Mediagazer: Patch's dizzyingly fast ramp-up is being dismantled just as quickly, with a cascade of layoffs (Jonathan Berr/InvestorPlace)

12:05 PM ET, March 16, 2012

Top News:

Steve Myers / Poynter:

New York Times could look outside journalism for next social media editor — How hard will it be for The New York Times to replace Liz Heron, who is leaving her job as social media editor to become director of social media and engagement for The Wall Street Journal?

Discussion: Poynter

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:
Wall Street Journal Poaches New York Times Social Media Editor Liz Heron

Discussion: Capital New York, JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY, @rajunarisetti, @bobbymacreports, Talking Biz News, @chanders and @lheron

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Scripps Howard Awards announced — Editorial writer Jamie Lucke of the Lexington Herald-Leader, Sara Ganim of The Patriot-News, and Danny Hakim and Russell Buettner of The New York Times are among the winners of this year's Scripps Howard Awards, which were announced this morning.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and The E.W. Scripps Company

Tim Carmody / Wired:

Wikipedia Didn't Kill Britannica. Windows Did — First edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Photo: Courtesy Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. — I have never owned a print edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. After the Britannica company's announcement that …

Discussion: Fast Company, Slate, @penenberg, InvestorPlace, The Week and The Book Bench

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

CNN Takes Social Media Crown in Cable ... But Where Are the Ratings? — CNN accounted for almost 13 percent of all social media mentions in February, making it the most social network of all cable for the month, according to social media analytics firm Trendrr.

Discussion: Erik Wemple and Inside Cable News

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Two Years Into Tablet Editions, Conde Nast Begins Regular Readership Reports — Additional Information for Premium Advertisers — Almost two years after Conde Nast started putting its magazines on the Apple iPad, its advertisers are finally getting one of the promised benefits …

Discussion: Media Buyer Planner, Folio, the Econsultancy blog, TeleRead, paidContent, Mashable! and eMedia Vitals

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:

L.A. Weatherman Sues CBS Stations For Hiring Young, Attractive Women — Kyle Hunter has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against CBS Broadcasting and its stations KCBS and KCAL. — A Los Angeles weatherman has filed a lawsuit claiming he was passed over for jobs at two prominent stations …

Discussion: TVWeek.com and TVSpy

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

NBC News Stays on Top, While Its Newsmagazine Struggles — NBC News celebrated its status as the top news division in television with a presentation for advertisers Thursday in New York, led by Brian Williams, the anchor of its top-rated evening newscast. — But NBC News and Mr. Williams …

Discussion: TVNewser and Mediaite

Willamette Week:

The Oregonian Fires Editor Who Provided False Information About the Death of Bob Caldwell, the Paper's Editorial Page Editor — An editor at The Oregonian says she was fired Thursday after she misled the newspaper about the death of the O's long-time editorial page chief, Bob Caldwell.

Discussion: Oregonian, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Poynter and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Fortune:

Meet Magic Johnson, the media mogul — The ex-NBA star has long had an interest in business. But with magazines and a cable channel in the works, he may be building something even more significant. — By Alex Konrad and Sierra Jiminez, reporters — FORTUNE — Earvin “Magic” …

Discussion: Company Town

Jonathan Berr / InvestorPlace:

Patch's dizzyingly fast ramp-up is being dismantled just as quickly, with a cascade of layoffs — Patch's dizzyingly fast ramp-up is being dismantled just as quickly, with a cascade of layoffs — AOL (NYSE:AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong is dragging the Internet company into the 21st century, and it isn't pretty.

Discussion: Bits

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Corrected: Murdoch internal watchdog seeks improved security — (Reuters) - A senior member of the unit Rupert Murdoch created to clean up reporting practices at his British newspapers has consulted a private firm about improving the security system at his home, a spokesman for the official said.

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

Hulu refreshes its website with a 55% larger video player — Hulu rolled out a huge update to its website user interface today, increasing the size of its video player by 55 percent. — The updated look makes a lot of sense since Hulu's number one draw is current season TV shows …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Gizmodo, SlashGear, SocialTimes, Engadget, The Next Web, Home Media Magazine and Hulu Blog

Guardian:

Trinity Mirror raids pension pot — Daily Mirror publisher expected to come under scrutiny after declaring £55m rise in scheme's funding deficit — Trinity Mirror is under fire for using its pension fund to pay off US creditors. The publisher of the Daily Mirror …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Guardian

Maryclaire Dale / Associated Press:

Philly Newspapers Shedding 40 Workers This Month — Philadelphia's two largest newspapers will lose 40 more newsroom employees this month, prompting union leaders Thursday to accuse management of bungling a tablet computer launch, censoring stories and deriding print newspapers as “legacy products.”

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

Guardian:

News Corp and Permira sell NDS to Cisco for $5bn — Rupert Murdoch group expected to make $1bn and private equity firm $2bn by offloading pay-TV encryption company — Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and private equity firm Permira have sold pay-TV encryption company NDS to Cisco in a $5bn …

Discussion: Business Week, Deal Journal India, Radio & Television …, AllThingsD, Reuters, Home Media Magazine, paidContent:UK and AllThingsD

Gene Weingarten / Washington Post:

Publish and perish — This is excerpted from a speech I gave last week at the Tucson Festival of Books. — Most people here are readers, not writers, so I thought I'd share some dirty little secrets with you from inside the world of book publishing. When you see a book …

BBC:

Swedish investigation into The Pirate Bay ‘deepens’ — The domain name registrar Binero refused to answer all the police's questions — The Pirate Bay file-sharing site appears to be the subject of a deepening investigation by the Swedish authorities. — Binero, the Swedish company …

Discussion: WebProNews and CNET

Amy Wicks / WWD:

Time Style & Design Returns — BACK IN STYLE: After a long hibernation, Time Style & Design has returned. The fashion spin-off of Time magazine stopped publishing in September 2009, when advertising was hard to come by, but publisher Kim Kelleher said the title is ready for a comeback.