Mediagazer: The Economist partners with Penguin Shorts to extend reach (Lucy Tesseras/NMA)

1:20 PM ET, March 2, 2012

Top News:

Simone Wilson / The Informer:

Andrew Breitbart Was Planning Huge New Web Project on Eve of Sudden Death — Forty-three-year-old Andrew Breitbart's shocking death in Westwood last night came just days before he was set to unveil a mysterious new project — one he hoped would mark “a transition into a different kind of journalism …

Discussion: Forbes, Capital New York, Wonkette, BuzzFeed, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, L.A. NOW, Big Journalism, paidContent and Guy Fawkes' blog

Jack Shafer:

Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012) — You're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, a rule I always ignore when somebody famous or newsworthy dies. If we shouldn't be overly sentimental about death because we all die anyway, what better time to assess a life than when it ends …

Discussion: Politico, Daily Mail, Poynter, The Week, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, The Informer, Mediaite, MarketWatch and The Atlantic Wire

Alex Alvarez / Mediaite:
Breitbart Friend Reveals To Hannity: Obama Harvard Tapes Will Be Out ‘In A Week Or Two’

Discussion: The Week and Hot Air

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Andrew Breitbart built Internet empire by combining new media, partisan slant

Discussion: Forbes and New York Times

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

Slate to Begin a Monthly Review of Books — Slate will introduce a monthly book review on Friday, the latest expansion of literary criticism online as stand-alone book review sections in newspapers have dwindled. — The section will nearly triple the number of book-related articles that Slate publishes …

Discussion: Poynter, The New York Observer, Media Decoder, FishbowlNY, paidContent, Slate, GalleyCat and bookforum.com

Brad Stone / Business Week:

Twitter, the Startup That Wouldn't Die — Life inside successful Web startups—especially the really successful ones—can be nasty, brutish, and short. As companies grow exponentially, egos clash, investors jockey for control, and business complexities rapidly exceed the managerial abilities of the founders.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch and AllThingsD

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Martha Stewart Turns To iPad Editions, Video As Revenues Fall — As revenues fall, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) plans to focus on some digital initiatives at its magazines, including releasing iPad editions of Whole Living and Martha Stewart Weddings by the end of the year.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Thomson IR and Folio

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

NYT Editors Respond To Staffers' Protest — On Thursday, the top editors of the New York Times responded to their staffers' open protest of ongoing contract negotiations. — Members of the New York Newspaper Guild lined the hallway outside the Page One meeting room in protest as editors entered a 4 p.m. meeting on Wednesday.

Discussion: Poynter and JIMROMENESKO.COM

John Plunkett / Guardian:

Ryan Giggs loses battle for Sun damages — High court throws out Giggs' claim for payout and injunction, following paper's article on alleged affair with Imogen Thomas — Ryan Giggs has failed in a high court bid for damages and a permanent injunction against the Sun …

Discussion: The Independent and Press Gazette

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Guardian says open journalism is the only way forward — If there is one newspaper that has stood apart from the crowd in terms of its eagerness to embrace a digital-media world, it is the Guardian in Britain. The paper was one of the first to make user-generated content — and crowdsourcing …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Editors Weblog, Data Miner UK, Adweek and Online Journalism Blog, Thanks:@mathewi

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

NBC News to Expand Presence on Radio — NBC News, the top-rated network news division on television, is eying growth opportunities in an old-fashioned medium, radio. — In an expansion of an existing relationship, the news division said on Thursday that its radio distributor, Dial Global …

Discussion: MediaPost, Beet.TV, TVNewser, AllAccess.com and Inside Cable News

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Broadcasters Sue To Stop $12 Streaming Service Aereo — Well, that was quick. Two weeks ago, media mogul Barry Diller announced an ambitious cloud-based TV service that streams over-the-air channels to internet devices for $12 a month. This week, broadcasters offered their opinion …

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:

Pearson Has Capacity to Make $1.6 Billion in Acquisitions as Digital Grows — Pearson Plc (PSON), the publisher of the Financial Times newspaper, has headroom for 1 billion pounds of acquisitions ($1.6 billion) as e-books and digital publishing drive revenue growth.

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney's Drudge Report Connection Pays Off … REACT: — FOLLOW: — 2012 Election, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Elections 2012, Video, Matt Drudge, Michigan Primary, Drudge Report, Drudge Report Mitt Romney, Drudge Report Romney, Drudge Romney, Drudge Santorum, Michigan Primary 2012 …

Guardian:

David Cameron: I did ride ex-police horse — Prime minister confirms he rode horse lent by police to former News International chief executive before 2010 election — David Cameron has confirmed that he did ride the horse lent by police to the former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks …

Discussion: Guardian, The Huffington Post, Telegraph, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Guardian and Reuters

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Yates wined and dined with NoW staff

Discussion: Press Gazette

Sky News:

Injured French Journalist Escapes Syria — French journalist Edith Bouvier suffered serious leg injuries — The journalists Edith Bouvier and William Daniels have left Syria and are now safely in Lebanon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said. — The pair, who were both working …

Discussion: Reuters and msnbc.com