Mediagazer: The Gossip Machine, Churning Out Cash (Jim Rutenberg/New York Times)

9:40 AM ET, May 23, 2011

Top News:

The Elephant in the Green Room — The circus Roger Ailes created at Fox News made his network $900 million last year. But it may have lost him something more important: the next election. — On Monday afternoon, March 28, Fox News chairman Roger Ailes summoned Glenn Beck to a meeting …

Discussion: Crikey, Poynter, Mediaite, Firedoglake, TVNewser, The Atlantic Wire, Inside Cable News, The Daily Dish, The Huffington Post and ShortFormBlog

The Independent:

30,000 Twitter users could face legal action over gag breaches — The attempt to use super-injunctions to gag the media in the internet age reached new levels of absurdity yesterday. — A Scottish newspaper became the first mainstream British publication to identify the Premier League footballer …

Discussion: Guardian, Adweek, Forbes.com and BBC

Chris Hastings / Daily Mail:
An international TV star, a pop singer, an author and a comedian …

Discussion: New York Times, @pkafka and FleetStreetBlues

Sarah Maslin Nir / New York Times:

Tired, Testy, Even Rumpled: French Reporters on the Big Story — They're weary and disheveled, overworked, underrested and above all cranky — some say they haven't had a drop of red wine for days. — Legions of French journalists were imported at great haste last week to cover news …

Discussion: CNN and New York Magazine

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

CNBC Takes a Hollywood Turn — Every few minutes in “Too Big to Fail,” the film about the darkest days of the financial crisis in 2008 that will have its premiere Monday on HBO, something happens that once seemed unbelievable. Banks collapse. Balance sheets crumble.

Discussion: DealBook

Cory Bergman / Lost Remote:

How the NY Times' social media strategy is evolving — Social media is always in a state of change, and the New York Times is adapting with it, explains the news organization's social media editor, Liz Heron, at the BBC's Social Media Summit (video). There are lots of good lessons in here for TV, as well.

Wall Street Journal:

New Tools for Picking Hits TV Advertisers Consult Formulas That Weigh Social-Media Buzz, Economic Data — The animated series “South Park” on Viacom Inc.'s Comedy Central ranks 211 by number of TV viewers but, according to one ad firm's reckoning, it's really No. 4.

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Media & tech: Reconcilable Differences — Media and tech worlds must work together. There is not a shred of a doubt about it. The former have lost the dual battle for growth and economic performance; the latter are attracting eyeballs and endless funding. Still.

Nick Davies / Guardian:

Phone hacking: journalist's lawsuit against NoW revives ‘spying’ claims — Dennis Rice launches proceedings alleging that his voicemail messages were intercepted while working at the Mail on Sunday — A leading tabloid journalist has joined those suing the News of the World for allegedly hacking …

Discussion: The First Post

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Female Magazine Fans Flock to Nook Color — Even as the iPad remains the favorite son of the magazine business, publishers are discovering that the Barnes & Noble Nook Color is a very promising younger daughter. — The Nook Color has surprised publishers of women's magazines like O …

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

One View of the News World — When Xinhua, the official government news agency of China, wanted to upgrade from its old office in Queens, it sought out a space that matched its ambitions. So it leased the top floor of a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, one with commanding views of the headquarters …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

The Gossip Machine, Churning Out Cash — LOS ANGELES — In late July 2010, the Southampton, N.Y., police charged Michael Lohan, the father of the actress Lindsay Lohan, with physically harassing his fiancée. When the news hit on the gossip Web site TMZ, Mr. Lohan was at the Sunset Tower …

Discussion: LA Observed

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

Newsweek Adds Schama to Roster of Writers — If Tina Brown can't return Newsweek to profitability, it won't be for lack of ability to attract talent. — The magazine will Monday announce that the editor has grabbed another boldface name in Simon Schama, the U.K.-born historian …

Discussion: Adweek and Poynter