Mediagazer: Why AOL Was So Desperate to Hook Up With Huffington Post (Mathew Ingram/GigaOM)

7:30 PM ET, March 11, 2011

Top News:

Earthquake turns TV networks into print — An 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan yesterday, and a tsunami is spreading, right now, across the Pacific ocean. Thus we have much news that is best consumed live and uncooked. Here's mine, right now: — Not many of us carry radios in our pockets any more.

Jon Nicosia / Mediaite:
Japan Hit By Massive 8.9 Magnitude ‘Great’ Earthquake - Tsunami Triggered

Discussion: CNN, MediaMemo, This Just In, TVNewser, VentureBeat, The Wire, CNET News and Fortune

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Why AOL Was So Desperate to Hook Up With Huffington Post — When AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced the $315-million acquisition of The Huffington Post several weeks ago, he made the deal sound like a nice strategic add-on for the former web portal's content business — an expansion …

Discussion: On Media's Blog, AdAge, Mixed Media, mediabistro.com and Editors Weblog

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Interview: Armstrong On Layoffs: ‘News & Finance Was Losing $20 Million’ — AOL (NYSE: AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong warned that layoffs would be coming last week, and today, the pink slips were released. Armstrong spoke about the decision during a Q&A keynote session this morning at the Bloomberg Businessweek Media Summit.

Discussion: rbr.com, BoomTown, eMedia Vitals, paidContent:UK, TechCrunch, Newsonomics, SAI and Epicenter

Lois Beckett / Nieman Journalism Lab:

A WordPress for news orgs: Knight gives Bay Citizen, Texas Tribune $975,000 for open-source CMS — This morning, the Knight Foundation announced a new $975,000 grant to the Texas Tribune and the Bay Citizen, two young nonprofit news organizations, to build an open-source publishing platform designed specifically for news outlets.

Discussion: paidContent, Strange Attractor, KnightBlog and The Awl

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:
Texas Tribune, Bay Citizen to split $975,000 Knight grant

Discussion: Knight Foundation News …, News for Digital Journalists and Free Press

Dan / Xark!:

The danger in the doldrums — This morning's day-off multi-tasking: watching coverage of the horrible 8.9 earthquake in Japan while reading my various feeds, which included finally taking on the Bill Keller column about aggregation. It includes this passage in the ultimate graph:

Discussion: MediaMemo and FishbowlNY

Meghan Peters / Mashable!:

Washington Post Explores the Future of Journalism Via Tumblr — Thursday, the Washington Post launched @innovations, a Tumblr blog meant to showcase the news organization's digital features and discuss the changing media landscape. — The blog acknowledges the new ways readers are engaging …

Discussion: Editors Weblog, Poynter, Still Not Going To Do … and eMedia Vitals

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

4 key challenges NPR's next CEO faces as staffers, stations, funding needs escalate and conflict — NPR's next CEO faces an enormous set of challenges. Whoever the NPR Board of Directors eventually chooses for this position will assume leadership of an organization that in recent months has lost its CEO …

Discussion: Washington Post, Slate, Guardian, Opinionator, The Daily Beast, MediaPost and Free Press

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

Happy birthday, Rupert Murdoch, but what next? — Entering his ninth decade, the media mogul seems more powerful than ever in America - the land he loves — Rupert Murdoch was never an especially good fit with Australia - too small for his ambitions, too egalitarian for his near-royal upbringing, and, plus, he hated sports.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire and FishbowlNY

Instapaper Blog:

Instapaper 3.0 is here! — Instapaper 3.0 for iPhone and iPad is now available in the App Store, and I've updated the Instapaper website to include many of its new features as well. This is the biggest update Instapaper has ever had in one version, and I'm proud to finally show it to you.

Discussion: Fast Company, ReadWriteWeb, Digital Trends, Gadget Lab, eBookNewser, VatorNews, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Download Squad, MacStories, The Next Web, The Loop and Gizmodo

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

Adam Moss talks Tina Brown, Times Magazine and New York — Adam Moss was at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism Thursday night to share his experiences and insights as the award-winning editor-in-chief of New York magazine. But a few people in the audience were more interested in hearing …

Discussion: The Wire, Poynter, mediabistro.com and FishbowlNY

Bill Moyers / The Huffington Post:

In Defense of NPR — Come on now: Let's take a breath and put this NPR fracas into perspective. — Just as public radio struggles against yet another assault from the its long-time nemesis — the right-wing machine that would thrill if our sole sources of information were Fox News …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs

Nat Worden / Dow Jones Newswires:

Time Warner Faces Pressure To Recoup HBO Subscriber Losses — NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- HBO, home of popular TV shows like “Big Love” and “True Blood,” faces a key test of its business model this year after its subscriber rolls declined to an estimated five-year low in 2010 …

MediaShift:

How French Site OWNI Profits by Giving Away Its Content — Business content on MediaShift is sponsored by the weekend MA in Public Communication at American University. Designed for working professionals, the program is suited to career changers and public relations or social marketing professionals seeking career advancement.

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Why Warner's Movie Test on Facebook Is Such Serious Business — It Won't Destroy Netflix or iTunes, but It Will Change the Media Landscape — You could argue Warner Bros.' test to rent, and soon sell, “The Dark Knight” and other films on Facebook is just another promotional deal on the world's largest social network.

Stuart Dredge / paidContent:UK:

Condé Nast UK To Invest More In iPad Apps — iPad magazine sales have often failed to live up to their early promise, but Condé Nast Digital Britain is nevertheless upping its investment in bringing its publications to Apple's tablet. — The publisher announced on Friday …

Discussion: Media Week

Greg Masters / American Journalism Review:

Cracking the Twitter Case — Other reporters tried and failed, but The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal tracked down the identity of the man behind the profane and brilliant @MayorEmanuel. Posted: Fri, March 11, 2011 — Greg Masters (gmasters@ajr.umd.edu) is an AJR editorial assistant.

Discussion: Snarkmarket