Some media stories of note for Tuesday, March 5, 2013:

Nate Thayer, a freelance journalist, carries his email exchanges with an editor at The Atlantic on its attempts to get him to revamp a piece on the "basketball diplomacy" of Dennis Rodman in North Korea free in exchange for the large platform it would reach. Thayer's exchange reflects an emerging trend of platform-as-currency for creators.

Twitter is often cited as a gauge of public opinion, but a new Pew study suggests it is more often than not more of an extreme indication.  The study examined eight events over the course of a year and found that general public opinion differed from what the Twitterverse produced. There is no particular theme involved: at times it is more liberal, at times more conservative.

Publishers are charging more and offering fewer free articles as they develop more metered delivery of their content online. The paidContent site examines data from more than 400 publishers in the Press+ fold and found the average subscription price was $9.26 in January, up five per cent from a year earlier and 40 per cent from two years earlier. And fewer free pieces were being offered before a paywall cut off the reader.

The latest findings from the Pew Research Center for People and the Press suggest a further decline has taken place in the credibility of American news organizations.

The "believability" of these organizations was at 56 per cent in the study, down from 62 per cent two years earlier and 71 per cent only a decade ago. Nine of 13 organizations assessed in the study (a survey of Americans) declined substantially in the last two years.

The study has shown media believability has been divided along partisan lines. But only two organizations (Fox News and local TV news) enjoy the support in the poll of two-thirds of Republicans. Democrats are more positive about media, with the exception of Fox.

Local news remained the most believable (65 per cent), followed by 60 Minutes (64 per cent). Fox and USA Today were the two lowest-ranked among the 13 organizations.

The poll was taken in July. It asked people to rate the believability of media on a scale of one to four, with three and four positive.