Mediagazer: Think Again: The End of Newspapers and the Decline of Democracy (Eric Alterman/Center for American …)

8:35 PM ET, March 23, 2012

Top News:

Variety up for sale — Reed Business Information ("RBI") today announced it is beginning a process to sell Variety, the leading title for the entertainment industry. This follows the divestment by RBI of its other US business magazines over the past three years.

Discussion: The Wrap, FOLIO, New York Times, AdAge, The Huffington Post, MediaPost, Radio & Television …, Company Town, The Atlantic Wire, FishbowlLA, @learmonth, @tcarmody, LA Observed and Deadline.com

Erik Wemple:

Geraldo on Trayvon Martin's hoodie: It's got to be a hoax — The video above appears to feature Geraldo Rivera on Fox News attributing Trayvon Martin's killing to his wearing a hoodie. Here's the apparent comment: … No way, I told myself. This has to be another Internet hoax.

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Geraldo's hoodie comments: Definitely not a hoax — Despite my hopes, the Fox News segment this morning in which Geraldo Rivera blamed the hoodie for the death of Trayvon Martin is no hoax. Here's the stuff that I figured was phony: … Convinced that Geraldo hadn't actually said that …

Discussion: Poynter and TVNewser

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Looking for answers for nypost.com, Rupert Murdoch and Col Allan rely on a standby general: Jesse Angelo — It's been a few weeks since The New York Post lost the editor of its website, Erle Norton, to Reuters, where he is now working for fellow ex-Post editor Dan Colarusso.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and New York Magazine

Greg Sandoval / CNET:

Google Play mulls movie sales — Google Play is on the march. Execs there have spoken to some of the film studios about offering Android users the option to buy titles. The formerly named Android Market currently offers rentals. — Follow @sandoCNET — When you rent a movie on Play Movies …

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, Google Operating System, The Verge, Softpedia News and Digital Spy

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

WSJ Can Change Digital Subscriber Price On The Fly Says Court — In 2006, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal (NSDQ: NWS) spun off financial magazine Barron's Online and required subscribers to pay more if they wanted to keep reading Barron's. This week, angry customers who sued learned …

Discussion: Talking Biz News and Technology & …

Matt DeRienzo / NewspaperTurnaround.Com:

Patch ignored early advice about one journalist-per-town model — Before Tim Armstrong launched Patch, jumped from Google to AOL, bought it from his own investment group and expanded it across the nation, he ignored early advice suggesting that the hyperlocal's one-journalist-per-town model would not work.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Reporter Murray Weiss sticks by his story about John Edwards and the soccer-mom madam as former senator's attorneys threaten — John Edwards' attorneys have threatened litigation against local news website DNAinfo after the site published a report Thursday about the former senator and presidential candidate …

Discussion: Politico, Gawker, Gothamist and msnbc.com

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

The AP's Weak Coverage of Its New Boss — The Associated Press has a new CEO. So how does the AP cover it? Not very well. — AP hired McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt to be its new CEO, which raises a couple of obvious questions. First: The AP hired an old-line newspaper executive to be their digital-age CEO?

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Embracing the stream: ITV's new Twitter-inspired news site breaks the day's news into pieces — British network ITV unveiled a bold new look for its news site Monday — one that favors newness over editorial control, rethinks what a “story” is, and takes inspiration from the Twitter …

Amanda Kaiser / WWD:

Lagerfeld Fires Back at Tina Brown — TOKYO — Never one to hold back on his opinions, Karl Lagerfeld stayed true to form at a press conference here on Friday, where he spoke at length on a wide range of subjects, from his love of architect Tadao Ando and stationary to his inability to get tired …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Mediaite, The New York Observer and Capital New York

Eric Alterman / Center for American Progress:

Think Again: The End of Newspapers and the Decline of Democracy — A newspaper rack is shown in Palo Alto, California. Newspaper revenue fell to its lowest level since 1984 last year. — If newspapers were a baseball team, they would be the Mets—without the hope for “next year.”

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

OWN's Lesson For Yahoo: Big Names Don't Necessarily Equal Hit Channels — As companies like Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) make big investments into video content channels with name-brand film and television talent, they might want to consider the plight of basic cable's Oprah Winfrey Network.

Discussion: the Econsultancy blog and 24/7 Wall St.