Mediagazer: Building a digital media empire: SB Nation and The Verge owner Vox Media raises $17 million (Robin Wauters/The Next Web)

11:55 AM ET, March 12, 2012

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

CNN in Talks to Acquire Mashable, Sources Say — AUSTIN, Tex. — CNN, a unit of Time Warner, and Mashable are in advanced talks that may lead to an acquisition of the social news Web site, three people with knowledge of the talks said. — Mashable, which specializes in stories about technology …

Matt Burns / TechCrunch:

Pete Cashmore Denies CNN Acquisition Rumor To Mashable Staff — The hot SXSW rumor is that CNN is looking to acquire Mashable for some $200 million. But right now it's just that: a rumor. In fact we just heard from a trusted Mashable staffer that founder and CEO Pete Cashmore is denying the reports to senior level Mashable editors.

Discussion: Business Insider

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

CNN Mashing Up With Mashable? Not So Fast — CNN might yet end up as the owner of Mashable but it's not imminent despite a single-source report from Felix Salmon at Reuters. — Salmon reported late Sunday that CNN is buying Mashable, the consumer social media news site that has been branching …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Reuters, mediabistro.com, ITProPortal, CNET, VentureBeat and eMedia Vitals

David Carr / New York Times:

A Code of Conduct for Content Aggregators — As words and articles became digitized over the last 15 years, they began to float, there for the plucking and replication elsewhere. Words like “curation” and “aggregation” became the language of the realm, sometimes used as substitutes for describing the actual creation of content.

Discussion: Gawker, The Awl, @antderosa, The Atlantic Online and MetaFilter

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

New Internet TV Network to Feature Larry King — Carlos Slim Helú, the Mexican billionaire, is financing an Internet television network called Ora.tv that will feature Larry King, the former CNN interviewer, in a return to the interviewer's chair. — The network, to be announced on Monday …

Discussion: TVNewser, Deadline.com, The Wrap, Digital Media Wire, PopWatch, Fast Company and New York Times

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Leveson may not endorse Hunt's PCC reforms — Lord Justice Leveson said this morning he would not necessarily endorse the PCC reform package being constructed by the press watchdog's new chairman Lord Hunt, even though he had encouraged the peer's work who has unveiled a series of measures aimed at toughening up the body.

London Evening Standard:

Boris deputy ‘pressured Met to limit phone hack inquiry’ — Britain's most senior female police officer said today that Boris Johnson's deputy mayor put repeated pressure on her to limit the phone hacking investigation. Met Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick told the Leveson inquiry …

Natalie Peck / Hacking inquiry: Leveson opens door for barrister to argue in favour of Motorman files disclosure

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Leveson asked to publish Motorman files

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk and Crikey

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Exclusive: Amazon Has Sold Over Two Million Kindle Singles — When Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) launched the Kindle Singles program a little over a year ago, nobody knew whether there was a market for e-books that are shorter than full-length books but longer than most magazine articles.

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Exclusive: How Much Do Kindle Singles Authors Make? — The top-ten list of bestselling Kindle Singles includes a number of big-name writers. But how is the format working for writers who don't have the brand of a Stephen King or Jodi Picoult? — In addition to sharing overall sales information …

Robin Wauters / The Next Web:

Building a digital media empire: SB Nation and The Verge owner Vox Media raises $17 million — Online media publisher extraordinaire Vox Media, which owns and operates fast-growing tech news site The Verge, sports blog network SB Nation and an upcoming game industry news outlet tentatively named Vox Games …

Discussion: AdAge and Beet.TV

Washington Post:

New York funeral held for war correspondent Marie Colvin killed in Syria — OYSTER BAY, N.Y. — War correspondent Marie Colvin is being laid to rest in the Long Island community of her childhood where she first decided to become a reporter. A funeral is being held Monday …

Discussion: @katz

Ki Mae Heussner / Adweek:

Gawker Founder Nick Denton Plans To Revamp Site's Comment Strategy — Once upon a time, in the early days of blogging, Gawker founder Nick Denton said, publishers hoped that the Web would help them “capture the intelligence of the readership.” — But now? “That's a joke,” he said.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Daily Dot, AllThingsD, Gizmodo and Beyond Search

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Why Rush Limbaugh's Apology for Sandra Fluke ‘Slut’ Remarks Bombed — Commentators often talk their way out of trouble these days. But Limbaugh couldn't convince the media he was sincerely sorry for calling Sandra Fluke a ‘slut.’ Howard Kurtz explains why.