Mediagazer: Newspaper publishers may merge with regional rivals to survive (Walter Hamilton/Los Angeles Times)

Matt Thompson / Snarkmarket:

Snark by Snarkwest: Bloggers v. Journalists — I'm flying my journalism colors for a little bit, liveblogging Jay Rosen's solo presentation: “Bloggers vs. Journalists: It's a Psychological Thing.” If you haven't yet, read Jay's introductory post: “Why Bloggers v. Journalists Is Still With Us.”

The Twisted 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: OWNI.eu

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: SAI, Engadget, VentureBeat, Digital Trends and Gawker, more at Techmeme »

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 …

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, SAI and Forbes

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.

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, Free Press and KnightBlog