Mediagazer: DOJ Announces Terms of Settlement With 3 Publishers in E-Book Lawsuit (Tim Carmody/Wired)

9:35 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.

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 …

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: Forbes, Broadcasting & Cable, parislemon, Jacket Copy, The Verge, Bloomberg, The Digital Reader, Mike Cane's xBlog, GalleyCat, Bookseller news, Multichannel and TeleRead

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: Publishers Lunch, CT.gov Portal, GigaOM, CNET, Digits, VentureBeat, Business Insider and Bloomberg

Tim Carmody / Wired:

DOJ Announces Terms of Settlement With 3 Publishers in E-Book Lawsuit — 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: The Digital Reader, Mike Cane's xBlog, Kindle Review, SlashGear and WebProNews

Jeremy Greenfield / Digital Book World:

Amidst Justice Department Lawsuit, Kindle E-Book Prices Rise Sharply — E-book prices for Amazon's best-selling e-books have spiked in the past several weeks amidst heated speculation that the U.S. Department of Justice would file a lawsuit against Apple and some of the largest U.S. publishers alleging an e-book price-fixing scheme.

Tim Carmody / Wired:
Jeff Bezos Should Send Eric Holder a Christmas Card

Discussion: CJR, CNET, Amazon Appstore Developer Blog, Audience Development and GeekWire

Claire Davenport / Reuters:
EU receives proposals to close e-book probe

Discussion: paidContent

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.

Joe Muto / Gawker:

Hi Roger. It's Me, Joe: The Fox Mole — Hi. My name is Joe Muto. I was the Fox Mole. — Two hours ago I was called into a meeting with Dianne Brandi, the Fox News Executive Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs and suspended indefinitely... with pay, oddly enough. — They nailed me.

Discussion: Mediaite, TVNewser, @weareyourfek, @craigsilverman, @joemuto, UPROXX, News on News, FishbowlNY and Business Insider

Jack Shafer:
Fox mole hunting

Discussion: Mediaite, @carr2n, Gawker and Boing Boing

Steve Myers / Poynter:

The Bay Citizen ends its relationship with NYT, but Texas Tribune lives on — Robert Rosenthal, executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting, has confirmed a tweet from The Bay Citizen's Jeanne Carstensen saying that it is ending its relationship with The New York Times as of April 29.

Discussion: Center for Investigative …, Network News and San Francisco Peninsula …

Lauren Rabaino / 10,000 Words:
CIR Launching YouTube Channel For Investigative News Video

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

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Patch Editor In Chief Brian Farnham Is Leaving AOL — The week of big news out of AOL continues: Brian Farnham, editor in chief of the Patch network of hyperlocal news sites, is leaving. He announced his departure on a conference call with employees late Wednesday as well as in a blog post.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Street Fight, The Wrap, Patch Blog, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Business Insider, FishbowlNY and New York Magazine

Mike Giglio / The Daily Beast:

Phone-Hacking Scandal Comes to the U.S. — In an exclusive interview, a London lawyer reveals his plans to take on Murdoch on behalf of clients who believe their phones were hacked in America. — Fleet Street lawyer Mark Lewis is coming to America this week—and he's bringing the phone-hacking scandal with him.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Guardian and Daily Mail

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Photojournalist sues cop, Suffolk County, N.Y., over right to videotape police — Photojournalist Phil Datz has sued Suffolk County, N.Y. and the officer who arrested him while he was filming a police scene last year. Attorneys for the National Press Photographers Association …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Thanks:@myersnews

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Takes Its Flipboard Competitor Currents Global — Last December, Google launched Currents, its attempt at challenging popular mobile apps like Flipboard and Zite. Since then, the company has added about 400 new publishers and over 14,000 self-published editions to its lineup .

Discussion: Google Mobile Blog, CNET, ZDNet, GigaOM, The Next Web and App Advice

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: Poynter, Jobs Rated, Jobs Rated, JIMROMENESKO.COM, PR Newswire and Big News Network.com

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, TechCrunch, Shareaholic Blog, Techland, Inside Facebook, The Next Web, VentureBeat, AllThingsD, CNET, Media Week, The Verge and Journalism.co.uk

MediaShift:

Governments Increasingly Targeting Twitter Users for Expressing Their Opinion — This piece is co-authored by Trevor Timm. — In its six years of existence, Twitter has staked out a position as the most free speech-friendly social network. Its utility in the uprisings that swept …