Mediagazer: Take a Lesson from Print Media: Clean Up Web Layouts (Matt Sanchez/AdAge)

8:45 PM ET, March 31, 2012

Top News:

Keith Olbermann / TwitLonger:

My full statement: — 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, while I've been not publicizing my complaints …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Show Tracker, Business Insider, Adweek, The FJP, RumorFix and TVbytheNumbers

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: Radio & Television …, Gawker, Speakeasy, Top Digital Journal News, Gothamist, Forbes, Media & Entertainment, Guardian, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, AdAge and paidContent

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
Keith Olbermann Out At Current TV, Replaced By Eliot Spitzer

Discussion: TMZ.com, Forbes and Business Insider

Matt Sanchez / AdAge:

Take a Lesson from Print Media: Clean Up Web Layouts — Amid the Clutter, With Too Many Entry Points, Viewers Can't Focus on the the Content — 5,000. That's the average number of ads and marketing messages Americans are exposed to each day, and if you're online reading this, I'd skew that number higher.

Erik Wemple:

NBC to do ‘internal investigation’ on Zimmerman segment — NBC told this blog today that it would investigate its handling of a piece on the “Today” show that ham-handedly abridged the conversation between George Zimmerman and a dispatcher in the moments before the death of Trayvon Martin.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and @romenesko

Tania Branigan / Guardian:

Censorship in China: Crackdown on bloggers as rumours of coup swirl — Six people are held and 16 websites shut down as political crisis grips Beijing after sacking — China has intensified online censorship by closing 16 websites, taking the toughest steps yet against major microblogs …

Discussion: AllThingsD, BBC, @jeffjarvis and The Next Web

Farhad Manjoo / Slate:

Apple Doesn't Need To Make the TV of the Future — The revolution is already here—and it's called the Xbox. — If the rumors are true, Apple will release a television set later this year that it will tout as the most amazing boob tube ever invented. Apple's TV will be able to access shows …

Discussion: TechNet Blogs

David Bauder / Associated Press:

CBS expands ‘Face the Nation’ to 1 hour on Sunday — NEW YORK (AP) — Five years ago, just off a bout from cancer, Bob Schieffer was set to retire from CBS's “Face the Nation.” That never stuck, and now he's doubling his workload. — Starting Sunday, the public affairs program expands to an hour.

Discussion: TVNewser

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, Politico, Bloomberg, Forbes and @dangillmor

Jim Romenesko: Huffington Post reacts to judge's ruling

Walter Shapiro / CJR:

Why is the Press So Ready to Count Santorum Out? — Voters think their primary choices still matter — The front-page story in the March 18th New York Times seemed a case of political life imitating art. A revival of The Best Man—Gore Vidal's 1960 ode to the drama of a brokered convention—was in previews on Broadway.

Discussion: Washington Wire

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Healthy snacks, ‘digital first’ and the speed of the news industry's transformation — Reading stories about the travails of non-media companies, I find myself drawn to analogies to the plight of the newspaper industry. — Thus I was stopped short a few weeks back by a New York Times report on a strategy shift at PepsiCo.

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu

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: The New York Observer, @dylanbyers, @mlcalderone, Gawker and Politico

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: Gothamist, JIMROMENESKO.COM, New York Magazine and Guardian

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

E-Book Sales For Kids And Teens Surge — New monthly stats from the Association of American Publishers show strong growth for both print and e-books in January 2012. — The AAP is beefing up its monthly reports with data from many more publishers—1,149 for January 2012 compared to under 100 …

Discussion: the Econsultancy blog and The Verge