Mediagazer: Newsroom staffing hits 34-year low (Newsosaur/Reflections of a Newsosaur)

4:50 PM ET, April 5, 2012

Top News:

Sky News admits hacking emails of ‘canoe man’ — Sky News has admitted that one of its senior executives authorised a journalist to conduct email hacking on two separate occasions that it said were “in the public interest” - even though intercepting emails is a prima facie breach of the Computer Misuse Act …

Discussion: Guardian, BBC, The Verge, Poynter, Press Gazette, NPR, Journalism.co.uk, Press Association, ZDNet, @dansabbagh, @jackofkent, Media & Entertainment, Hacked off, Naked Security, ThinkProgress, mnilive.com and Globe and Mail

John Ryley / Sky News:

A CASE OF DOUBLE STANDARDS? — The Guardian today published an appraisal of a story story broadcast by Sky News almost four years ago. In the 2008 case of Anne Darwin, whose “canoe man” husband John Darwin faked his own death as part of an insurance fraud, we provided the police with emails …

Josephine Moulds / Guardian: BSkyB shares plunge after Sky News admits email hacking

Reuters:
James Murdoch's BSkyB exit puts Rupert in firing line

Discussion: Financial Times and Guardian

Peter Lauria / Reuters:

Exclusive: Low ratings could end cable deal for Gore's Current TV — Al Gore's Current TV has bigger problems to deal with than a potential lawsuit from fired news anchor Keith Olbermann - namely not getting kicked off Time Warner Cable for low ratings. According to three sources with knowledge …

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite, The New York Observer, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, The Raw Story, TVbytheNumbers and Chickaboomer

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Current TV Disputes Reuters Report They're In Danger Of Being Dropped By Time Warner — In the PR war between Current TV and fired former Countdown host Keith Olbermann, the truth is the first casualty, say sources familar with the situation. Reuters is reporting that several anonymous sources …

Discussion: @peterlauria3

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

Actually, Arianna Huffington Has Been Demoted — Despite a story in today's New York Times headlined: “Huffington Gains More Control in AOL Revamping,” Arianna Huffington has in recent weeks seen a “narrowing” of her job at AOL, a source close to AOL tells us.

Discussion: @mathewi, @myersnews, @tolles and @brianstelter

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Huffington Gains More Control in AOL Revamping — One year after its acquisition by AOL, The Huffington Post has become a source of growth for the beleaguered company, which is still trying to shed its dial-up Internet image. Now, in what Arianna Huffington characterizes as a move to keep …

Discussion: Capital New York, FishbowlNY, Media Decoder, Digiday, GigaOM, TVNewser and @mathewi

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Assange: PCC stood by as I was libelled — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has launched an attack on the Press Complaints Commission, claiming he has been subjected to inaccurate and negative media coverage “possibly on a scale not seen since the abuse of the McCanns”.

Discussion: BBC and Journalism.co.uk

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Julian Assange's Talk Show Debuts Next Week; Watch the Promo — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been known to make big promises that don't always pan out, but his plan to host a current events talk show on “Russia Today” doesn't seem to be one of them.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Court Says Viacom vs. YouTube Copyright Fight Will Go Another Round — The long-running Viacom versus YouTube copyright fight will keep going a while longer: A federal court has overturned an earlier victory for Google and its giant video site, and has ordered the two sides to retry the case.

Discussion: Multichannel, Media Decoder, CNET, TechCrunch, paidContent, Home Media Magazine, Media & Entertainment, ZDNet, PC Magazine, AdAge, Techdirt, The Next Web, Company Town, Hillicon Valley and Free Press

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Wait — so how many newspapers have paywalls? — It can be hard to measure something that keeps growing. — Just over two weeks ago, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism reported that there are roughly 150 dailies in the United States that now have some form of digital subscription service.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Gannett offers 594 buyouts, begins accepting offers this week — This February Gannett said it would offer buyouts to employees in its newspaper division. In a memo to staff then, Bob Dickey, who is head of the company's U.S. community publishing division, said that 785 people met …

Discussion: Gannett Blog

Associated Press:
USA Today Begins More Staff Furloughs To Cut Costs

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Google: No more e-books for indie booksellers — Google is ending the program that allows independent booksellers to sell Google e-books through their websites. It is a big blow for small bookstores seeking to compete against Amazon and Barnes & Noble. — The full letter that the American …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Google Book Search Blog, ZDNet, 9to5Google, Wired, Publishers Lunch and WebProNews

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Leveson inquiry: Brooks granted core participant status — Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been granted core participant status for module three of the inquiry — Brooks's previous application for core participant status in module one was rejected

Discussion: Guardian

Mark Sweney / Guardian: NoW closure cost Murdoch nearly £250m

Newsosaur / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

Newsroom staffing hits 34-year low — The number of journalists working at U.S. newspapers today is at the lowest point since the American Society of News Editors began its annual newsroom census in 1978. — Newspapers now employ 40,600 editors and reporters vs. a peak of 56,900 …

Discussion: AAJA Online, Media News, rjionline.org, Jon Slattery, Gannett Blog and Poynter

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Amazon Goes Bilingual In The U.S. Kindle Store With Launch Of Spanish ‘Tienda Kindle’ — Amazon has been making some big strides in extending its footprint outside of the U.S. with its Kindle e-readers and Kindle bookstore, but today it took a step to improve how it caters to Spanish speakers closer to home …

Discussion: Forbes, Amazon.com, paidContent, PC Magazine, CNET, WebProNews, The Next Web, VatorNews and ZDNet

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

A new framework for innovation in journalism: How a computer scientist would do it — What if journalism were invented today? How would a computer scientist go about building it, improving it, iterating it? — He might start by mapping out some fundamental questions: What are the project's values and goals?

Discussion: Tow-Knight, BuzzMachine and Nick Diakopoulos

Committee to Protect Journalists:

In deadly Mogadishu blast, 10 journalists wounded — At least 10 journalists were reported injured, several of them seriously, when a bomb ripped through Somalia's newly reopened national theater in Mogadishu, local journalists told CPJ. The blast, for which the militant insurgent group …

Discussion: Guardian and New York Times

Ian Simpson / Reuters:

One-fifth of U.S. adults read e-books as market booms - survey — (Reuters) - One in five American adults read an electronic book in the last year, as gift-giving sped the shift away from the printed page, a Pew Research Center survey showed on Wednesday. — In a sweeping survey …

Discussion: Pew Internet

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

USA Today Bets on Adaptive Mobile — Newspapers are experimenting with different ways of distributing content on tablets. When it comes to mobile, most publications rush to replicate their content via an app. USA Today is thinking different. — USA Today is betting on an adaptive experience that morphs with the device.