Mediagazer: Surprise! Online TV is billion-dollar biz (David Goldman/CNNMoney.com)

2:50 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

Discussion: The Daily Beast and DealBook

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, CJR, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Regret the Error, Hot Air, FishbowlNY and Associated Press

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, Talking Biz News, CNBC, Associated Press and AOL News

msnbc.com: ‘Yes Men’ claim hoax GE tax press release

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: blogs.journalism.co.uk, Future of Journalism, Editors Weblog 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

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, Washington Post, Editors Weblog, GigaOM, The Wire, Working Life, The First Post, L.A. Times Tech Blog and Crikey

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: paidContent, Noted, Digits, Epicenter and Techdirt

Douglas Martin / New York Times:

Charles Laufer, Founder of Tiger Beat, Dies at 87 — Charles Laufer, who as a high school teacher in 1955 despaired that his students had nothing entertaining to read and responded with magazines aimed at teenage girls desperate to know much, much more about the lives of their favorite cute stars …

Discussion: FishbowlNY and PopEater

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

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

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.

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: TechCrunch, VatorNews, VentureBeat, SAI and paidContent, more at Techmeme »

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: TVNewser, Yahoo! News and Poynter

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

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Avner Ronen: Live Network Programming on Boxee is a “Couple Years” Away — LAS VEGAS — While consumption of video-on-demand on Boxee is growing with premium services including Vudu, the HD movie service, and the MLB.com, the integration of live network programming is a “couple years” …

Tanzina Vega / Media Decoder:

Online Ad Revenue Continues to Rise — Internet advertising revenue continues to rise, according to a report released Wednesday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. — Advertising revenue for the full year reached a record high of $26 billion, a 15 percent increase over 2009.

Discussion: TechCrunch and FishbowlNY

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

AOL Jumps To No. 2 Spot In comScore Online Video Rankings — Online video views continue to rise. ComScore has released data from its Video Metrix service, showing that 174 million Internet users in the United States watched online video content in March for an average of 14.8 hours per viewer.

Discussion: Nielsen Wire, Forbes.com, CNET News, comScore, Inc. and TVbytheNumbers