Mediagazer: Al-Jazeera Gets Rap as Qatar Mouthpiece (Bloomberg)

10:35 AM ET, April 10, 2012

Top News:

Guardian moves into journalism training business — Guardian News and Media is set to diversify into journalism training. — The newspaper group, which made losses before tax of £33m last year, is understood to be set to launch a course offering training in digital journalism at a cost …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and Guy Fawkes' blog

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

The Guardian Lost $50 Million Last Year — The Guardian is widely respected for breaking such huge stories as the News International phone hacking scandal, but Alan Rusbridger, its Edit0r-in-Chief, knows that while admiration is nice, money is necessary. He tells New York that the fantastic paper lost …

Steve Fishman / New York Magazine:

63 Minutes With Alan Rusbridger — The Guardian is a very different kind of beast from other papers," Alan Rusbridger tells me, strolling through the British newspaper's new American office, a bright-white Soho loft with rows of bright-white tabletops—almost a fantasy of European cool. "

Guido Fawkes:

Motorman: Britain's Biggest Establishment Cover-Up Thousands of Crimes Committed By Over 300 Journalists Protected from Exposure by a Judge and Newspaper Editors — If a police-led investigation uncovered thousands of crimes committed by over 300 suspected serial criminals …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk and Press Gazette

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Operation Motorman: Guido Fawkes under fire over publication of files — The Information Commissioner's Office has said it “strongly condemns” the partial publication by the Guido Fawkes blog of its Operation Motorman files on alleged breaches of the Data Protection Act by journalists.

Discussion: @GuidoFawkes, Hacking inquiry and Journalism.co.uk

Jesselyn Radack / Salon:

Obama targets journalists — For two years I have been writing about the criminalization of whistleblowing, or as Glenn Greenwald has put it more aptly, the “war on whistleblowers.” I'm an attorney with the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower organization.

Discussion: Government Accountability …

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

More journalists linked to case charging ex-CIA officer with leaks about interrogators — The identities of journalists who allegedly received illegal leaks from former CIA officer John Kiriakou are spilling into the public domain in the wake of his indictment last week on charges that he disclosed …

Discussion: MOTHERBOARD and Techdirt

Micah L. Sifry / TechPresident:

Watergate and the Internet: A Cautionary Tale From Bob Woodward — Last Tuesday at the American Society of News Editors annual conference, on a panel called “Watergate 4.: How Would the Story Unfold in the Digital Age?” veteran investigative journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein …

Discussion: Jay Rosen and techpresident.com/node/feed

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Limbaugh to Leave AM Station in Philadelphia — “The Rush Limbaugh Show” is leaving the dominant conservative talk radio station in Philadelphia, one of the biggest radio markets in the country. — In its place on the station, WPHT, will go “The Michael Smerconish Show,” hosted by Mr. Smerconish, a native of the city.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Media Matters for America, ThinkProgress and Chickaboomer

Bloomberg:

Al-Jazeera Gets Rap as Qatar Mouthpiece — Having built considerable goodwill among various Arab publics tired of state-run TV, Al-Jazeera is facing a slew of criticisms from commentators who argue the channel has gone off track. — The strength of the regional station …

Alexander Zaitchik / Salon:

Amazon's $1 million secret — By quietly supporting small presses and literary nonprofits, is Amazon backing book culture or buying off critics? — The Brooklyn Book Festival's website debuts a new feature this year called OnePage. Every week from March through September …

Discussion: TeleRead and bookforum.com

John Morton / American Journalism Review:

A Newspaper Buying Spree — Despite their declining value and much-publicized woes, papers are attracting interest. Thurs., April 5, 2012. — John Morton (mortoninc@msn.com), a former newspaper reporter, is president of a consulting firm that analyzes newspapers and other media properties.

Discussion: New York Times