Mediagazer: ABC News Digital Hits 100 Million Video Starts (George Winslow/Broadcasting & Cable)

5:10 PM ET, February 9, 2012

Top News:

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

The logic of a Thomson Reuters takeover of the Financial Times — It makes sense: the two titans of business information, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg, competing for a great news brand — Let me follow a rumor in real time ... My lunch companion, a senior executive at Thomson Reuters …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Future of Journalism, Capital New York, FishbowlNY, The Atlantic Wire, @edmundlee, @benfenton, @edmundlee, Talking Biz News and ShortFormBlog

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Caution on Thomson Reuters' FT acquisition — Senior staffers at Reuters write in to provide some context for a rumor put forth by Michael Wolff today that Thomson Reuters is in talks with the Financial Times to buy the salmon-colored daily: — “That rumor has been around for years,” one senior staffer told me.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Kevin Lincoln / Business Insider:

Reuters And Bloomberg Are Jockeying To Acquire The Financial Times — Michael Wolff — Two titans of international news, Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters, both would like to acquire pink British newspaper the Financial Times, according to Michael Wolff in The Guardian.

Greg Farrell / Business Week:

Dinner at Rupert's — What happened on the fateful night last May when Rupert Murdoch decided how News Corp. would manage its phone-hacking scandal? — An artist's imagining of the dinner at Murdoch's townhouse based on multiple attendees' accounts — Photo illustration by Justin Metz

Discussion: The New York Observer, CJR, The Corsair and Capital New York

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Piers Morgan and Trinity Mirror journalist implicated by Mills at Leveson — Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan and an un-named former Trinity Mirror journalist were implicated by evidence from Heather Mills to the hacking inquiry today. — The former wife of Paul McCartney revealed …

Discussion: Guardian and Journalism.co.uk

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette: Edmondson: ‘bullying’ at NoW under Coulson and Myler

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette: Leveson: NoW spied on lawyers to gain ‘leverage’

Owen Bowcott / Guardian:
NightJack blogger to sue the Times

Discussion: Telegraph, The Independent and Guardian

New York Post:

Bradley Manning arraignment scheduled for Feb. 23 — WASHINGTON — Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking confidential US diplomatic and military cables to WikiLeaks, will be arraigned Feb. 23, the military announced Thursday. — Manning has been charged with aiding the enemy …

Discussion: @edpilkington

NY Daily News:

‘Good Day’ co-anchor Greg Kelly to return to Channel 5 Friday morning — Had been off the air since Jan. 26 following rape allegations — Above, Greg Kelly seen Wednesday afternoon for the first time since a 28-year-old paralegal accused him of rape. Kelly will return to ‘Good Day New York’ on Friday.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
Why Has The New York Post Been So Extremely Nice to Greg Kelly?

Discussion: New York Post and Capital New York

Laura Italiano / New York Post:
Kelly accuser's memory of ‘rape’ but not of sex killed her case: sources

Discussion: Capital New York and Chickaboomer

Richard Huff / NY Daily News: Ch. 5 anchor Greg Kelly to make on-air statement about the scandal that kept him off TV

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Indie Booksellers All Yanking Amazon Titles? Not Exactly — It would be dramatic to say that independent booksellers nationwide are boycotting Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) Publishing titles en masse—and hey, it could still happen. But a new decision from the American Booksellers Association's IndieCommerce …

Discussion: news.bookweb.org and Future of Journalism

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:
The anti-Amazon revolt continues as the ABA boycotts its books

Discussion: Publishers Weekly, GalleyCat and The Bookseller

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

WaPo Evasive on Important Buyout Question — What if WaPo doesn't reach the necessary maximum number of voluntary buyouts? — Some who attended the Town Hall style meetings yesterday at the newspaper found Exec. Editor Marcus Brauchli's comments too vague for comfort on this point.

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Kudos to BBC News for thinking about how Twitter fits into breaking news coverage — Every so often a major news outlet like the AP or BBC News issues new guidelines about how to break news on Twitter, and media blogs erupt with a simultaneous “Of course you should!” — Let's move past the should/shouldn't debate.

Discussion: Muck Rack, Future of Journalism and WebProNews

Alfred Hermida / reportr.net:
Why Journalists Should Break News on Twitter

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Guardian, Editors Weblog and Guy Fawkes' blog

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
To the BBC and others: Twitter is not your competition

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Lost Remote, NewscastStudio Blog and NetNewsCheck Latest

Jim Romenesko:

Gannett offers early retirement package to 665 employees — FR: U.S. Community Publishing President Bob Dickey — RE: Voluntary Early Retirement Opportunity Program — Dear colleagues: — Today we are offering a voluntary Early Retirement Opportunity Program to 665 eligible U.S …

Discussion: Poynter and Gannett Blog

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Nielsen: Cord Cutting And Internet TV Viewing On The Rise — According to a new report from Nielsen, the number of U.S. homes that have broadband Internet, but only free, broadcast TV, is on the rise. Although representing less than 5% of TV households, the number has grown 22.8% over the past year.

Discussion: rbr.com, MediaPost and Media Buyer Planner

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

Amazon: No plans to launch a standalone video service soon — Amazon has aggressively grown its Prime Instant Videos service over the past year, more than tripling the amount of content available to subscribers since launch. And as Amazon continues to add more content to Prime Instant Video …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and The Week

Sam Laird / Mashable!:

ESPN's ‘Complain About Women’ Option Exposed by Twitter User — Until Tuesday, ESPN had a special section on its website for viewers to complain specifically about announcers who happen to be female. — “Commentator — dislike female commentators,” read one option in a drop-down menu …

Discussion: Deadspin, Poynter and The Big Lead

Julie Moos / Poynter:

CNN's Roland Martin agrees to meet with GLAAD after homophobic tweets — Just hours after he was suspended from CNN for homophobic tweets sent during the Super Bowl, Roland Martin said he would meet with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which had been pushing for his firing since Sunday.

Discussion: GLAAD, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Big Journalism, msnbc.com and Media Law Prof Blog