Mediagazer: Amanpour's Note to CNN Colleagues: ‘So Why am I Leaving? In My Heart I am Not’ (Chris Ariens/TVNewser)

10:35 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, Gadget Lab 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: GigaOM, Online 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

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Amanpour's Note to CNN Colleagues: ‘So Why am I Leaving? In My Heart I am Not’ — CNN's Christiane Amanpour sent a note to her colleagues today telling them she is “stunned and humbled by all your words and thoughts and good wishes.” Amanpour announced yesterday she would be leaving CNN for ABC News to moderate “This Week.”

Discussion: The Wire, FishBowlDC and mediabistro.com

Michael Calderone / The Politico:
Amanpour: A surprise - and a risk

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

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: Romenesko, Mediaite, Gawker and The Wire

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, Variety, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Crain's New York Business, Home Media Magazine, NBC Los Angeles, MediaPost, Multichannel, 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 …, The Awl and Charles Apple

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

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

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

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.”

Media Week:

Bebo digital director Dan'l Hewitt joins VBS.tv — LONDON - Vice Media, the youth-orientated media conglomerate, has appointed Dan'l Hewitt the director of digital at Bebo, as its new director of digital strategy. — Bebo'sa Dan Hewitt joins Vice's VBS.tv

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, Publishers Weekly and TeleRead

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.