Mediagazer: Federal aid story prompted Falwell to block Lynchburg paper (Jim Romenesko/Poynter)

12:00 PM ET, April 13, 2011

Top News:

Sidney Harman 1918-2011 — Sidney Harman died last night of complications from acute myeloid leukemia at the young age of almost 93. He first learned of his illness one month ago and remained vigorously engaged as Executive Chairman of Newsweek, and Chairman of the Academy for Polymathic Study …

Meghan Peters / Mashable!:

How Paywalls Are Changing News Organizations' Social Media Strategies — The recent launch of The New York Times paywall has prompted debates about the viability and fairness of paying for news online. Are publications unrealistic about subscription prices? Should the community rally to support journalism?

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Journalism.co.uk and Noted, Thanks:lavrusik

Vadim Lavrusik / Mashable!:

Why Social Media Reinvigorates the Market for Quality Journalism — Social media has created a human filter for quality content. The social web, like the old water cooler, favors conversations around news and even in-depth journalism that may not otherwise receive the exposure it deserves.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Noted, Future of Journalism and Online NewsHour, Thanks:cmmeetup

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
The NYT Paywall Is Working — It's Keeping People Out

Discussion: Search Engine Watch, Techdirt, Editors Weblog, Yahoo! News, The Wire, Future of Journalism and The Atlantic Wire, Thanks:mathewi

Brett Pulley / Bloomberg:

AOL's Huffington to Add News Staff in Local Site Revamp — AOL Inc. (AOL), seeking to revive sales growth after buying the Huffington Post, is hiring as many as 800 full-time employees at local-news operations across the country and reducing the use of freelancers.

Discussion: Noted

Jack Shafer / Slate:

Huffington Post lawsuit: The bloggers' class action against Arianna's site is pure bunk. … Like This Story — Follow Slate's Press Box … - Why Obama and Reid Were Smart To Use D.C. as a Bargaining Chip- Hitchens: How Has Robert Mugabe Been Able To Rule Zimbabwe for So Long?

Discussion: Mixed Media, Forbes.com, Working Life, L.A. Times Tech Blog, The First Post and Crikey

New York Post:

New AMI shake-up: Perel named Star editor — In the latest shake-up to rock American Media Inc., Candace Trunzo was given the heave-ho as editor-in-chief of Star Magazine after four years and replaced by Radar Online editor David Perel. — AMI also hired Jose Lambiet …

Zeke Turner / WWD Media Headlines:
Star Editor Out — On Monday night, American Media ceo David …

Discussion: Adweek, MinOnline and Gawker

Andy Isaacson / The Atlantic Online:

Are You Following a Bot? — How to manipulate social movements by hacking Twitter — ONE DAY LAST February, a Twitter user in California named Billy received a tweet from @JamesMTitus, identified in his profile as a “24 year old dude” from Christchurch, New Zealand, who had the avatar of a tabby cat.

Discussion: SAI and Scocca

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Sweeet!: Sugar Gets $15 Million More in New Funding From IVP and Sequoia — Sassy women-focused content site, Sugar Inc., has raised another $15 million in late-stage venture funding from new investor Institutional Venture Partners, as well as its original one, Sequoia Capital.

Discussion: SAI, more at Techmeme »

Eric Savitz / The Tech Trade:

Apple To Launch Video-Focused Cloud Service, Jefferies Contends — Apple (AAPL) “is about to launch a new video-focused cloud-based service,” Jefferies analyst Peter Misek asserts in a research note this morning. He thinks that Apple will offer a subscription-based service …

Discussion: International Business Times, GigaOM, Lost Remote and NetNewsCheck Latest

David Goldman / CNNMoney.com:

Surprise! Online TV is billion-dollar biz — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — As broadcasters and television networks try to figure out what to do with these newfangled Interwebs they've been hearing about, the limited TV content that actually is online is making quite a pretty penny.

Kat Stoeffel / New York Observer:

Citizen Glenn Beck: The Former Fox Pundit Channels Orson Welles — When Glenn Beck announced he would be leaving Fox News last week, he fixed his maniacal gaze on the camera, which was still for once, and delivered a cryptic promise. — “We will find each other,” he said.

Discussion: Poynter

Tom Krazit / paidContent:

NPR Launches New Facebook App As iPad Downloads Top 1 Million — They're app-happy over at NPR these days, with over 1 million people having downloaded the organization's iPad app over the last year and plans to introduce a new Facebook app that will let NPR listeners meet each other on Facebook and play trivia games.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and Future of Journalism

Newsosaur / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

Ready for the mobile ad revolution? — The next revolution in advertising is buzzing in your pocket or purse. Are you ready? — Far surpassing the powers of print, broadcast and the web, a host of new technologies is converging on the opportunity to use smart phones to intercept …

Joe Grimm / Poynter:

Live chat today: What are investors looking for in journalism startups? — In this week's career chat, our guest will be Dan Gordon, director of research at Valhalla Partners. This investment company helps information technology entrepreneurs build their businesses, and has invested in some journalism companies.

Hugh Grant / New Statesman:

The bugger, bugged — After a chance meeting with a former News of the World executive who told him his phone had been hacked, Hugh Grant couldn't resist going back to him - with a hidden tape recorder - to find out if there was more to the story . . . When I broke down in my midlife crisis car …

Discussion: CJR, themediablog.typepad.com and The Wire

Alfred Hermida / Reportr.net:

Canadians would rather give up newspapers than the internet — Canadians love the internet. That's the conclusion of a study that found that Canadians value their home Internet connection more than any other medium — An online survey of 1,682 adults, conducted by the Canadian Media Research Consortium …

Discussion: UBC Public Affairs, Future of Journalism and Vision Critical