Mediagazer: Merger means the new Bay Citizen will be more investigative and experimental (Adrienne LaFrance/Nieman Journalism Lab)

6:00 PM ET, March 30, 2012

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Current TV Dismisses Keith Olbermann — 5:13 p.m. | Updated Current TV said Friday afternoon that it had terminated the contract of its lead anchor, Keith Olbermann, scarcely a year after he was hired to reboot the fledgling channel in his progressive political image.

Current TV:

Open letter to the viewers of Current — To the Viewers of Current: — We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet. We are more committed to those goals today than ever before.

Discussion: AdAge, TVbytheNumbers, ThinkProgress and The Daily Caller

Keach Hagey / Politico:

Keith Olbermann to file against Current TV — I'd like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV. — Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally …

Jonathan Stempel / Thomson Reuters News …:

Unpaid bloggers' lawsuit vs Huffington Post tossed — AOL Inc on Friday won the dismissal of a lawsuit by unpaid bloggers who complained they were deprived of their fair share of the roughly $315 million that the company paid last March to buy The Huffington Post website.

Discussion: Associated Press, Forbes, Bloomberg and @dangillmor

Jim Romenesko:

Huffington Post reacts to judge's ruling — The Huffington Post has reacted to a judge's ruling against unpaid bloggers who sued Arianna & Co. Here's the statement that HuffPo sent to media reporters:

Jeane MacIntosh / New York Post:

Soccer Mom madam and The Post — Anna Gristina, the notorious soccer mom madam, does have a relationship with someone at the New York Post. It's me. — Gristina has been a source on several stories I've written at the paper, most notably on Page Six. — This week, the New York Observer published …

Discussion: Politico, @dylanbyers and @mlcalderone

Martin Dunn / Guardian:

New York's uneasy tabloid truce — When I edited the Daily News, a day hardly passed without a gloves-off scrap with our rival, the Post. So what changed? — In the sad, cost-cutting world of New York City newspapers, the “war of words” has become the “bore of words”.

Discussion: Politico, The New York Observer, Gawker, @megan, The Huffington Post and The New York Observer

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Tale of the tape: ‘Observer’ won't retract story about ‘Post’ editor Col Allan and soccer-mom madam Anna Gristina

Discussion: Capital New York and New York Magazine

Alicia Shepard / Poynter:

The iconic photos of Trayvon Martin & George Zimmerman & why you may not see the others — Since the shooting of Trayvon Martin became national news, two photos have come to define the emotionally and racially charged narrative. — News organizations initially had just a few photos of Martin …

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Mediaite, MarketWatch and Orlando Sentinel

Robert Mackey / The Lede:
Bloggers Cherry-Pick From Social Media to Cast Trayvon Martin as a Menace

Discussion: Journalism.org, Mediaite, Christian Science Monitor, BAGnewsNotes, Poynter, Riptide 2.0 and The Huffington Post

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Maxim Minimized. Big Layoffs Hit Men's Mag Web and Editorial Staff — The Internet killed the magazine star. There's been a major round of layoffs at Maxim magazine. Senior Editor Seth Porges is at least one employee who got the axe, according to our sources and confirmed by a recent update …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Adweek, Media Buyer Planner, MediaPost, The Verge, Canadian Magazines and eMedia Vitals, Thanks:@joshconstine

Media Decoder:

Philadelphia Newspapers Set to Be Sold to Local Leaders — A consortium of local business and political leaders is poised to purchase the Philadelphia Media Network, publisher of The Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com, according to several people familiar with the negotiations.

Discussion: The FJP, mediabistro.com and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Maryclaire Dale / Associated Press:
Philly newspapers may trade hands Monday

Discussion: Philly.com

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

March Madness Digital Viewing Generates $60 Million in Ad Sales for Turner, CBS — Total Doesn't Include Subscriptions for Mobile Access — It's not a revenue number that's going to convince many that a long-awaited reallocation of TV dollars to digital has arrived.

Discussion: Adweek and eMedia Vitals, Thanks:@delrey

Anton Troianovski / Wall Street Journal:

Verizon Pitches Mobile Video — Verizon Communications Inc. Chief Executive Lowell C. McAdam said the company could have a wireless video service by year-end that lets pay-TV subscribers see some content on their mobile devices if regulators approve a proposed cable partnership.

Discussion: Hillicon Valley, PC Magazine, CNET, GigaOM, The Verge, NetNewsCheck Latest, SeekingAlpha.com and Engadget

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Ex Goldman Sachs Exec Greg Smith Gets $1.5 Million Book Deal — Sorry to start your Friday out like this, but we've got to tell you: The rich do, in fact, get richer. Greg Smith, the former Goldman Sachs executive who quit with a hilarious New York Times Op-Ed, is getting $1.5 million to write a memoir.

Discussion: Forbes, New York Post, Media Decoder, The Awl, msnbc.com, The Wrap, Fox Business, @benfritz and GalleyCat

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Netflix Sharpens Focus On DVDs With DVD.com, But Don't Cry Qwikster. (It's Staying) — Netflix has been making a few moves to separate its DVD business more from its streaming operation, and today brings news of the latest move in that direction: the company has bought the domain name DVD.com, the company has confirmed to us.

Discussion: Domain Name Wire, Multichannel, GigaOM, AllThingsD, The Atlantic Wire, The Next Web, The Verge and Engadget

Alexa Kravitz / American Journalism Review:

Many political talk shows are hosted by non-journalists. Is there a problem with that? — Should journalism experience be a requirement for hosting a political talk show? MSNBC President Phil Griffin certainly doesn't think so. His hires on the liberal-leaning network include non …

Discussion: The FJP

Jim Romenesko:

City of Sanford backs off on threat to arrest reporters — On Wednesday, the City of Sanford issued a press release asking the media to “refrain from approaching, phoning or emailing city employees when they are in their roles as private citizens” and warning that “law enforcement officials …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Orlando Sentinel, TVSpy and The Raw Story

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Paywall Promos: How Far Should Newspapers Open The Door? — As newspapers lock content behind paywalls, marketers are opening that same content right back up again through campaigns that provide readers with temporary access for free. The idea seems a good one but newspapers are still experimenting with when and how to do it.

Discussion: the Econsultancy blog, PC Magazine, BtoB Magazine and ZDNet