Mediagazer: Rupert Murdoch: the king of media paradoxes (Peter Bart/Variety)

2:45 AM ET, March 13, 2010

Top News:

Peter Bart / Variety:

Rupert Murdoch: the king of media paradoxes — Succession comes second to success at News Corp. — Rupert Murdoch turned 79 on March 11, and even as he made the rounds of a few elite Oscar parties and flashed an occasional (very rare) smile, his friends acknowledged that, while he looks his age, he doesn't act it.

Discussion: Romenesko

Telegraph:
Shares in BSkyB jump on rumour Rupert Murdoch will take company private

Discussion: The Wire

Ravi Somaiya / Gawker:
Fawning Political Interviews Have Ruined American Politics

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Huffington Post and NewsBusters.org

Howell Raines / Washington Post:
Why don't honest journalists take on Roger Ailes and Fox News?

Discussion: Big Journalism, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Romenesko, BLTv, The Wrap, Media Research Center, Michael Calderone's Blog and NewsBusters.org

David Kaplan / paidContent:

SEC Watch: Top NYTCo Execs' Wages Soar — While the NYTCo (NYSE: NYT) struggled under the weight of economic pressures and debt last year, top execs personally did pretty well, even as the company reduced its newsroom by 100 staffers. As the company's recent Q4 results showed …

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, FishBowlNY and The Huffington Post

Jennifer Saba / Editor and Publisher:
In '09, New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson Again Out-Earned Her Boss

Discussion: Romenesko, Gawker and Fitz & Jen

Mercedes Bunz / Guardian:

Print publishers show off iPad ideas — Print publishers are hopeful the iPad will hit the streets next month. — There are already several test examples out there. Some blend print and online as BERG's version for the innovative Swedish publishing house Bonnier shows …

Discussion: paidContent and Shaping the Future …

Gabriel Madway / MediaFile:
IPad pre-orders begin, and so does the speculation

Discussion: Brainstorm Tech, Phanfare blog and MinOnline

Gillian Reagan / The Wire:

Daily Beast's Tina Brown On Creating A ‘Subculture Of Impoverished Writers’ (IACI) — “We do pay for content on the Daily Beast but,” Daily Beast's Tina Brown told Charlie Rose last night, “you're not gonna get rich on what we pay.” — Brown was on Rose's PBS show to push the Beast's Women in the World Summit, which starts today.

Discussion: Charlie Rose

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

It's Hard To Watch The Newsosaurs Turn A Blind Eye To Their Own Extinction — Sometimes it is obvious where the world is headed, but some people and industries become frozen in place and time. They are like the duckbilled dinosaurs happily munching on the still-abundant plants around …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …, FishBowlLA, CJR, George Dearing and Reflections of a Newsosaur

Claudia Eller / Company Town:

Disney to close Bob Zemeckis' digital film studio, laying off hundreds — In a cost-savings move, Walt Disney Studios is shutting down director and producer Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers Digital studio in Marin County, which employs 450 people. Those employees will be phased out over the course …

Discussion: Deadline.com, /Film, Media Decoder, Variety, The Hot Blog, The Wire, New York Magazine and Multichannel

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

USA Today designer Rose named staffer of the year — Chuck Rose is a deputy managing editor at the paper. Joan Biskupic won USA Today's “Best Scoop” award for her Ruth Ginsburg interview. PLUS: More USA Today newsroom awards.

Discussion: USA TODAY

Nielsen Wire:

February Online Video Usage Up More Than 10% Over Last Year — The number of unique viewers of online video increased 10.5% year-over-year, according to The Nielsen Company, from 127.6 million unique viewers in February 2009 to 141 million in February 2010.

Discussion: fierceonlinevideo.com …, Online Video News and Beet.TV

Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:

Instant Ads Set the Pace on the Web — Time is now on the side of online advertisers. — Advertisers have been able to direct online messages based on demographics, income and even location, but one element has been largely missing until recently: immediacy.

Discussion: AdExchanger.com and NYConvergence

Simon Singh / Guardian:

This is goodbye — Being sued for libel is not only ruinously expensive, writes Simon Singh, it takes over your whole life. Which is why this will be his last column — Almost a year after writing my first column for this site, I would like to welcome you to my final article.

Discussion: Geekosystem

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

Poynter: MSNBC narrative slideshow garners 78m page views — After researching the strange story of a very wealthy, elderly American heiress, veteran MSNBC investigative reporter Bill Dedman decided to experiment with the presentation of his article. Rather than turn in a few thousand words …

Discussion: Lost Remote and E-Media Tidbits

PR Newswire:

Scripps Howard Foundation Announces National Journalism Awards Winners — The Scripps Howard Foundation today announced the winners of its annual National Journalism Awards, honoring the best work in the communications industry and journalism education in 2009.

Discussion: Romenesko

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Interview: ABC News' Slavin: Paywall Strategy Coming Down By June — ABC News Digital execs are currently putting together a formal paywall strategy with expectations of having some concrete ideas for ways to charge consumers by the summer, said Paul Slavin, the unit's SVP, in an interview with paidContent.

Discussion: Romenesko

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

@ SXSWi: Ronen And Cuban Go Live With Pay TV-Internet Debate — Mark Cuban and Avner Ronen met in person for the first time just before their Pay TV vs. Internet debate here at South by Southwest Interactive—about 20 minutes before their session was interrupted by a fire alarm.

Discussion: The Social