Mediagazer: Cooper, Amanpour among TV journalists to Japan (Yahoo! News)

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: Engadget's Top Editors Topolsky and Patel Exit From AOL's Giant Tech Site — Josh Topolsky, the editor-in-chief of Engadget, is leaving the AOL-owned property, which one of the largest tech news sites on the Web. — Also departing is Managing Editor Nilay Patel, said sources.

Discussion: Engadget, The Wire, VentureBeat, Digital Trends and Gawker, more at Techmeme »

Yahoo! News:

Cooper, Amanpour among TV journalists to Japan — U.S. broadcast and cable networks, some of which were very short-staffed Friday morning in Japan, are now stepping up efforts to cover the deadly earthquake and tsunami by sending top anchors and correspondents to the region.

Discussion: Mediaite, TVNewser, mediabistro.com, On Media's Blog and The Wrap

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:

Twittersphere Slams Itself, and CNN, for Godzilla References After Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami — The Top 10 Trending Topics on Twitter This Week — As I write this late Friday morning, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami have effectively taken over Twitter's Trending Topics list …

Discussion: Mashable!, Mediaite, kottke.org, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic Wire, Runnin' Scared and TVNewser

Nick Gillespie / Hit & Run:

Is Government-Funded Media a Good Idea? Matt Welch, Nick Gillespie, Others Weigh in. Plus, a True Tale of “Monkey Bras” — On Friday, Reason's Matt Welch wrote about why NPR, PBS, and CPB should not receive taxpayer subsidies: … And because Welch is what he is, he included a gratuitous Sting lyric …

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Sean Parker, Music Mogul? Facebook Billionaire Mulling Warner Music Bid — Sean Parker helped create Napster, which kicked off the long and steep decline of the big music labels. Soon he might own part of one. — The digital entrepreneur is considering putting his money into a consortium bidding …

Discussion: Electronista, VentureBeat and SAI

Walter Hamilton / Los Angeles Times:

Newspaper publishers may merge with regional rivals to survive — The possible sale of Freedom Communications, parent of the Orange County Register, could signal the start of wave of consolidation. — The possible sale of the Orange County Register's parent company could mark the start …

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:

The Psychology of Bloggers vs. Journalists: My Talk at South By Southwest — This is what I said at South by Southwest in Austin, March 12, 2011. It went well. … There's an old rule among sportswriters: no cheering in the press box. In fact, a few weeks ago a young journalist lost …

Discussion: Snarkmarket

Latoya Peterson / Poynter:

New York Times, Houston Chronicle tell different stories of 11-year-old's rape — The New York Times finds itself embroiled in controversy after publishing an article on a horrific gang rape that occurred in Cleveland, Texas. Citizens (most notably young feminist organizer Shelby Knox) …

Discussion: The Public Editor's Journal, The Huffington Post and The Awl

Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:

Arianna Huffington: SEO Is Just A Tool, Not A Way To Produce Great Journalism [TCTV] — Yesterday afternoon, our new editorial overlord, Arianna Huffington, stopped by the TechCrunch office for a meeting. — Before she had a chance to leave, I dragged her into the TCTV studio to grill …

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Excerpt: Maxim Founder Felix Dennis on the Fallacy of Big Ideas — In addition to being a publisher, poet, planter of trees and polyamorist, Felix Dennis, founder of Maxim and The Week magazines, is simply one of the most entertaining people you could hope to converse with.

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, rbr.com, mediabistro.com and Editors Weblog

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.