Mediagazer: Global publisher alliance forces pirate eBook sites offline (Paul Sawers/The Next Web)

9:35 AM ET, February 16, 2012

Top News:

Interference Seen in Philadelphia Papers — Last week, Gregory J. Osberg, chief executive and publisher of the Philadelphia Media Network, which publishes The Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com, summoned the news organization's three most senior editors to his office.

Discussion: Gannett Blog

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Philly papers to lose 37 positions through buyouts, layoffs — Philadelphia Media Network executives announced at a meeting with Guild leaders today that they will reduce the newsrooms of the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com by 37 positions. The company will offer buyouts first, and then begin layoffs if necessary.

Discussion: Philly.com, @chanders, Poynter, The Philly Post and Erik Wemple

Buzz Bissinger / New York Times:

Who Will Tell Philadelphia's Story? — I LIVE in Philadelphia. I have for nearly 40 of my 57 years. It is a wonderful city but also a corrupt one. Power is concentrated in the hands of a select few, who sometimes act in the public interest but too often act in their own interests …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Lena Groeger / ProPublica:

Murdoch's Circle: The Growing News International Scandal — From phone hacking to bribery, the corruption at News International has involved many players—increasingly, ones close to Rupert Murdoch. We've mapped out the players involved in this growing debacle, organized by their proximity …

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
Murdoch Set to Face Sun Newsroom After Arrests

Discussion: Deadline.com, The Independent and totalpolitics.com

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Journalists' employers must protect sources, says Lords committee chair

Discussion: Jon Slattery

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Met probes claims that Sun paid some public officials more than £10k a year

Discussion: Capital New York, themediablog.typepad.com, Capital New York and The Huffington Post

Robert Hutton / Bloomberg:
News Corp. Hacking Report Delayed by Debate

Discussion: Reuters, Capital New York, Guardian, Telegraph, Guardian and BBC

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

CBS May Produce New Show for Netflix — The digital video boom has generated lots of extra money for big media companies, who are selling off old shows to services like Amazon, Hulu and Netflix. — But as those services start to dabble in creating their own shows, big media companies …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Inside TV, MarketingVox News & Trends and Bloomberg

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Colbert Report Suspends Production For The Week, Reasons Unknown — If you just flipped over to Comedy Central to catch Stephen Colbert after a new episode of the Daily Show, you may have been surprised to catch Colbert talking about Herman Cain. Yes, there is a rerun of the show tonight …

Discussion: Third Beat, Deadline.com and Gawker

Joe Flint / Company Town:

CNN officially severs ties with Larry King — CNN and Larry King are going their separate ways. — Though King gave up his daily prime-time talk show on CNN in December 2010, he still had a deal for several specials. The last of those — “A Larry King Special: Dinner With the Kings” — aired in December.

Discussion: Media Decoder, TVNewser, Chickaboomer and The Huffington Post

Rem Rieder / American Journalism Review:

Ignoring the Facts at PolitiFact — Nobody is a bigger fan than I am of the rise of the fact-checking movement in contemporary journalism. It's so refreshing to see reporters scrutinizing politicians' statements and allegations, and reaching conclusions rather than settling for the tired, old “he says, she says” approach.

Discussion: Saint Petersblog and The Raw Story

Craig Silverman / Poynter:
Fact from fiction: PolitiFact draws ire for checking ‘Glee’

Discussion: Riptide 2.0, Mediaite and PolitiFact

Dylan Byers / Politico:
PolitiFact responds to Rachel Maddow

Discussion: @politifact, PolitiFact, Saint Petersblog, @jayrosen_nyu, The Huffington Post and Mediaite

McKay Coppins / Buzz Feed:

Atlantic Media Execs Headed To To St. Bart's — The owner of The Atlantic Media is paying to send 20 senior executives and editors to St. Bart's, a posh French Caribbean destination. Atlantic owner David Bradley, who is building a home on the resort island, rented villas for editors …

Eric Eldon / TechCrunch:

A Month In, Facebook Timeline Brings New Growth For Myspace, Yahoo News, Pinterest, And Others — Having rolled out Timeline at the end of last year, Facebook followed up in mid January by letting third-party apps integrate with the reverse-chronological scrapbooking feature.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

AOL may never be able to patch up Patch — The internet company has placed high hopes — and lots of cash — in its hyperlocal news venture. But, with just a few sites actually turning a profit, the numbers may never add up. — FORTUNE — It was supposed to be a savior.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, The FJP, Wall St. Cheat Sheet and Street Fight

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

WUSA reporter Andrea McCarren balks after backlash over teen drinking stories — At first, the comments from viewers were just nasty. No problem. Andrea McCarren, a veteran TV reporter, could handle that. — But then the response to McCarren's reports about underage drinking on WUSA …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Forbes, Gawker, TVSpy and The Huffington Post

Amanda Hess / GOOD:

Boys Will Hire Boys: The Media Is Male and Getting Maler — My first job in journalism was at a local newspaper staffed mostly by men. When many of them left for gigs elsewhere, I was told that hiring decisions would be based on finding the “best person for the job.”

Meg James / Company Town:

Comcast fourth-quarter profit jumps 26%; NBC and film lag — Comcast Corp. beat analysts' estimates with a 26% increase in fourth-quarter profit, but two NBCUniversal units continued to struggle: the NBC broadcast network and Universal Pictures. — For the quarter ended Dec. 31 …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and Home Media Magazine