Mediagazer: Debt-Laden Private Buyouts Are Back - Pearson Sells IDC For $3.4 Billion (Robert Andrews/paidContent)

Sarah Ellison / Vanity Fair:

The Man Who Tried To Manage Murdoch — As Rupert Murdoch's jaws closed around The Wall Street Journal, managing editor Marcus Brauchli became the latest in a long line of editors who thought they could win over the conquering mogul. Brauchli set about feverishly redesigning the paper …

Discussion: National Media, CJR, New York Observer, Romenesko, Newser and New York Magazine

Discussion: Romenesko

Choire / The Awl:

Pink Weekly Debuts Cash-for-Traffic Reporter Bonus Jackpot Scheme — At last Wednesday's weekly staff meeting at the New York Observer, an old-fashioned paper memo was distributed; it was not sent out by email. It explained a new trial incentive program for reporters, to begin immediately.

Discussion: WebNewser and Journalism.co.uk

Wall Street Journal:

Google Moves on e-Books — Google Inc. will begin selling digital books in late June or July, a company representative said Tuesday, setting off a three-way battle between the Internet giant and Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. — Chris Palma, Google's manager for strategic-partner development …

Discussion: paidContent, Geekosystem, Silicon Alley Insider, ReadWriteWeb, Electronista and Engadget

Mark Leccese / Gatekeeper:

Tweeting the water story — I've been on Twitter (@mleccese) daily for a couple of months now trying to figure out if there's any useful journalism there. I've learned that nearly every tweet is inane, self-promotional (I'll be self-promoting this blog post on Twitter as soon as I finish it …

Discussion: Romenesko and Editors Weblog

BrauBlog:

Star Tribune CEO Mike Klingensmith talks new paywall, digital re-do — Mike Klingensmith is no rocket scientist, just the son of one. The new Star Tribune publisher/CEO's dad was an aeronautical engineer for Honeywell in Minneapolis during the Apollo era; the son faces a challenge nearly …

Discussion: Romenesko and Newsonomics

Twitter Media:

Fresh-baked tweets for your posts — Here at Twitter Media, we want to experiment in exactly the same way we're encouraging you to experiment. We want to implement the things we're recommending that you implement. And we want to share tools that we develop—even when they're quite simple.

Discussion: Guardian, Fast Company, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, CNET News, Silicon Alley Insider, The Huffington Post, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, TNW Social Media, VentureBeat, louisgray.com and Mashable

Sree Sreenivasan / DNAinfo.com:

Some Thoughts After Six Months of DNAinfo — DNAinfo has been around for six months. Time to reflect on what it's accomplished. — The notification came via e-mail from the oldest press club in the United States: “We are pleased and honored to inform you that DNAinfo.com is the recipient …

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Debt-Laden Private Buyouts Are Back - Pearson Sells IDC For $3.4 Billion — Pearson (NYSE: PSO) said back in January it wanted to sell Interactive Data Corporation, its financial market data analytics provider. And now it is - for a pretty sum. — Silver Lake and Warbug Pincus funds …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Guardian, VentureBeat, Bloomberg, MinOnline and eMedia Vitals

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Cable news most trusted in new opinion survey — President Barack Obama, who in the past has dismissed TV talking heads and horse-race politics as “cable chatter,” revived his career as a bully-pulpit media critic this weekend. Delivering a commencement address to the University …

Discussion: Romenesko, mediabistro.com, Editors Weblog, Fitz & Jen, Runnin' Scared, Mediaite, The Wire and CBS News

Greg Mitchell / The Nation:

Welcome to MEDIA FIX, Day One! — OUR media watchdogs require close watching. It's been an article of faith for Nation editors and readers since the founding of the magazine. In recent decades, Nation writers have provided smart, often witty, media coverage.

Markcuban / blog maverick:

The Future of TV is......TV — Before I get into the topic at hand, I want to first commend Google and Youtube. Just read the article “Are Live Sports the Next Frontier for Youtube?” Dang, why didn't I think of that 15 years ago ??. Oh well. And one more thing.

