Mediagazer: What Is an Alt-Weekly? — We've been trying to figure that out for 35 years (Lee Gardner/Baltimore City Paper)

4:00 PM ET, March 29, 2012

Top News:

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 — Scotland Yard's head of communications, Dick Fedorcio, has resigned immediately after the force opened disciplinary proceedings against him. An inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into Fedorcio's award …

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 and BBC

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

Guardian:
Daily Mail made 1,728 potentially illegal requests to private detective

Discussion: Press Gazette

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, ZDNet, mediabistro.com, MediaShift and Adweek

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, Media Buyer Planner, Canadian Magazines, eMedia Vitals and JIMROMENESKO.COM

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

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

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: New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, The Week, Daily Dot 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: New York Magazine and @weareyourfek

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

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, Gawker, Inside Higher Ed and Gawker

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

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Barnes & Noble Incorporates In Germany, Closest Sign Yet Of European Nook Launch — Just as Amazon is launching a new Kindle (but not the Fire tablet, yet) in Europe, one of its big competitors is taking one more step in its bid to enter the European market: Barnes & Noble has incorporated a new company …

Discussion: Betabeat, Engadget and Softpedia News