Mediagazer: ‘Rebels killed Western journalists in Syria, not Assad army’ (Press TV)

7:30 AM ET, March 6, 2012

Top News:

Rush Limbaugh, AOL Part Ways — WASHINGTON — AOL, the parent company of The Huffington Post, has become the eighth advertiser to pulls its money from Rush Limbaugh's syndicated radio program since he called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, who spoke out in favor of contraception coverage, a “slut” and a “prostitute” last week.

Discussion: Forbes, msnbc.com, AlterNet.org, Daily Kos, Forbes, FishbowlNY, Boing Boing, aflcio.org, Gothamist, South Florida Daily Blog, The Newspaper Guild and Boston Globe

James Crugnale / Mediaite:

Report: Second Radio Station Drops The Rush Limbaugh Show (Updated) — Following the nationwide uproar over Rush Limbaugh's controversial comments about Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, Hilo, Hawaii's KPUA-AM 670 has decided to drop his program.

Discussion: New England Public Radio News, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, VatorNews, Business Insider, The Raw Story, The Huffington Post and The Jane Dough

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Rush Limbaugh's Consolation Prize: Twitter Followers — In light of comments noted pill popper and radio host Rush Limbaugh made about a Congressional witness' testimony (he called her a “slut"), Rush Limbaugh has suffered at the hands of popular opinion designating him a categorical creep.

Discussion: This Just In, CNN and Daily Kos

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
Advertisers' Boycott Won't Dent Rush Limbaugh's Earnings

Discussion: CNN, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, ABCNEWS, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Broadcasting & Cable and Rolling Stone

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
As Advertisers Recoil, Limbaugh Says, ‘So Be It’

Discussion: New York Magazine, TVNewser and BuzzFeed

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Rush Limbaugh should take lessons from Imus, liberal talk-show host Shultz

Discussion: Erik Wemple, Slate, The Huffington Post and Poynter

Press TV:

‘Rebels killed Western journalists in Syria, not Assad army’ — A medical source says armed groups killed the two Western journalists in Syria, rejecting allegations that they died in government shelling, Press TV reports. — According to a source working for the office of the medical examiner in Syria …

Paul McNally / Journalism.co.uk:

Marie Colvin funeral to be held in New York this weekend — Body of veteran Sunday Times reporter killed covering the Syria uprising en route back to the USA — Marie Colvin: ‘died doing something she was completely passionate about’ — The funeral of Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin …

David Leigh / Guardian:

Yard chief ate with ex-deputy NoW editor after bid to halt Guardian story — Sir Paul Stephenson tried to persuade Alan Rusbridger to halt hacking investigation and then had dinner with Neil Wallis — The then commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Sir Paul Stephenson …

Discussion: Crikey and Press Gazette

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:
Leveson inquiry hears of alleged ‘trade’ between press and police

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Mark Sweney / Guardian:
Sun on Sunday estimated to have lost about 500,000 sales

Discussion: Digital Spy

Natalie Peck / Hacking inquiry:
Former senior cop blames the force's ‘closed mindset’ for hacking investigation failure

Discussion: Daily Mail

Neville Thurlbeck:
Corruption. The Agenda to Demonise News International

Discussion: Guy Fawkes' blog and Press Gazette

David Leigh / Guardian:
Phone-hacking documents ‘confirm that Labour government was briefed’

Discussion: Press Gazette

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

Papers Put Faith in Paywalls — Digital Subscription Sales Are Slow, but Publishers Are Encouraged by Trends — As more newspapers close the door on free access to their websites, some publishers are still waiting for paying customers to pour in. — The numbers of readers signing …

Discussion: Noted and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

It's Time to Retire the FCC's Outdated Rules on Media Ownership — Like most industry trade groups, the Newspaper Association of America fights a lot of rearguard actions, such as trying to convince readers and advertisers that newsprint is still a vital medium even as the evidence that it's not anymore piles up left and right.

Discussion: Newspaper Association …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Former Enron guy Herbert Winokur steps down from board of ‘CJR,’ and ends his funding of its business-media blog, ‘The Audit’ — Herbert “Pug” Winokur, the former Enron board member and finance committee chairman when the company was destroyed by an accounting-fraud scandal in 2001 …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

Drudge Report Looks Old-School, But Its Ad Targeting Is State-of-the-Art — Drudge is like a 1995 Ford Escort with a 500-horsepower advertising engine under the hood. — Every major website tracks its users as they make their way through the site, but in an analysis completed by the privacy company …

Thanks:@jaredbkeller

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Condé Nast Primes Ars Technica for Its Big Moment — Ars Technica has many things, from an audience of nearly 8 million monthly uniques to an affluent, educated readership of engaged hard-core techies. What it hasn't had—until now—is a dedicated advertising staff.

Discussion: Capital New York

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Yahoo's New CEO Preps Major Restructuring, Including Significant Layoffs — According to multiple sources both inside and outside the Silicon Valley Internet giant, Yahoo's CEO Scott Thompson is preparing a massive restructuring of the company, including layoffs that are likely to number in the thousands.

Discussion: Betabeat, Poynter, FishbowlLA, Mercury News, Forbes, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, Mashable!, Beyond Search, Deadline.com, Guardian, Shelly Palmer Digital Living, WebProNews, msnbc.com, Business Insider and ZDNet

John M. Clarke Jr / Forbes:
Yahoo Makes Move For Olympic Broadcast Rights

Discussion: Globe and Mail and TechCrunch

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Alt weeklies eye an AP of their own with a content exchange — The Association of Alternative Newsmedia is building out a kind of wire service to allow alternative news sites to share content with each other — and maybe make some money. — The recently launched AltWeeklies Content Exchange lets papers …

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

TVGuide.com Acquires Fav.Tv To Expand Mobile App Team — TVGuide.com has acquired social TV startup Fav.Tv in what executive vice president and general manager Christy Tanner says is a straightforward talent acquisition. — Plenty of startups are trying to reinvent the tv guide …

Discussion: Lost Remote, GigaOM, AdAge and Fav.tv Blog

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Current TV Announces Morning Block With Bill Press And Stephanie Miller — Al Gore's Current TV is taking the next step toward fulfilling its promise of a 24-hour slate of progressive news and commentary with the announcement that the network will debut a morning programming block featuring …

Discussion: rbr.com, Broadcasting & Cable, The Huffington Post, Chickaboomer, mediabistro.com, TVNewser and FishbowlDC

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
Current TV to Simulcast Liberal Radio Talk Shows

Discussion: rbr.com

Lucy Tesseras / New Media Age:

Bloomberg Businessweek to launch first iPhone app — Bloomberg is set to launch an iPhone app for Businessweek within the next few weeks as it looks to expand its global reach. new media age has seen a sneak preview of the new app, which mirrors the look and functionality …

Discussion: Poynter and Talking Biz News