Mediagazer: Apple Preparing to Defend Price Agreement With Publishers (Bloomberg)

12:05 PM ET, April 6, 2012

Top News:

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Matt Lauer to Stay With NBC's ‘Today’ Show — NBC News has signed Matt Lauer to a new multiyear contract to remain as the co-host of the “Today” show, addressing one of the division's most pressing issues. — The news will be announced formally on the air during the show Friday morning.

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

On Air, an ‘Excited’ Matt Lauer Confirms His Plans — Matt Lauer, the co-host of the “Today” show, told viewers on Friday that he had decided to stay on the show, putting to rest months of talk in the media industry that he might opt to leave when his contract expires later this year.

Discussion: TVNewser and Mediaite

Reuters:

NBC probe centers on staffer in shooting story error — (Reuters) - An internal NBC News probe has determined a “seasoned” producer was to blame for a misleading clip of a 911 call that the network broadcast during its coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting, according to two sources at the network.

Discussion: TVNewser and Business Insider

Nat Ives / AdAge:

NFL Magazine Shutting Down After Four Issues — League Ends Relationship With Publisher — The National Football League is shutting down NFL Magazine after just four issues. — The NFL has ended its business relationship with Dauphin Media Group, the company it hired to publish …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, New York Post and ProFootballTalk

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Current TV responds to Olbermann's lawsuit — Current TV spokesperson Laura Nelson forwards the company's official reaction to Keith Olbermann's lawsuit, which he filed today against the network:

Discussion: The Raw Story

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:
Keith Olbermann Files Lawsuit Against Current TV (Read the Complaint)

Discussion: Chickaboomer, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, msnbc.com, @mlcalderone, TMZ, New York Magazine and Politico

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Current TV Disputes Reuters Report They're In Danger Of Being Dropped By Time Warner

Discussion: TVNewser, Media Decoder, @peterlauria3, TVNewser, Business Insider, Reuters, The Huffington Post, Chickaboomer and The New York Observer

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

OC Register assigns 70 reporters to cover one baseball game — Usually, when the majority of reporters in a newsroom rallies around coverage of a single story or event — floods the zone, you might say — something really big is breaking. Maybe a mass shooting, a tsunami, or a terrorist attack.

Discussion: College Media Matters, CBS Los Angeles, LAist, JIMROMENESKO.COM and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Lance Whitney / CNET:

More people using TV and tablets at same time — A new global survey from Nielsen finds more people busying themselves with their tablets and smartphones while sitting in front of the TV. — Follow @lancewhit — Do you check e-mail while you watch TV? If so, you're far from alone.

Discussion: paidContent, TUAW, Nielsen Wire, VatorNews, ZDNet, VentureBeat and TechCrunch

Tim Carmody / Wired:

Sleeping E-Book Giant Google Rolls Over Bookstore Partners — In the year since Judge Denny Chin invalidated Google's agreement with the Authors' Guild to display and sell digital editions of orphaned works, the towering monolith of search has been a sleeping giant in e-books.

Discussion: news.bookweb.org, Google Book Search Blog, Melville House Books, the Econsultancy blog, paidContent and paidContent

Bloomberg:

Apple Preparing to Defend Price Agreement With Publishers — Apple Inc. (AAPL) and two publishers are preparing to fight the U.S. Justice Department in court if necessary over pricing agreements for digital books, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Discussion: ZDNet

James Eng / msnbc.com:

‘Three Cups of Tea’ author Greg Mortenson must pay $1 million to charity — Award-winning “Three Cups of Tea” author Greg Mortenson has agreed to pay $1 million to a nonprofit he co-founded to settle allegations that he misspent charity money on personal items such as plane flights …

Discussion: CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, Helena Independent Record, BBC, Guardian and Publishers Lunch

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

NYU releases list of ‘100 Outstanding Journalists’ — Ring the alarm bells, defenders of traditional journalism! New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute is marking a century of journalistic education with...a listicle? — Actually, defenders of traditional journalism …

David Folkenflik / NPR:

The Roots Of An Empire: Rupert Murdoch's Australia … Rupert Murdoch takes over the Daily Mirror, a Sydney tabloid, in May 1960. Sometimes soft-spoken, but invariably hard-driving, Murdoch acquired major papers in every Australian state. He bought TV stations and established the first truly national daily.

Discussion: Capital New York and Guardian