Mediagazer: Tribune bankruptcy bill hits $231 million (Jim Romenesko)

7:05 PM ET, January 30, 2012

Top News:

Nick Davies / Guardian:

Mysteries of Data Pool 3 give Rupert Murdoch a whole new headache — The arrest of four Sun journalists threatens to open a fresh phase of the scandal surrounding News International — On Saturday morning, the police arrested four journalists who have worked for Rupert Murdoch.

Discussion: Times of India and Business Insider

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Sun arrests show that News Corp is now at war with itself — Lest anyone fails to read it, I must commend Nick Davies's piece, Mysteries of Data Pool 3. He tells how News Corporation's Management and Standards Committee (MSC) has handed police a huge cache of material.

Discussion: Guardian

Business Wire:
Teri Everett to Exit as News Corporation's Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @brianstelter, Variety, @michaelwolffnyc, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, The New York Observer and Media Decoder

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Former Cosmo editor gives $30 million to establish media innovation center at Stanford, Columbia — Stanford's engineering school and Columbia's journalism school will use the $30 million gift to establish the bi-coastal David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation.

Mike Armstrong / Philly.com:

Inquirer, Daily News could be headed for sale — A minority shareholder of the parent company of The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News is looking to sell its 30 percent stake, according to a story in the New York Post. — Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund that holds interests …

Discussion: New York Post and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Jim Romenesko:
Philly newspapers boss responds to NYP story

Discussion: Poynter

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

Online Ambitions, and a Dash of Real Estate, Drive Newspaper Deals — IF the future of media is digital, who would want to buy a newspaper? Many people, it turns out. — Investors acquired the newspapers in several major American cities in the second half of 2011, including The San Diego Union-Tribune …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and The Newspaper Guild

Julie Bosman / Media Decoder:

For ProPublica, More E-Books — ProPublica, the nonprofit news organization known for its investigative journalism, is about to expand its e-book efforts. — Following in the digital footsteps of The New Yorker, The New York Times, Politico, Vanity Fair and Cosmopolitan …

Discussion: paidContent and eMedia Vitals

Jim Romenesko:

Tribune bankruptcy bill hits $231 million — Tribune's financial results appear to be improving. The monthly operating report filed on Jan. 24 shows the Chicago-based company increased its cash balance to $2.05 billion as of Dec. 25 from $1.78 billion a year earlier.

Discussion: LA Observed

Kelly McBride / Poynter:

Yale Daily News, New York Times both make wrong call on Patrick Witt sexual assault complaint coverage — As the story of Yale University quarterback Patrick Witt (and his Rhodes scholarship that wasn't) got more convoluted last week, both The New York Times and the Yale Daily News came under …

Discussion: SBNation.com, National Review, Forbes, NESN.com and Yale Daily News

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Gannett Misses Earnings Targets On Special Charges, Digital Revenue Up — Gannett (NYSE: GCI) Co. posted lower than expected earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011 after incurring special charges related to workforce restructuring and asset write-downs. A report also showed …

Discussion: rbr.com, PR Newswire, MediaPost, MarketWatch, Agence France Presse, Forbes, fnno.com, The CFO Report and Broadcasting & Cable

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Newt's promise: No reporters as moderators — Newt Gingrich lashed out at the media today during a rally in Pensacola, Florida, suggesting that all reporters are in the tank for President Obama: “As your nominee, I will not accept debates in the fall in which the reporters are the moderators …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Poynter and msnbc.com

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

All Change At Content Farm Demand Media: Three Of The Founders Are Out — Content farm Demand Media is known for churning lots of content through is sites, but today it's notable for another churn, of the executive kind: three of the people who helped found and build up the company are leaving.

Discussion: The Wrap and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Where's the Fire? Kindle Sales Pushing Six Million for the Quarter. — Has anyone seen one of Amazon's new Kindle Fires in the wild? I haven't. But evidently they're everywhere. You just need to know where to look to find them — like Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan.

Discussion: CNET, NetNewsCheck Latest, Forbes, VentureBeat, paidContent, Mashable!, VatorNews and PC Magazine, more at Techmeme »

Michael Brendan Dougherty / Business Insider:

Drudge Fights Back Against The Charge He Is In Romney's Pocket — On the top right corner of the Drudge Report, the master of the news-cycle links to a story from Politico in which former Senator Fred Thompson alleges Drudge is in Romney's pocket. — And just below that link …

Discussion: WebProNews and FishbowlDC

David Weigel / Slate: Drudge Winks — Before it's taken down, check out the joke Matt Drudge …

Anita Singh / Telegraph:

Jonathan Franzen: e-books are damaging society — Jonathan Franzen has launched a passionate defence of the printed book, warning that our desire for the instant gratification of e-books is damaging for society. — Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom, is being hailed as one of America's greatest novelists

Discussion: Guardian, CNET, GalleyCat, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Runnin' Scared, Slate, The Daily Weekly, Mashable!, Jacket Copy and eBookNewser

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

SnagFilms Grabs $7 Million to Share Indie Movies Online — It's easy to find blockbusters like “Transformers” online. What about movies like “Casino Jack and the United States of Money”? — That's where SnagFilms comes in. The start-up has distribution rights to more than 3,000 indie movies …

Discussion: paidContent, VentureBeat and TVexchanger.com, more at Techmeme »

Dan Roberts / Guardian:

Newsdesk live: the next phase of our open commissioning project — Join the Guardian's national news editing team to help us shape the news agenda and pursue stories as they develop through the day — • Read our first Newsdesk live blogpost — In October, we launched the first phase …

Discussion: Poynter, 10,000 Words, News: News blog and pr-media-blog.co.uk

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:

As Anonymous protests, Internet drowns in inaccurate anti-ACTA arguments — After the Internet's decisive victory over the Stop Online Piracy Act earlier this month, online activists have been looking for their next target, and a growing number of them have chosen the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement …

Discussion: ZDNet and WatchingTV Online