Mediagazer: Google's Chief Economist: “Newspapers Have Never Made Much Money From News” (Erick Schonfeld/TechCrunch)

Hal Varian / Google Public Policy Blog:

Newspaper economics: online and offline — It is widely recognized that the news industry is facing financial difficulties, but there is little agreement about the source of those difficulties or what can be done about them. The debate about the role of the web has been particularly heated …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, Between the Lines, paidContent, Romenesko, The Atlantic Online, Silicon Valley Watcher, WHAT'S NEXT, Tom Foremski: IMHO and Kirk LaPointe's …

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

Google's Chief Economist: “Newspapers Have Never Made Much Money From News” — Earlier today, Google chief economist Hal Varian gave a presentation to an FTC workshop on the changing economics of the newspaper industry. We all know that newspaper ad revenues have been falling off a cliff for years.

Discussion: Newspaper Death Watch, Thoughts of Nigel and Journalism.co.uk

Mercedes Bunz / Guardian:

Engage your users to survive, Google tells newspapers — Charging might work with specialist content, says Google's chief economist - but engaging readers with online content during their leisure hours is a more promising strategy — The key to most newspapers' survival online is engaging …

Discussion: Federal Trade Commission

Jeff Bercovici / DailyFinance:

BusinessWeek Prepares for Round Two of Layoffs — The other shoe is about to drop at BusinessWeek — or Bloomberg BusinessWeek, as it's been officially known since the financial news giant bought it last October. — Shortly after taking over the 80-year-old magazine, Bloomberg pruned its staff by a reported 30%.

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider

Elizabeth Jensen / Media Decoder:

Meacham of Newsweek in Talks for Weekly PBS Show — The Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of Newsweek, Jon Meacham, is negotiating to add a television job to his schedule. He is in final talks to be the co-host of a new PBS Friday night public affairs series called “Need to Know,” …

Discussion: Romenesko, CJR, The Huffington Post, The Wire, Michael Calderone's Blog, FishBowlNY and FAIR

Joe Clark / A List Apart:

Web Standards for E-books — The internet did not replace television, which did not replace cinema, which did not replace books. E-books aren't going to replace books either. E-books are books, merely with a different form. — The electronic book is the latest example of how HTML continues …

Discussion: TeleRead

Vivian Salama / Bloomberg:

Abu Dhabi Hosts Media Chiefs Amid Press Law Debate — Abu Dhabi, holder of more than 7 percent of the world's oil, is hosting top media executives this week as it seeks to promote its role as a communications center and ward off criticism over curbs on the press.

Discussion: Times of London, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal

Discussion: paidContent, Hollywood Reporter, Variety and The Wire

John Hudson / The Atlantic Wire:

My Traffic's Bigger Than Yours — It's no secret. Conservative media mogul Andrew Breitbart and libertarian commentator Conor Friedersdorf like to fight. Whether it's about journalistic ethics or left-wing media bias, the two spar relentlessly, passionately and intelligently.

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

NYT Ad Totally Swallows Trash-Talking Blog — Just last month, Gothamist boss Jake Dobkin was slamming the New York Times as uncompetitive, unoriginal, and lazy. Today, the NYT has plastered Gothamist with the most in-your-face wallpaper ad buy we've ever seen. Huh. Let's recall that rant!

Discussion: Editors Weblog, FishBowlNY and Adrants

Guardian:

Max Clifford drops News of the World phone hacking action in 1m deal — Tabloid accused of buying silence after persuading celebrity PR agent to drop case over interception of voicemail messages — The News of the World was tonight accused of buying silence in the phone-hacking scandal …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Journalism.co.uk

Financial Times:

Bill threatens UK's reputation — From Mr Tom Alexander and others. — Sir, We regret that the House of Lords adopted amendment 120A to the digital economy bill ("Bill will censor internet, providers claim", March 6). This amendment not only significantly changes the injunctions procedure …

Discussion: Guardian, Journalism.co.uk, Telegraph, paidContent and The Next Web

Andy Alexander / Ombudsman Blog:

Readers react to photo of two men kissing — Powerful photographs can have lasting impact, and a Post photo of two men kissing is an image that many readers can neither forget nor accept. — The photo, which ran on the newspaper's front page and online last week, captured Jeremy Ames …

Discussion: Romenesko, Mediaite and Towleroad News #gay

Pareene / Gawker:

Only Some Conspiracy Theories Welcome at Huffington Post — The Huffington Post removed a 9/11 “Truther” post from former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. According to their editor's note, “The Huffington Post's editorial policy, laid out in our blogger guidelines, prohibits the promotion …

Discussion: /Film and The Huffington Post

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

EMI Music Swaps Chief For Chairman Allen As Trouble Looms — In 2008, Terra Firma hired the guy who ran the company which makes Cillit Bang and Air Wick to turn EMI Music around. But now the record label finds itself seeking a reported £100 million to avoid breaching banking covenants.

Discussion: MediaMemo

Lindsay Fortado / Bloomberg:

Pink Floyd Suing EMI Label Over Online Royalties — Pink Floyd, the band that recorded the best-selling album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon,’ is suing record label EMI Group Ltd. in London over online royalty payments and the sale of single tracks. — The band is asking for clarification …

Discussion: MediaMemo, Threat Level, Press Association and paidContent

Sarah Rabil / Bloomberg:

Viacom Says ‘Daily Show’ May Return to Hulu if Model Changes — Viacom Inc. Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman said “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” may return to Hulu.com if the video site's business model changes. — “On the current economic model for Hulu there's …

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider

Sean Blanda / eMedia Vitals:

Demand Media's content assembly line — How Demand Media makes content production an assembly line, and what you can learn. — Today, I am trading in my assignment editor for an algorithm: I am becoming a Demand Media writer. — The company, founded in 2006, uses primarily freelance labor …

Discussion: Romenesko

Mike Reynolds / Multichannel:

CBS Sports Jumps Into 3D With Enhanced Final Four Coverage — Teams With Cinedigm, LG Electronics, To Present ‘March Madness’ Semifinals, Championship Game In 100 Theaters; Talking To MSOs, DirecTV About Distribution — New York — CBS Sports is stepping onto the 3D court and cable operators …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Covering the Street Protests in Tehran: How Reuters Curates UGC via Twitter — LONDON — In Iran, with significant limits on what it can cover from its bureau in Tehran, Reuters is following a cadre of citizen journalists on Twitter who provide camera-phone videos of street protests …

Laurie Sullivan / MediaPost:

Ad Publishing Tool Bridges Traditional And Online Media — Startup Analog Analytics emerges from stealth mode Tuesday to launch a software platform that gives local publishers the tools to offer interactive coupons and gift certificates in any media, from traditional to online.

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

In Leno-Letterman Ratings Competition, a Split Decision — The ratings competition between Jay Leno and David Letterman got much tighter on Mr. Leno's second Monday night back on NBC's “Tonight Show.” Mr. Leno eked out a win over Mr. Letterman among total viewers, but among the viewer groups …

Discussion: The Wrap, The Live Feed | THR and The Hot Blog

Joe Flint / Company Town:

Time Warner Cable to ask FCC for new rules on negotiating programming deals — A group of distributors led by Time Warner Cable is going to file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission later this week, seeking new rules about how broadcasters and distributors can and cannot negotiate carriage deals.

Discussion: New York Times, industry.bnet.com, New York Observer, Variety, Bloomberg, Broadcasting & Cable and The Wrap