Mediagazer: Reporters' Lab searches for ways to make reporting cheaper, without cheapening the reporting (Andrew Phelps/Nieman Journalism Lab)

3:00 AM ET, March 9, 2012

Top News:

Ofcom steps up test of James Murdoch's fitness to keep BSkyB role — Media regulator's Project Apple examines phone-hacking evidence to decide on 39-year-old's stewardship — Ofcom has stepped up its investigation into whether James Murdoch is a “fit and proper” person to sit on the board of BSkyB …

Discussion: Reuters

Stephen Parkinson / Telegraph:

Phone hacking: can these journalists really get a fair trial? — No one can accuse David Cameron of rushing too quickly into setting up the Leveson Inquiry. He knew of all the potential problems. He knew that with a major police investigation already under way, there was a danger that a public inquiry would jeopardise its outcome.

Discussion: Guardian, CJR and Jon Slattery

Erik Larson / Bloomberg: News Corp. Alleged to Hack Family Priest's Line

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
PCC to close in wake of hacking scandal

Discussion: Poynter, Digital Spy, Deadline.com, @wikileaks and The Independent

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
Trinity Mirror journalists may be victims of NoW phone hacking - police

Discussion: Big News Network.com

Paul Sawers / The Next Web: WikiLeaks claims it submitted a 100-page dossier to UK Leveson Inquiry on media corruption

Josh Halliday / Guardian: Sun and NoW publisher had ‘enthusiastic involvement’ with police

Lauren Goode / AllThingsD:

With Interest Lists, Facebook Wants to Be a Personalized Newspaper — First we had Twitter Lists. Then Facebook Friends lists. Then smart lists. And now, Facebook is introducing Interest lists as a way to push relevant content up in the increasingly cluttered news feed.

Discussion: newsroom.fb.com, Poynter, The Next Web and ReadWriteWeb

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

Turner launches an accelerator for media-focused startups — Like most big media companies, Turner Broadcasting might not exactly be known for its technology innovation. But it's looking to change that, with the launch of a new accelerator program called Media Camp, which hopes to seek …

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:
PRX hires Silicon Valley journopreneur Corey Ford to run the Public Media Accelerator

Discussion: blogs.ft.com and TechCrunch

Media Decoder:

New Republic Gets an Owner Steeped in New Media — The newest owner of The New Republic magazine is Chris Hughes, a new-media guru who co-founded Facebook and helped to run the online organizing machine for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. — Mr. Hughes's purchase of a majority stake …

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

Comcast Declines to Offer Netflix to Its Customers — Netflix may have hit a snag as it negotiates with cable operators. — Comcast, the country's largest cable company, says it has no interest in offering Netflix to its Xfinity subscribers regardless of whether it's in the form of an on-demand service or a billing partnership.

Discussion: MediaFile, Home Media Magazine, New York Times and Bits

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers — Justice Department Threatens Lawsuits, Alleging Collusion Over E-Book Pricing — The Justice Department has warned Apple Inc. and five of the biggest U.S. publishers that it plans to sue them for allegedly colluding to raise the price of electronic books, according to people familiar with the matter.

Jeff Roberts / paidContent: Apple Downplays Role Of ‘Kindle Threat’ In Alleged e-Book Conspiracy

Jeff Roberts / paidContent: The U.S. Threat To Sue Apple And Publishers: What It Means

Alyson Raletz / Kansas City Business Journal:

Missouri approves Google's request to set up video services in Kansas City … has the go-ahead to provide video services in Kansas City. — The Missouri Public Service Commission has granted Google Fiber Missouri LLC the authority to build a video service network along public rights of way, according to a March 1 order.

Discussion: WebProNews and FierceCable

Richard Mullins / TBO.com:

VP Barker named Tampa Tribune's new publisher — Media General Inc. named Bill Barker as the new publisher for The Tampa Tribune, the newspaper's top executive. Barker joined Media General in 1990 and most recently was the Tribune's vice president of operations and circulation.

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Reporters' Lab searches for ways to make reporting cheaper, without cheapening the reporting — Labs are all the rage in journalism these days. There's the Drone Journalism Lab, the Globe Lab, WaPo Labs, the New York Times R&D Lab, and more. — Duke University's newly launched Reporters' Lab …

Discussion: O'Reilly Radar

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

NewsiT Raises $500K To Gamify Crowd Journalism — Crowdsourced news platform NewsiT.net just announced that it has raised $500,000 in seed funding. And, timed to match the beginning of South by Southwest, it's also launching its iPhone app. — The company was founded …

Discussion: VatorNews

Verne Gay / Newsday:

Matt Lauer getting $25 million to stay on ‘Today,’ source says — Matt Lauer getting $25 million to stay on ‘Today,’ source says — I am reliably told that NBC and Matt Lauer are closing in on a deal that will pay him an estimated $25 million per year over the course of a multiyear deal …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Huffington Post and TVNewser

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Time Names Editor-At-Large — Time has named Bobby Ghosh an Editor-at-Large. Ghosh has been with Time since 1997, and most recently served as Deputy International Editor. Prior to that Ghosh was Time's Baghdad Bureau Chief for five years. — As an Editor-at-Large Ghosh will be a …

Discussion: @amywicks01 and @amywicks01

Dave Davies / newsworks:

Would the Philadelphia Daily News show cartoonist Signe Wilkinson the door? — Could Philadelphia lose two Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists in a month? Uh, yeah. The Inquirer's Tony Auth has already taken the employee buyout offered by Philadelphia Media Network, which owns both Philly papers and Philly.com.

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Inquirer: Rendell relinquishes lead in Philly papers purchase, as his group gets exclusive consideration

Discussion: Philly.com, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Washington Post

Nielsen Wire:

Buzz in the Blogosphere: Millions More Bloggers and Blog Readers — Blogs are sometimes overlooked as a significant source of online buzz in comparison to social networking sites, yet consumer interest in blogs keeps growing. By the end of 2011, NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company …

Discussion: Podcasting News and WebProNews

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Save Sue Simmons: The Internet Campaign Begins — News broke today that beloved WNBC-4 anchor Sue Simmons wouldn't have her contract renewed after 32 years of work with the station, thereby breaking up the longest-serving local news anchor team (of Simmons and co-anchor Chuck Scarborough) in New York City.

Discussion: Save Sue Simmons! and PopWatch