Mediagazer: Bebo digital director Dan'l Hewitt joins VBS.tv (Media Week)

8:15 PM ET, March 19, 2010

Top News:

Douglas MacMillan / Business Week:

Apple Swears iPad Partners to Secrecy — Developers must sequester the tablet computer in rooms with blacked-out windows, reflecting secrecy around a product that may mean billions of dollars in sales — Apple makes big demands of software developers who want an early crack at the iPad.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Fast Company, Mashable!, All Things Digital, Gizmodo Australia, Silicon Alley Insider, Online and Engadget

Laura Oliver / Journalism.co.uk:

Interview magazine: ‘The iPad is the future and we embrace it openly’ — For a device that's not even being sold yet - though we're told it is imminent in the US and UK - getting on the iPad has quickly jumped to the top of many news organisation's to do lists.

Discussion: Online, GigaOM and Bits

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

FT.com Takes Free Articles Away From Unregistered Users, Except Via Search — Now the Financial Times is getting really bullish about its web access model. In another tweak, it's now ensuring that no free articles are on offer to non-registered users. — In 2007, the site introduced …

Discussion: WebNewser and The Wire

Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:

WSJ's New Union Contract: Wage Freeze to July 2011! — As the Wall Street Journal hurries to ready Project Amsterdam, Rupert Murdoch's bid to rock the New York Times dead with a big, splashy color metropolitan section before he kicks the bucket, staffers at the Journal are burning the midnight oil.

Discussion: FishBowlNY, IAPE 1096, Media Decoder, Romenesko, The Wire, News Corp. Blog and New York Magazine

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

@ CMS2010: A Dose Of Wolff: Rupe's Mad As Hell, Newspapers Are Over — Nothing like a good, hard dose of scathing reality to scare the hell out of a media audience. Michael Wolff - the Vanity Fair columnist, Newser operator and Murdoch biographer - happily obliged at MediaGuardian's Changing Media Summit in London...

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk and Guardian

Michael Wolff / Newser:
Charge for News! Yes, Do It! C'mon! I Dare You.

Discussion: CJR

Claudia Eller / Company Town:

Carl Icahn launches hostile takeover bid for Lions Gate [Updated] — One week after Lions Gate Entertainment rejected his bid to raise his stake in the studio, investor Carl Icahn is launching a hostile takeover bid for the entire company. [For the record, updated 9:41 a.m. …

Discussion: Bloomberg, PR Newswire, The Wrap, Variety, Wall Street Journal, Multichannel, Crain's New York Business, Home Media Magazine, NBC Los Angeles, MediaPost, Reuters, Financial Post, Stocks To Watch Today and DealBook

Brian Aguilar / Wall Street Journal:

A History of Wall Street Journal Hedcuts — When job-seeking illustrator Laura Levy first met the team of Wall Street Journal hedcut artists in the early 1980s, she was struck by their peculiar task. — “I saw what these people were doing and I thought, 'they're insane,'” says Levy.

Discussion: New York Observer, The Stranger …, Charles Apple and The Awl

Michael Corkery / Deal Journal:

A Guy Named Bob Wants to Buy Newsday — Who wants to buy Long Island's largest newspaper, Newsday? — Is it The New York Times' Arthur Sulzberger Jr.? How about News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch? — No, it is Robert “Bob” Toussie, a real estate developer and investor.

Discussion: Romenesko and FishBowlNY

Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:

Bill O'Reilly's indie instincts — In a time of political turmoil, can the Fox News commentator be seen as a moderate? — Fox News' top-rated host Bill O'Reilly has helped to make the network a ratings leader. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) — Reporting from New York

Discussion: Mediaite, Romenesko, Gawker and The Wire

Jason Boog / GalleyCat:

Authors Guild Offers eBook Royalty Advice for Random House & HarperCollins Authors — Today the Authors Guild wrote to individual members referring to letters that some authors have received from Random House and HarperCollins about eBook rights. According to the Guild, the publishers hope …

Discussion: Crain's New York Business, TeleRead and Publishers Weekly

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

YouTube and Viacom Find Lots of Emails, but No Smoking Gun — The YouTube-Viacom documents released today are chock full of interesting morsels. Feel free to ignore most of them. — Because if you're trying to handicap the way the copyright lawsuit pans out, today's document dump won't do much to help you.

Discussion: Viacom, USA Today, Lost Remote, Publishers Weekly, Silicon Alley Insider, The Atlantic Online, BBC, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Technology & …, fierceonlinevideo.com …, MediaPost, DealBook, Media News and Associated Press

Michael Calderone / The Politico:

Amanpour: A surprise - and a risk — In choosing Christiane Amanpour to host “This Week,” ABC defied the Sunday show conventions that have resulted in a succession of hosts who were male political journalists steeped in Washington culture. — Passing over more traditional choices …

Discussion: TVNewser, Company Town, MediaPost, Gawker, Journalism and the World, Romenesko, Michael Calderone's Blog, blogs.tampabay.com, New York Observer, Mediaite and The Wire

Media & Culture:

The Pentagon's Stringers — Ex-CNN exec Eason Jordan and author Robert Pelton say their Afghan reporting project was hijacked by a rogue DoD official. But had their unorthodox operation already crossed a line? — Post Comment — Need entrée to Afghan warlords and powerbrokers?

Discussion: MySanAntonio.com and Michael Calderone's Blog

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Truth Or Fiction: Did 30 Rock Call Comcast A Porn Company? — Last week's episode of 30 Rock featured a “truth is better than fiction” plot line that introduced the acquisition of NBC by a Philadelphia-based cable provider known as “Kabletown” (which parallels the real-life drama behind Comcast's efforts …

Discussion: The Wire

Robert Hernandez / Online Journalism Review:

For many, the local newspaper isn't dying - it's already dead — By Robert Hernandez: The doomsday scenario has been on everyone's mind, including some at SXSWi, since the revenue/circulation has dropped through the floor and the brilliant mind of Clay Shirky articulated “thinking the unthinkable.”

John Koblin / New York Observer:

It's War! Kate Taylor Quits The Journal to Join The Times — Arts reporter Kate Taylor quit The Wall Street Journal today and is joing The New York Times. — Ms. Taylor, a veteran of the Sun, joined The Wall Street Journal's New York section only six weeks ago.

Discussion: The Wire and FishBowlNY

Heather Hopkins / Hitwise Intelligence:

Facebook Visitors Come Back Again and Again — A few weeks ago when I posted my blog entry about Facebook being the largest news reader I received a few comments and emails noting that visitors aren't as valuable if they don't come back. Advertisers and retailers need some assurance that visitors will return again and again.

Discussion: WebNewser and ReadWriteWeb