Discussion: MediaMemo and MediaPost

Joe Pompeo / Silicon Alley Insider:

eBay Founder Pierre Omidyar's $20-Per-Month Hawaii News Site Is Live — Honolulu Civil Beat, the new Hawaii-based online news site and community hub launched by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, went live this morning. — A little background: Omidyar describes the site as a “civic square for Hawaii …

Discussion: WebNewser and paidContent

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Nielsen Acquires Online Video Analytics Company GlanceGuide — Analytics and audience measurement giant Nielsen has acquired video analytics company GlanceGuide. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. — GlanceGuide's analytics and measurements provide insights into how consumers interact with the video they watch online.

Discussion: paidContent and NewTeeVee

Martin Langeveld / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Moderating declines: Parsing the NAA's spin on newspaper circ data — Newspapers could borrow a line from a recent Dilbert comic strip: “We've been doing great since we redefined success as a slowing of failure.” Or perhaps it was the other way around, and Dilbert creator Scott Adams …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Editor and Publisher and Newspaper Association …

Dirk Smillie / Forbes:

Another Spin For Guccione — The “SPIN” founder on why he tried to buy “Fortune,” what magazines are doing wrong and what he plans to do about it. — The magazine business is in the midst of a “Darwinian culling,” says Bob Guccione Jr. So why does Guccione, the founder of SPIN and Gear, plan to re-enter publishing this year?

Discussion: New York Observer, Romenesko and Talking Biz News

Ben Elowitz / paidContent:

Traditional Ways Of Judging ‘Quality’ In Published Content Are Now Useless — Ben Elowitz (@elowitz) is co-founder and CEO of Wetpaint, a platform for social web sites, and author of the Digital Quarters blog. Prior to Wetpaint, Elowitz co-founded Blue Nile, the online retailer of luxury goods.

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Facebook Stirs Up Trouble for Silicon Valley — Online-Privacy Legislation Just Got a Big Boost From Social Network — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — It's larger than the population of the U.S. and is increasingly the nerve center of an interconnected world. But that didn't stop Facebook …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

AdAge:

Is It Worth $1M in Media to Be a First Adopter With Apple's IAd? — Mobile-Ad Platform Will Have Marketers Paying Twice and Rob Agencies of Production Fees — at First — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — When Apple introduces a shiny new object, a faithful group of early adopters pony up top dollar to be the first to play with it.

Discussion: Fortune, MediaPost and The Consumerist

Brian Womack / Bloomberg:

Google's YouTube Increases Display Advertisers 10-Fold — Google Inc. has boosted the number of advertisers using display ads on its YouTube video site 10-fold in the past year, a sign the company is making headway to lift sales in businesses other than search.

Discussion: NewTeeVee

Sarah Hinchliff Pearson / cyberlaw.stanford.edu:

Objective Failure: Why the debate about media objectivity threatens the viability of general-interest news outlets. — In the midst of a crisis threatening the very existence of the journalism industry, it might seem like an odd time to debate the merits of objective news reporting.

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Bill Moyers Ends PBS ‘Journal’; His Next Step Is Unclear — “Bill Moyers Journal,” first broadcast in 1971, came to a close on Friday, with Mr. Moyers warning viewers that “plutocracy and democracy don't mix,” as he compared past eras of populist insurgency to the present moment in America.

Discussion: Media Research Center

Rick Daysog / Honolulu Advertiser:

Press run ends for Gannett in Isles — Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper chain, completed its sale of The Honolulu Advertiser to Honolulu Star-Bulletin owner David Black early this morning, marking the Virginia-based company's exit from a market that it has served since 1971.

Discussion: Romenesko and Gannett Blog

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

“Maximum information in minimum time”: Gauging social media's merits — As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently attended the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. One theme that became clear on panel after panel: in Italy, one of the lowest-ranked countries for press freedom in Europe …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:

Belo Records Skyrocketing Ad Results — One of the purest TV station group plays, Belo Corp. witnessed rocketing advertising results in the first quarter, with the lead automotive category surging 45% over a year ago. — Total overall advertising sales scored an equally impressive 17% gain for the period …