Mediagazer: FT ad revenue growing again (Mark Sweney/Guardian)

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Waiting for iTunes.com? Don't Hold Your Breath — Apple is shutting down its Web-based music service in a month. When will it open a new one? — No time soon, from what I can tell. — I've been on the phone all day with music industry sources. None of them know of any specific plans Apple …

Discussion: The Wire, MediaFile, Epicenter, VentureBeat and MacRumors

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

Apple To Shut Down Lala On May 31, iTunes.com Launch Impending? — Lala - where music will stop playing ... In a brief message that was just posted on the Lala.com website, Apple has announced that the service will be shut down on May 31st, 2010. Apple will not be accepting new users …

Discussion: MediaPost, paidContent, GigaOM, Yahoo! News, NEWSFACTOR, Ars Technica, PC World, Agence France Presse, ReadWriteWeb, Boy Genius Report, TUAW and Associated Press

Will Bunch / Philly.com:

Papers' new publisher, CEO to push digital content — The brave new world for the Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com under new ownership quickly got newer and braver last night as Internet and mobile-phone journalism pioneer Greg Osberg was announced as the new publisher and chief executive.

Discussion: Digits, NetNewsCheck Latest, Romenesko, paidContent, mediabistro.com, New York Observer and FishbowlNY

What Does Philadelphia Newspaper Auction Say About the Value of Newspapers? — CHICAGO The furious last-minute bidding for Philadelphia Newspapers — which saw the price bumping up $10 million in cash each round, according to participants — thrilled some newspaper brokers as much as losing bidder Brian Tierney.

Discussion: The Biz Blog, eMedia Vitals, BrauBlog and Reflections of a Newsosaur

Justin Bachman / Business Week:

Are Sportswriters Really Necessary? — Narrative Science's software takes sports stats and spits out articles — Below are the opening lines of three stories written about a recent college baseball game. Two are from schools' sports information departments.

Discussion: New York Observer

Jim / Gannett Blog:

In farewell, Digital Chief Saridakis attacks pay wall strategy, saying: ‘Industry going about it all wrong’ — In a long memo that's part manifesto and farewell letter, departing Chief Digital Officer Chris Saridakis slams the leading pay wall strategy as wrongheaded, an attack …

Discussion: The Wire, Romenesko and Lost Remote

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Washington Post Plans Hundreds of LiveTV Shows from Newsroom Staff — The Washington Post, the first and most innovative major U.S. newspaper to use video as part of its online news offering, is launching a platform for hundreds of reporters to host their own programs live from their desks on Webcams …

Discussion: NewTeeVee, The Wire and live.washingtonpost.com

John Cook / Yahoo! News:

Wire service pressed to quash document release that Patterson's office barred under New York shield law — The Associated Press, normally a vigorous defender of sunshine laws, appears to have lobbied behind the scenes to quash the release of e-mails that circulated among its reporters …

Discussion: sergio hernandez

Discussion: Strupp, Yahoo! News and Romenesko

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon Cuts Prices in Tiff With Penguin — In the latest round of the book pricing wars, Amazon.com Inc. has begun selling a number of new hardcover books published this month by Pearson PLC's Penguin Group (USA) for only $9.99 amid a dispute between the two companies over electronic books.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Silicon Alley Insider, Gizmodo, TeleRead and theBookseller.com

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Gawker Media seeks legal reversal in Gizmodo search case — Shortly after Silicon Valley police entered the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen last Friday armed with a search warrant and walked out with four computers and two servers, Gawker Media raised the issue of California's shield law protecting journalists.

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, CNET News, Extra!, Mediaite, Fortune and Bits

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

FT ad revenue growing again — Owner Pearson reports 7% group revenue increase in first quarter, with improving but ‘volatile’ newspaper ad market — Pearson, the publishing group that owns the Financial Times, has reported a 7% increase in revenues in the first quarter, helped by …

Discussion: Shaping the Future … and FishbowlNY

James McQuivey / paidContent:

Why Some Media Companies Are Quietly Cheering The Apple-Adobe Tiff — The Apple-Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) tussle is heating up to bizarre proportions, with Steve Jobs yesterday issuing a public defense for Apple's anti-Flash stance. Call it a blog-heard-round-the-world, due to how quickly Jobs' comments spread.

Discussion: MediaPost

Henry Blodget / The Business Insider:

Gillian Reagan Leaving BI To Become Founding Editor At New NYC Site “Capital” — S ome sad news for us (and excellent news for her new colleagues): — Media editor Gillian Reagan is leaving to join former New York Observer editors Tom McGeveran and Josh Benson as a founding editor of a new site called “Capital.”

Christopher Mims / Technology Review:

Why Twitter Is the Future of News — An unprecedented analysis reveals that the micro-blogging service is remarkably effective at spreading “important” information. — It's basically impossible for a journalist who relies on Twitter to find stories, stalk editors, rack up “whuffie” …

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

The dangers of embedded journalism, in war and politics — The American news media have made great use in recent years of a practice called embedding, in which journalists travel with the U.S. military to cover wars. — I've taken advantage of this chance to see the military up close.

Discussion: Romenesko

MediaShift:

Live-Blogging FCC Workshop: Public Media in the Digital Era — How should public and noncommercial media evolve in the digital age? Hopefully we'll find out shortly, as I report live from today's FCC's Future of Media Workshop. A who's who of execs, funders and researchers are lined up to speak …

Discussion: Multichannel and Reboot.FCC.gov

The Independent:

How Mrs Duffy refused to dance to anti-Brown tune played by ‘The Sun’ — Newspaper tried to ‘buy up’ voter called a bigot by the PM in a day of cloak-and-dagger manoeuvres. Andy McSmith reports — Gillian Duffy, the Rochdale pensioner whom Gordon Brown described as “a sort of bigoted woman” …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Guardian

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

Todd McCarthy Goes Digital - Joins IndieWire Network — In the saga of the death of Variety and the rise of its online replacement, this one will be a marker: Todd McCarthy, the respected film critic who worked for 31 years at the trade paper, is starting his own blog within the IndieWire network.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Todd McCarthy's Deep Focus, TechJournal South, indieWIRE News, Awards Daily's Oscar Countdown and FishbowlNY

Steve Smith / MinOnline:

iPad Gut Check: Time and PopSci Lead Early Media Sales — Time Inc.'s strategy of establishing Time Magazine's iPad presence early and at a price premium may be paying off in the short term. In a quick spot check of bestsellers across the iPad app library, Time's weekly $4.99 issues …

Tony Hirst / OUseful.Info, the blog:

Programming, Not Coding: Infoskills for Journalists (and Librarians..?! ;-) — A recent post on the journalism.co.uk site asks: How much computer science does a journalist really need?, commenting that whilst coding skills may undoubtedly be useful for journalists, knowing what can be achieved easily …

Kurt Soller / New York Magazine:

So, What Really Happens After You Assist a Top Condé Nast Editor? — This week, Jonathan Kelly, the former assistant to Vanity Fair's editor (since 2004), can officially stop answering the phone with “Graydon Carter's office.” He's joined up with the new Bloomberg BusinessWeek, as “Senior Editor of Etc.”

Charlie Gasparino / FOXBusiness.com:

NBC Universal Lost $223 Million on Olympics, Leno — Jeff Zucker, who will be president and chief executive of NBC Universal following its sale of a majority interest to Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), will make a base salary of $6.3 million in 2010, though his total compensation could be $20 million or more.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Huffington Post, National Review and Chickaboomer