Mediagazer: Alleged Libyan rape victim Iman al-Obeidi breaks through to the international press (Joe Pompeo/Yahoo! News)

3:05 PM ET, April 5, 2011

Top News:

Decline, plateau, decline: New data on The Daily suggests a social media decline and a tough road ahead — While the news industry looks at smartphone and tablet apps as a chance to build more engaged readers — and maybe even get people to pay! — for those of us who watch the business, apps are frustratingly opaque.

Discussion: Mixed Media, Yahoo! News, mediabistro.com, FishbowlNY, Technologizer and Betabeat, more at Techmeme »

Jason Kilar / Hulu Blog:

Q1 — We just completed the first quarter of 2011. Given the ongoing discussion around the evolution of premium content distribution — and Hulu's role in it — we thought it would be worthwhile to share some of our progress from the first 90 days of 2011:

Discussion: MediaMemo, CNET News, NetNewsCheck Latest, Betabeat, GigaOM, Epicenter and The Wire

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Hulu Q1 By The Numbers: On Pace For $500 Million 2011 — In a new blog post, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar says the online video joint venture finished the first quarter of 2011 up 90 percent in revenue over the same period last year and is on pace to bring in a half-billion in revenue this year.

Discussion: GigaOM

Omar L. Gallaga / Austin American-Statesman:

Former NPR chief optimistic about future of journalism — Vivian Schiller praises local affiliate KUT but does not discuss her recent departure from National Public Radio. — National Public Radio's former Chief Executive Officer and President Vivian Schiller came to Austin on Friday …

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

‘The conditions are finally right to give newspaper paywalls a fair shake’ — That's what former NPR chief executive and ex-head of NYTimes.com Vivian Schiller said at the 12th International Symposium on Online Journalism. This is the first time I've felt this way, and possibly the first time I've …

Discussion: CJR

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Vice Media Empire Is Near a Big Infusion of Cash — Vice was born in 1994 as an underground magazine in Montreal, financed by a government subsidy and run by three friends who started their own company because no one else would hire them. — Today it is a pan-media confederation with a record label …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, New York Magazine and paidContent:UK

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Can a Content Farm Do Quality? How Examiner's Trying — Sick of all the shoddy articles content farms churn out? Well, guess what? So are some of the content farms, and they're even sicker of the perception that everything they publish is badly-written Google clutter.

Discussion: Examiner

Patrick May / Mercury News:

Apple makes bid to become gatekeeper for newspapers and magazines — Apple's (AAPL) bold foray into the world of digital publishing could make it the online gatekeeper for newspaper and magazine content, just as it is for music. — But for a plan ostensibly designed to help ailing print publishers sign …

Discussion: Noted

Amelia Hill / Guardian:

News of the World arrests in phone-hacking case — Former news editor and current chief reporter arrested after presenting themselves at separate London police stations — The former news editor and current chief reporter from the News of the World have been arrested on suspicion …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Yahoo! News, Big News Network.com, The Atlantic Wire, Press Gazette, The Wire and On Media's Blog

Markcuban / blog maverick:

Whats the role of media for sports teams ? — I'm going to make this short and sweet. In the year 2011, I'm not sure I have a need for beat writers from ESPN.com, Yahoo, or any website for that matter to ever be in our locker room before or after a game.

Discussion: Nodes - Quickish

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

Alleged Libyan rape victim Iman al-Obeidi breaks through to the international press — For the past week, journalists stationed in Libya's capital city, Tripoli, have pressed government officials for information on Iman al-Obeidi. — The 29-year-old Libyan woman made international headlines …

Discussion: NPR, Washington Post and New York Times

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Ad Kingpin Has Advice For Media, But He's Mostly Wrong — In the media industry, Sir Martin Sorrell qualifies as a genuine titan — not only has he been knighted, but he founded and runs the global advertising colossus known as WPP Group, one of three conglomerates that control the bulk of the advertising …

Discussion: digiday:DAILY, Poynter and Newsweek, Thanks:mathewi

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Larry King Returning to the TV Interviewer Chair... on PBS — First on TVNewser: Former CNN 9 PM host Larry King will be returning to the interviewer's chair this Thursday and Friday, as he switches roles with PBS host Tavis Smiley. King will interview Smiley for his eponymous PBS program …

Meg James / Company Town:

Discovery's David Zaslav awarded $42.6 million in compensation in 2010 — David Zaslav, chief executive of the Maryland-based Discovery Communications Inc., was awarded a compensation package valued at $42.6 million in 2010 — more than triple his compensation for the previous year. — That's a lot of TLC.

Discussion: TVWeek.com

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Amid Rumors She's Leaving CBS, Couric Heads to Iraq — As reports continue to swirl about an impending departure from her anchor position at CBS News, Katie Couric will embark Monday night on a long-planned trip to Iraq, where she will report on the military and political situation eight years …

Discussion: mediabistro.com, TVNewser, NY Daily News and The Wire

New York Times:
Katie Couric Has a Few Regrets

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewser, Runnin' Scared, The Wire, Open Mic, Tower Ticker, Mixed Media, Tuned In, newsfeed.time.com, The Huffington Post, The 6th Floor, TVLine, The Huffington Post and Random Pixels and Loose Talk

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Report: San Francisco Chronicle to put up paywall — Report: San Francisco Chronicle to put up “hard” paywall as early as the end of the month. http://journ.us/h86Mdu 2 minutes ago — Loyalty ain't what it used to be: @roypeterclark justifies journalists as ketchup & explains …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, MediaPost and Gannett Blog