Mediagazer: Are You Following a Bot? — How to manipulate social movements by hacking Twitter (Andy Isaacson/The Atlantic Online)

1:10 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 …

Media Decoder:

For Newsweek's Future, More Questions — Updated — A question mark looms over Newsweek now that the man who pledged to revive its fading fortunes is gone. — Sidney Harman, who died Tuesday night at 92, was a stabilizing force for the troubled magazine, and it remains to be seen how his commitments will be honored.

Discussion: DealBook

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, blogs.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 and Online NewsHour, Thanks:cmmeetup

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

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

Associated Press:

AP Mistakenly Reports on Fake GE Press Release — AP mistakenly publishes story about General Electric that was based on a fake press release — The Associated Press mistakenly published a story Wednesday about General Electric Co. that was based on a fake press release.

Discussion: On Media's Blog, Associated Press and AOL News

Joe Weisenthal / The Wire:

WHOOPS: AP Falls For Hoax Press Release Saying That GE Will Repay Government $3.8 Billion Tax Break — Original post: The AP just fell for a hoax press release, which claimed that GE would repay the government the $3.8 billion tax loss carryforward it received.

Discussion: Poynter, Mediaite, Regret the Error, Talking Biz News, FishbowlNY, Associated Press and CNBC

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, The Atlantic Online, Working Life, The First Post and Crikey

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: Scocca and SAI

New York Post:

CNN tries ‘diverse’ approach — CNN brass are scrambling to find a new host for their troubled 7 p.m. timeslot, and trying to win back the African-American and Hispanic viewers sources say they've lost since the 2008 presidential campaign. — Hoping to accomplish both things at once …

Discussion: TVWeek.com, The Wire, Inside Cable News and Chickaboomer

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, FishbowlNY, MinOnline and Gawker

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: VatorNews, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, SAI and paidContent

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: TVWeek.com, International Business Times, GigaOM, Lost Remote and NetNewsCheck Latest

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

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Gateway and takeaway: Why Quickish wants to cut the clutter and help readers get to the good stuff — It can be tough for a verbose writer to embrace the short form. — This is important, because in doing an email interview with Dan Shanoff about Quickish — his new site that offers (near) …

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.