Mediagazer: WSJ on iPad for $17.99 a month, magazines to be at or near newsstand prices? (Thomas Ricker/Engadget)

4:45 AM ET, March 26, 2010

Top News:

BBC:

Times website to charge from June — The Times and Sunday Times newspapers will start charging to access their websites in June, owner News International (NI) has announced. — Users will pay £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription.

Discussion: Guardian, Jon Slattery, Channel 4, Sky News, Freelance Unbound, THINQ.co.uk and John Rentoul

Elizabeth Barrett / Press Association:

Users to pay £2 a week to read Times online — Customers will be charged £2 a week to read The Times and The Sunday Times online from June, News International announced today. — Both titles will launch new websites in early May, separating their digital presence …

Discussion: The Next Web

Daniel Farey-Jones / Media Week:

From £665m to £1: The changing shape of Britain's modern newspaper business — LONDON - It's been more than 300 years since The Daily Courant became the first recognisable regular British daily newspaper during the reign of Queen Anne in 1702. — Mastheads in ownership moves in recent years

John Reynolds / Media Week: Who is Alexander Lebedev? — LONDON - Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev …

Peter Kirwan / Wired.co.uk:
Why Lebedev's Indy should go digital

Discussion: malcolm coles and Guardian

Daniel Finkelstein / Times of London:
Former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev buys Independent for £1

Discussion: Associated Press

Wall Street Journal:

Magazines' New Barker: iPad — Advertisers Gather Around as Publishers Tout Tablet Device's Bells and Whistles — A laundry list of open questions about Apple's iPad isn't keeping magazine publishers and advertisers from lining up for the launch of the tablet computer next week.

Discussion: the Econsultancy blog, Shaping the Future …, MarketingVOX, Digits, industry.bnet.com, Fast Company, MediaPost, Gadget Lab, Mobile Media, TechCrunch, CrunchGear, paidContent, MacRumors, eMedia Vitals, New York Times, TeleRead, Silicon Alley Insider and Gizmodo

Shira Ovide / Digits:

Time's Managing Editor: iPad Content Awaits ‘Its Orson Welles’ — “I was very keen on being present at the creation.” — That's Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, excitedly talking about the iPad version he expects to roll out at or shortly after the hotly anticipated launch of the tablet computer on April 3.

Discussion: MinOnline

Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
WSJ on iPad for $17.99 a month, magazines to be at or near newsstand prices?

Discussion: Canadian Magazines

Jim Romenesko / Romenesko:

Dozier leaves CBS News to become AP's intelligence reporter — AP Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier's memo — I'm pleased to announce the AP's new intelligence reporter: Kimberly Dozier. — You may know Kim as the Middle East correspondent for CBS News, where she earned a reputation …

Discussion: Editor and Publisher, Associated Press, TVNewser, The Wire and Michael Calderone's Blog

Roc / Media is a Plural:

Union Busting, Bloomberg Sale Looming at ABC News? — Turmoil continues at troubled ABC News. Morale among employees was already low after president David Westin's recent announcement that their ranks are to be decimated as part of a “new digital day.” — It plunged even further following …

Michael Schneider / On The Air:
Ex-ABC correspondent Rooney: Massive cuts “will have unintended consequences”

Discussion: LA Observed

PATRICK GOLDSTEIN / The Big Picture:

Variety to studios: Stop giving scoops to the competition! — Variety has been making a lot of news lately. Unfortunately, the news has been pretty much all bad. — In case you've just tuned in, the venerable trade paper has suffered one black eye after another in recent weeks.

Discussion: The Wire, Romenesko, Movieline and LA Observed

Doree Shafrir / Gawker:

How the Michelle ‘Bombshell’ McGee Story Got Made — Everyone was shocked when, last week, In Touch published a cover story about Jesse James' mistress Michelle “Bombshell” McGee. The surprise wasn't that James was having affairs, but that In Touch had gotten the story—and gotten it right.

Michael Fox / 22 Michaels:

The incredible power of a 16 year old video blogger — Well, it's taken me a week to think through all the ramifications of this and put it into a blog post, but last week was the best ever for Shoes of Prey by a large order of magnitude, and it's all thanks to this video by a 16 year old YouTuber, Juicystar07 aka Blair Fowler.

Ryan Tate / Gawker:

The Photo Tool That Could Shake Up Online Publishing — Here's an amazing demo of the “content-aware fill” tool that's apparently forthcoming in Photoshop CS5. The tool makes it easy to delete objects from a complex photo, without any trace they ever existed. The ramifications for internet publishing are frightening.

Discussion: Vanity Fair

Will Richmond / VideoNuze.com:

Here's How Google TV Will Work - And What It Might Mean — Last week, the NY Times shared some details of “Google TV,” the new set-top box Google is developing in partnership with Intel and Sony. The article provided a good outline, and now, based on additional information I've gathered …

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

TMZ Insider Sues Over Drugs, Alcohol in Newsroom — A former TMZ producer has filed a lawsuit against the site, claiming he was fired for complaining about alcohol and drug use by other staffers on the job after he returned from a medical leave for depression.

Discussion: Romenesko, The Wire and Gawker

Alex Weprin / Broadcasting & Cable:

Spike Launching UFC Destination Site — UltimateFighter.com will feature archive of all episodes and fights from Spike show, additional content — MTV Networks-owned Spike TV is expanding its relationship with the UFC, creating a branded destination site for avid fans of mixed martial arts.

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Multichannel, paidContent and Media News International

Xiao Qiang / chinadigitaltimes.net:

The Ministry of Truth Limits Reporting on Google in China 03/23/10 (Updated) — In China, several political bodies are in charge of Internet content control. At the highest level, there is the Central Propaganda Department, which ensures that media and cultural content follows the official line as mandated by the CCP.

Discussion: Guardian, DailyFinance, Digital Daily, RConversation, Mashable! and Wall Street Journal

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Newsonomics of online ad spending, and its costs — [Each week, our friend Ken Doctor — author of Newsonomics and longtime watcher of the business side of digital news — writes about the economics of the news business for the Lab.] — It's a complaint we've long heard in the newspaper industry …