Mediagazer: U.S. Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple, Hachette (Bob Van Voris/Bloomberg)

3:00 PM ET, April 11, 2012

Top News:

Julie Bosman / Media Decoder:

Justice Dept. Sues Apple and Publishers Over E-Book Pricing; 3 Publishers Settle — Updated The Justice Department filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple and major book publishers on Wednesday, charging that the companies colluded to raise the price of e-books in 2010.

Discussion: AdAge, GalleyCat, New York Magazine, Gothamist, Wired, Jacket Copy, @tcarmody, Mother Jones, Hillicon Valley and Bloomberg

The United States Department of Justice:

Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the E-books Press Conference — Good afternoon. Today I'm joined by Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Sharis Pozen, and Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, to announce the Justice Department's latest progress …

Discussion: paidContent, Tor.com Frontpage Partial, paidContent, Publishers Lunch, The Verge, Publishers Weekly, Bloomberg, PC Magazine, Fortune, The Digital Shift, GeekWire, @publisherswkly, @laurahazardowen, TUAW, Reuters, paidContent and CNET

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

States pile on, claim Apple e-book conspiracy cost consumers $100 million — Apple and book publishers already have their hands full after the Justice Department sued them in New York today for allegedly fixing the price of e-books. — Now, state governments are seeking their own pound of flesh.

Discussion: CT.gov Portal, CNET, Business Insider, MarketingVox News & Trends and WebProNews

Tim Carmody / Wired:

DOJ Announces Terms of Settlement With 3 Publishers in E-Book Suit — Along with filing a lawsuit against Apple and five of the “Big Six” publishers for collusion over e-book prices, the U.S. Justice Department also filed terms of a proposed settlement in the suit with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.

Discussion: Mike Cane's xBlog

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
U.S. Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple, Hachette

Jon Bershad / Mediaite:

Fox News Spokesperson Tells Mediaite: We Found The Mole (UPDATE) — So, when we asked readers how long it would take for Fox News to find the mole that Gawker had in their midst, did anyone put money down on “24 hours”? If so, it would appear that you just won the jackpot.

Discussion: Gawker, Erik Wemple, The New York Observer, Politico, New York Magazine, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, The Daily Caller, @producermatthew and Business Insider

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
Fox News Is Said to Have a Mole

Discussion: Gawker

The Fox Mole / Gawker:
Announcing Our Newest Hire: A Current Fox News Channel Employee

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Some big-six publishers refuse to sign new contracts with Amazon — At least two of the big-six publishers are refusing to sign new annual contracts with Amazon. Though that could end with their “buy” buttons being turned off, it is more likely for now that the feud will result in less promotion of their titles on Amazon's website.

Discussion: GalleyCat, Bloomberg, Bookseller news, Multichannel, Forbes, CNET, Mike Cane's xBlog, Jacket Copy and TeleRead

Lauren Rabaino / 10,000 Words:

CIR Launching YouTube Channel For Investigative News Video — The Center for Investigative Reporting will soon have a new way of sharing watchdog journalism with the masses: An investigative YouTube Channel. — The organization announced today that, in partnership with the Investigative News Network …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, Politico, LA Observed and The FJP

Jeanne Carstensen / @jcarstensen: Last day of NYT Bay Area pages is 4/29. CIR/NYT announce end of deal as CIR merger with @TheBayCitizen nears completion.

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Spotify launches Play Button for websites to stream music — Tumblr support for bloggers alongside big media websites, but no brands allowed — Spotify founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon want to become ‘the OS of music’ — Spotify has unveiled its latest attempt to beef …

Discussion: paidContent, Spotify, blogs.independent.co.uk, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, Inside Facebook, Shareaholic Blog, Techland, The Next Web, VentureBeat, CNET, The Next Web, Media Week and Journalism.co.uk

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

YouTube adds pay-per-view to live streaming — YouTube is adding monetization options to its live streaming platform, including the ability for publishers to charge for live events. The new feature was announced on YouTube's publisher blog Tuesday:

Discussion: Marketing Pilgrim, SocialTimes, YouTube Creator Blog, PC Magazine, Softpedia News, Engadget and WebProNews

Globe and Mail:

Facebook's latest intrusion: Apps that 'tell everyone what I'm reading' — In the past few days, a couple of headlines from different news organizations caught my attention on Facebook: “Supermodels without Photoshop,” read one. “Kate Moss's daughter in Vogue airbrushing blunder,” read another.

Tom Grubisich / Street Fight:

Chicago Indy Ad Network Shutting Down After Poor Sales — The Chicago Independent Advertising Network is shutting down six months after it opened for business. — Business manager Mike Fourcher, who publishes the Brown Line Media hyperlocal news sites on Chicago's North Side (all ChiAd members) …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Paul McNally / Journalism.co.uk:

Newspaper reporter: fifth worst job? US careers study seems to think so — It is not as hard work as being a lumberjack, or as dangerous as working on an oil rig - but a US careers website has published a study claiming that being a newspaper reporter or broadcaster is one of the worst jobs going.

Discussion: Jobs Rated, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM and PR Newswire

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

How Bloomberg Broke The Washington Post's Santorum Scoop — NEW YORK — The political news cycle kicked into overdrive Tuesday afternoon when Bloomberg News staffers began tweeting that Rick Santorum was leaving the Republican race. — Bloomberg TV host Emily Chang tweeted the following: “Report: Santorum dropping out.”

Discussion: Poynter