Mediagazer: Call the Lawyers! - Sincerest form of flattery? (Jim Romenesko)

3:15 PM ET, March 7, 2012

Top News:

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

HBO Deals Keep Fox, Universal Out of New iCloud Movie Service — As widely predicted, Apple has updated its Apple TV accessory. This isn't an overhaul but an update: The new box offers better resolution and software upgrades. — The new device will support video in 1080p …

Discussion: PC Magazine, Multichannel, New York Post, Pocket-lint and MacRumors

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

“Practice, pray, and have redundancies”: On the imperfect science of liveblogging — When, a few months from now, someone asks the question — Where were you when the iPad HD was announced? — how many of us would answer: “Staring at my computer, manically switching between tabs, hitting refresh”?

Discussion: Gawker, TechCrunch, kottke.org and Gizmodo

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

Channel 4 booting anchorwoman Sue Simmons after 32 years — After more than three decades, WNBC/Channel 4 is tossing anchorwoman Sue Simmons overboard. Last week, the station gave her the bad news that her contract would not be renewed — and come June, she's history.

Discussion: Capital New York, The Awl, FishbowlNY, City Room, Broadcasting & Cable, Gawker, The Huffington Post, TVSpy, mediabistro.com, Gothamist and New York Magazine

Richard Huff / NY Daily News: New York TV news mainstay Sue Simmons to say farewell to WNBC audiences in June

Natalie Peck / Hacking inquiry:

Ex-senior Met Police officer accuses newspaper group of skewing investigation into MP — A former senior police officer has accused a newspaper group of trying to skew an investigation into a Conservative minister at the Leveson Inquiry today. — Bob Quick, former assistant commissioner at the Met …

Sandra Laville / Guardian:

Leveson inquiry: concern over police evidence — Attorney general is examining the testimony of Sue Akers amid fears her comments were potentially in contempt of court — The attorney general is examining whether the head of Scotland Yard's investigation into illegal news gathering …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Neville Thurlbeck, Financial Times, Deadline.com and The Independent

Greg Farrell / Bloomberg:
News Corp. Obstruction Evidence Mounts

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk and This Is London

Vikram Dodd / Guardian: Yates ‘resisted handing over phone records’

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

Is Amazon getting into original TV? — Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube are pouring resources into original content. Now, Amazon may be, too. — FORTUNE — Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube are all betting big on original content. Now, Amazon may be doing the very same.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Online Video News, Deadline.com, Gizmodo, @tcarmody, WebProNews and GeekWire

Rupal Parekh / AdAge:

Cosmopolitan Says It Has 100,000 Paid Digital Subscriptions — Achievement Is Encouraging for Brand and Magazines in General — Cosmopolitan magazine has reached what appears to be a milestone: 100,000 paid digital subscriptions. — The Hearst Magazines title seems to have beaten …

Discussion: MinOnline, TechCrunch, FishbowlNY, 10,000 Words, Noted, Media Buyer Planner and eMedia Vitals

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Fact-Checking Rush Limbaugh: The Real Impact of the Boycott — You're never going to believe this, but according to Rush Limbaugh, the claims that a boycott is hurting his show by depriving it of sponsorship is — wait for it — a liberal conspiracy. Shocking, right?

Discussion: Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Chickaboomer and WebProNews

Elspeth Reeve / The Atlantic Wire:
46 Advertisers Have Quit Limbaugh's Show

Discussion: Adweek

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
Here's The Woman Rush Limbaugh Is Attacking Today; ‘Totally Bizarre,’ She Says

Discussion: Capital New York, Forbes, Politico, Mediaite, Politico, TIME Ideas, Media & Entertainment, BtoB Magazine, Mother Jones, St. Petersburg Times, Rush Limbaugh and ThinkProgress

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

AOL Patch Sales People Are Getting Fired — AOL's local news network of blogs, Patch, is letting go sales people this week. — It's hard to tell how many, only that many people are being let go due to “underperformance.” — Last week, a Patch employee said it would be 200.

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Jim Romenesko: Patch to start combining sites?

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

What's Next For Google Play? Audiobooks And Magazines — Yesterday, Google announced the launch of Google Play, a rebranded Android Market which consolidates all of Google's media offerings, including apps, music, movies and e-books, into one portal. But it appears that Google's ambitions …

Discussion: Google Operating System, The Week, The Official Google Blog, PC Magazine and eBookNewser

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Columbia renames j-school building after Joseph Pulitzer — Grab your footbag and head to Morningside Heights, because if you win a game there now, you can legitimately call yourself a “Pulitzer winner.” Press release follows the jump. (Note: If you write about this, be extremely careful about using Columbia's logo.)

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Digiday:

Don't Call Me Guru — As social media editor for Reuters, Anthony De Rosa is about as real time as you can get. His desk on the large newsroom floor at Reuters headquarters in Times Square is dominated by three large computer screens, two of which have TweetDeck open at all times.

Discussion: Felix, The Corsair, Poynter and eMedia Vitals

Reuters:

Exclusive: Netflix in talks for cable partnership — (Reuters) - Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings has quietly met with some of the largest U.S. cable companies in recent weeks to discuss adding the online movie streaming service to their cable offerings, according to sources familiar with matter.

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Godin to authors: You have no right to make money any more — Thanks to the rise self-publishing tools, from Amazon's Kindle platform to Apple's iAuthor software, anyone who wants to write a book can do so and theoretically reach an audience of millions — as self-publishing superstars such as Amanda Hocking and John Locke have shown.

Discussion: Techdirt and TeleRead, Thanks:@mathewi

Dylan Byers / Politico:

NYT's Berke offered Washington Post spot — A reliable source emails to confirm the news, first reported by Jim Romensko, that New York Times managing editor Richard Berke recently turned down an offer to serve as managing editor at the Washington Post, which has been vacant since Raju Narisetti left …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Dylan Byers / Politico:

‘Rock Center’ profiles Gawker's Nick Denton — NBC's “Rock Center with Brian Williams” has profiled Nick Denton, the founder and publisher of Gawker Media. The segment will air during tonight's program, which now airs at 10 p.m. ET. This will be must-see TV for media watchers and hangers-on up in New York City.