Mediagazer: Ben Zimmer New ‘On Language’ … (Danny Shea/The Huffington Post)

Greg Bensinger / Bloomberg:

New York Times Won't Be Sold or Split, Chairman Says — New York Times Co. won't be sold or split apart and the company is “delighted” to have billionaire Carlos Slim as an investor, Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said. — Slim “is a quality investor,” Sulzberger said today at the Bloomberg BusinessWeek Media Summit in New York.

Discussion: The Wire, MediaMemo and Silicon Alley Insider

Discussion: Crain's New York Business, Mobile Media, Romenesko, Fitz & Jen and Guardian

Elizabeth Woyke / Forbes:

Behind The Scenes Of Apple's iPad Launch — New details about the books and apps that will run on the tablet computer. — In the run-up to the April 3 launch of Apple's iPad tablet computer, all appears calm. But behind the veil that obscures all Apple product debuts …

Discussion: blog.appslice.com, AppleInsider, eBookNewser, GalleyCat, ResourceShelf and Gizmodo

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Video: Murdoch: Newspaper Ad Model Isn't Dead — News Corp.. (NYSE: NWS) Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch celebrates his 79th birthday with a cameo on his own Fox Business Network. Among the topics ... the newspaper ad model not dead yet (if we were Gawker we'd have to follow that with …

Kevin Allocca / TVNewser:

WSJ Reporters in Talks with CNBC? — Wall Street Journal reporters Kate Kelly and Dennis Berman could be the latest editorial staffers from the financial paper to make the move to on-air reporters for CNBC. According to an industry source, there is interest in both and Berman has been seen at the CNBC office.

Discussion: Talking Biz News

David Kaplan / paidContent:

MSNBC Courts Facebook Users With BreakingNews Page — MSNBC is continuing to try make better use of social media as a distribution tool with a small effort that ties its @BreakingNews Twitter account to a dedicated Facebook page. It's not clear how much Facebook fans want real-time news mixed …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, WebNewser, TechCrunch and Seeking Alpha

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Scorecard '09: UK's Top Regional Papers Have Lost Half A Billion In Sales — We said 2009 would be an annus horribilis for newspapers - and that's exactly what happened. — Total annual revenue at just five of the UK's leading regional newspaper groups fell from £2.05 billion …

Discussion: Jon Slattery and Editor's Blog

Danny Shea / The Huffington Post:

Ben Zimmer New ‘On Language’ Columnist: New York Times Magazine Names William Safire Successor — The New York Times Magazine has named Ben Zimmer its “On Language” columnist. — Zimmer, described in the Times' announcement as a linguist and lexicographer, succeeds William Safire …

Media Buyer Planner:

‘BusinessWeek’ Axes 25 Staffers — About 25 editorial staffers of Bloomberg BusinessWeek are being axed today. — The move follows a 22.4% drop in ad pages this year through its March 1 issue, according to the Mediaweek Monitor. — As the publication becomes more integrated with its new owner …

Discussion: paidContent, WWD Media Headlines, Adweek and The Business Insider

Discussion: NY Post, Gawker, Media Decoder, New York Observer and FishBowlNY

John Cook / Gawker:

Will Slate Let Mickey Kaus Blog During His Gag Senate Run? — Slate blogger and pathological counterintuitionist Mickey Kaus is actually serious about challenging Barbara Boxer in the California Democratic primary. The deadline to file nomination papers is tomorrow, and he's been gathering signatures.

Discussion: LA Weekly

Editor and Publisher:

Hamas Releases British Journalist — GAZA CITY Gaza's Hamas rulers on Thursday released a British journalist they had held for a month amid allegations that he endangered the Palestinian territory's security. — Paul Martin said he was arrested because of his work as a journalist and called his release …

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Good News for Netflix Web Users: Disney Re-Ups With Starz — Premium TV network Starz Entertainment has re-upped with Disney on its distribution deal, assuring access to the studio's movies through 2015. — Why are you reading about this on a site that pays attention to digital media?

Discussion: Company Town, Multichannel and TVWeek.com

Rick Carroll / Aspen Times:

Aspen officer's employment ended on conflict issue — ASPEN — Valerie McFarlane's employment as an Aspen police officer ended last month after she failed to file charges against an Aspen newspaper editor for allegedly drinking and driving, officials said. — Instead, McFarlane …

Discussion: The Rural Blog and Romenesko

Mark Walsh / MediaPost:

QandA: The Atlantic Monthly Relaunch — The Atlantic is one of the most storied names in magazine publishing, dating back to 1857 and boasting contributors over the years from Ralph Waldo Emerson and Mark Twain to Martin Luther King Jr. More recently, the magazine two years ago relaunched …

Ben Fenton / Financial Times:

RTL seeks relaxation of advertising rules — RTL, the pan-European broadcaster, is seeking a relaxation of advertising rules in its markets to allow innovations such as sponsors' logos to be shown in the top right-hand corner of television screens, its chief executive said yesterday.

Stuart Elliott / Media Decoder:

A Pair of Cable Upfront Pitches Suggests a Better Mood on Madison Avenue — Are the stars out tonight? They were on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, at a pair of cable upfront presentations that seemed to indicate an improvement in the long-gloomy mood on Madison Avenue.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable

/Film:

The Latest Gimmick: Last Call, an Interactive Horror Movie, Will Phone You During the Film — So much for those ‘please turn off your cell phone’ messages before movies. A new German horror film called Last Call is pushing a new ‘interactivity’ gimmick that will have one member …

Discussion: Gizmodo

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

NYT's Adam Nagourney Leaves DC To Become LA Bureau Chief — One of the nation's top political reporters is switching coasts, leaving his current post at the New York Times for another position at the paper. — Adam Nagourney — who for years has been a leading chronicler of political machinations …

Discussion: FishBowlDC and LA Observed

Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:

With scaling issues out of the way, Blogger focuses on features, starting with powerful design tool — Users of Blogger can give their pages major makeovers starting Thursday morning thanks to a new tool called Template Designer. — After a few quiet years, Google's pioneering blog platform plans …

Discussion: The Official Google Blog and louisgray.com

Rory Carroll / Guardian:

‘Jail journalists who call him a dictator’ — Actor accuses US media of smearing Venezuelan president — Sean Penn has defended Hugo Chávez as a model democrat and said those who call him a dictator should be jailed. — The Oscar-winning actor and political activist accused …