Mediagazer: Can CNN's Piers Morgan Tweet His Way to Ratings Success? (Simon Dumenco/AdAge)

6:00 PM ET, April 6, 2011

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Glenn Beck to End Daily Fox News Program — Glenn Beck will end his daily Fox News Channel program later this year. — His departure was jointly announced in a statement on Wednesday by Fox and Mr. Beck's company, Mercury Radio Arts. The statement did not specify an end date for the show …

The Daily Beast:

Glenn Beck, Fox Agree to Divorce — The highly rated host became such a lightning rod that many at Fox wanted him out—and for Beck, the feeling was mutual. Howard Kurtz on the demise of cable's most radioactive show. — Despite his monster ratings, Fox News is bidding farewell to Glenn Beck …

Discussion: Reason and AdAge

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: AOL Fires Moviefone Editor Who Offered Fired Freelancers the Chance to Work for, Um, Free — Yesterday, AOL's Huffington Post Media Group got into hot water after the top editor at its Moviefone unit sent a memo to freelancers it was in the midst of firing, offering them an opportunity to …

Discussion: Poynter and Betabeat

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

Recap genre not so lucrative after all: AOL TV freelancers are next to go — Today adds television bloggers to the list of AOL stringers who are feeling the effects of the recent assertion by its chief executive, Tim Armstrong, that the company, now merged with The Huffington Post …

Discussion: Future of Journalism, SAI, Movie City News and Betabeat

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media: AOL Axes Freelancers. Time to Dust Off the WARN Act?

Jeffrey Benzing / American Journalism Review:

“Too Amazing To Turn Down” — Why high-profile journalists are leaving prestigious news outlets like the New York Times to join The Huffington Post. Posted: Tue, April 5, 2011 — Jeffrey Benzing (jbenzing@ajr.umd.edu) is an AJR editorial assistant. — What do you get when you take a handful …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, On Media's Blog and TechCrunch

Ben Parr / Mashable!:

Facebook Reaches Out to Journalists With Page, Workshops — In an attempt to promote the use of Facebook in the newsroom, Facebook has unveiled a new Facebook Page and meetup program for journalists. — The new Page, Journalists on Facebook, is intended to be a resource for journalists …

Discussion: GigaOM, The News About The News, newsplexer and Facebook

Wall Street Journal:

Google to Revamp YouTube With ‘Channels’ — Google Inc.'s YouTube video website is working on a major site overhaul to organize its content around “channels” as it positions itself for the rise of Internet-connected televisions that allow people to watch online video in their living rooms, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: MediaFile, Fortune, Deal Journal, WebProNews, SAI, CNET News and Between the Lines Blog, more at Techmeme »

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Sulzberger: $40 Million Estimate For Paywall Cost Is ‘Vastly Wrong’ — Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) spent $40 million or more to build the digital paywall that went live late last month. Not so, insists Arthur Sulzberger …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Observer, Poynter, Yahoo! News, PC Magazine, Big News Network.com and Future of Journalism

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism:
The Future of Media, Publishing and Paid Content

Discussion: CJR

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

DISH Wins Bankruptcy Auction, Buys Blockbuster Assets For $228M In Cash — DISH Network this morning announced that it was selected as the winning bidder in the bankruptcy court auction for substantially all of the assets of Blockbuster, which went belly up in September 2010.

Discussion: PR Newswire, The Wrap, Multichannel, /Film, Company Town, Hollywood Reporter, CNET News, Online Video News, VatorNews and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

Estimate: In Two Years, Streaming TV Will Be An $800 Million Business for Netflix and Hulu — By the end of this year, an estimated 2 million households in the U.S. will have abandoned TV for the Web, cutting the cord with their cable companies. This estimate comes from Convergence Consulting Group …

Discussion: Media Money …, I4U News and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Examiner.com To Offer Incentive Pay For Meeting Quality Content Guidelines — Hyperlocal network Examiner.com has often been frustrated by being lumped in with the so-called “content farms.” So, over the past year, it has been trying to find ways of highlighting the differences between …

Discussion: Editors Weblog, Examiner, NetNewsCheck Latest, Future of Journalism, Nieman Journalism Lab and Mixed Media

Stephen Battaglio / TVGuide.com:

The Biz: Meredith Vieira Expected to Leave NBC's Today — Meredith Vieira is expected to leave NBC's Today when her current contract expires later this year, according to a source familiar with her plans. — Vieira has been in discussions with NBC News executives for several months about extending her deal, which is up in September.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Media Decoder, TV Squad, NY Daily News, Deadline.com, Company Town, TVNewser, Mediaite, The Atlantic Wire, PopEater, The Huffington Post, The Wire, New York Magazine, On Media's Blog, Gawker, Jezebel and Inside TV

Julia Boorstin / Media Money with Julia Boorstin:

Tom Freston's Bet on Vice and the Future of Media — Tom Freston made MTV a giant, and now he's making a bet on a small media venture which has a lot of similarities. Vice is edgy, it targets young men, and former Viacom CEO [VIA Loading... () ] Freston says it has huge international growth potential.

Discussion: MediaPost and rbr.com

New York Times:

CBS Executive Denies Being F.B.I. Informant — A CBS News executive angrily denied reports that he was a government informant during the Oklahoma City bombing investigation, saying Tuesday that reports that he had cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and named a confidential source were “outrageous and untrue.”

Discussion: The Wire, mediabistro.com, @johnjcook, The Atlantic Wire, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Mediaite, Poynter, TVNewser, FishbowlDC and On Media's Blog

Mark Oppenheimer / Slate:

Save NPR! But please, put PBS out of its misery. — It has been a bad time for the network of a million tote bags. In October, NPR commentator Juan Williams was fired for saying that people in Muslim garb on airplanes frightened him. Earlier this month, NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller …

Discussion: Most Recent Media … and TVNewser

Jay Yarow / The Wire:

Gawker's Traffic Has Really Fallen Off Since The Redesign — How much longer will Nick Denton hang on to his redesign of Gawker properties? He shows no signs of backing down, even though a quick look at Quantcast shows a pretty appreciable decline in unique visitors to his stable of properties.

Discussion: FishbowlNY