [at Yahoo News] definitely wants to duplicate what we're doing in Yahoo Sports elsewhere in the media network." -Joe Lago

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