Mediagazer: Limbaugh sees heat over comments turn down to a simmer (Paul Farhi/Washington Post)

4:35 PM ET, March 29, 2012

Top News:

Mike Shields / Adweek:

Google Unveils New Revenue Option for Web Publishers — Google has long been accused of being a content stealer, and/or a value-destroyer in certain publishing circles. Mark Cuban, the outspoken head of HD Network and the Dallas Mavericks, has referred to Google derisively as a “vampire” …

Discussion: DigiDave

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Google Partners With Pandora, AdWeek, NYDN On New Paywall ‘Substitute’ — Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is rolling out a new product, “Google Consumer Surveys,” that lets publishers monetize content through “microsurveys” created by companies that want to carry out inexpensive market research.

Discussion: Google Small Business, MediaShift, Adweek, ZDNet and mediabistro.com

Australian Finance Review:

Federal police join News probe — The Australian Federal Police has revealed it is working with UK police investigating the News Corporation phone hacking scandal in a statement hours after The Australian Financial Review exposed News's role in high-tech piracy that sabotaged its pay TV rivals …

Discussion: @rupertmurdoch, @davidfolkenflik and Digital Spy

Sandra Laville / Guardian:
Dick Fedorcio resigns after Met opens disciplinary action

Discussion: @dvnjr and @dvnjr

Cahal Milmo / The Independent:
Murdoch company in pay-TV piracy scandal ‘paid Surrey Police’

Discussion: Telegraph

Ben Dowell / Guardian:
Rupert Murdoch blasts ‘lies and libels’

Discussion: Guardian, BBC and Guardian

Dina Rickman / Huffington Post UK: Leveson Inquiry: Kit Malthouse Reveals £40m Cost Of Phone Hacking Probe

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Magazines' Digital Circulation More Than Doubles — But Remains Small — Fast-Growing Digital Still Just 1% of Publishers' Total — Magazines more than doubled their paid digital circulation in the most recent reporting period, but print remains the overwhelming majority of their business …

Discussion: MediaPost, FishbowlNY, The Verge, Media Buyer Planner, Canadian Magazines, eMedia Vitals and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Limbaugh sees heat over comments turn down to a simmer — View Photo Gallery — Rush Limbaugh is no stranger to controversial statements: A month after conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut,” the heat on him is fading.

Discussion: Deadline.com, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, The Week, Daily Dot, Associated Press and Chickaboomer

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Col Allan's Special Friendship With Anna Gristina and Why the Daily News Dropped the Scoop — FRIENDS FOREVER: New York Daily News editor Colin Myler, and his former boss, New York Post editor Col Allan. — There's one intriguing one scoop in the ongoing saga of the Soccer Mom Madam …

Discussion: Gawker, New York Magazine, @megan and @weareyourfek

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

For a Week, Couric Will Co-Host ‘Good Morning America’ — Katie Couric, during an earlier appearance on “Good Morning America,” which she will co-host next week. — Next week, Katie Couric will co-host the news on ABC's “Good Morning America.” — It's a one-week role for the former co-host of …

Discussion: Media Decoder, The Wrap, Forbes, TVNewser and @learmonth

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Washington Post, Ars Technica, BuzzFeed ensnared by April Fools' hoax linked to Kanye West — A fake website claiming to be linked to Kanye West's new company DONDA went up this week and managed to fool The Washington Post, Ars Technica, and BuzzFeed. — The hoax website is called Whodat.biz …

Discussion: Gizmodo, BuzzFeed, Ars Technica and Betabeat

Dylan Byers / Politico:

WaPo names John Temple managing editor — The Washington Post has named John Temple, former editor and publisher of Rocky Mountain News, as managing editor, confirming Keach Hagey's report here yesterday. — From the Post's press release:

Discussion: @johntemplecb, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Poynter

The Daily Texan:

Apology from The Daily Texan Editorial Board — Update: The cartoon was taken down from The Daily Texan website. On Tuesday, a cartoon ran on the Opinion page of The Daily Texan that offended many readers, and we sincerely apologize for our decision to run it.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Inside Higher Ed, Gawker and Gawker

Steve Myers / Poynter:

‘This American Life’ pulls too-good-to-be-true Stephen Glass stories (again) — In the wake of its retraction of Mike Daisey's exposé on Apple, “This American Life” has pulled three Stephen Glass stories done in the late 1990s. In a Friday blog post, the show says that staff recently learned …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Boston Globe and Media Nation

Lee Gardner / Baltimore City Paper:

What Is an Alt-Weekly? — We've been trying to figure that out for 35 years — Someone asked me that question recently, and I opened my mouth and started to talk. It's a question that comes up enough that I have a couple of standard answers I can riff on.

Discussion: Erik Wemple and AAN