Mediagazer: Phone-Hacking Scandal Comes to the U.S. (Mike Giglio/The Daily Beast)

8:00 AM ET, April 12, 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.

Tim Carmody / Wired:

Jeff Bezos Should Send Eric Holder a Christmas Card — I can imagine Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Seattle this morning, reading the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit on a gigantic Kindle Fire XL prototype, and grinning ear to ear, savoring every word. — When he's finished, the grin comes off his face but lingers around his eyes.

Discussion: business.time.com, CNET, CJR and Techland

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.

The United States Department of Justice:
Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the E-books Press Conference

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

Discussion: Mike Cane's xBlog, The Digital Reader and Kindle Review

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:
States pile on, claim Apple e-book conspiracy cost consumers $100 million

Discussion: Publishers Lunch, GigaOM, CT.gov Portal, parislemon, VentureBeat, Digits, PR Newswire and Bloomberg

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

Discussion: paidContent

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.

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Fox News Responds To Gawker Mole: 'Joe Muto Is Fired Effective April 12′ — The Gawker “Fox News Mole” saga has unraveled itself at breakneck speeds today and continues to do so, as earlier tonight Joe Muto, formerly an associate producer at The O'Reilly Factor, wrote on Gawker that he had been indefinitely suspended with pay.

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed, Gawker, The Huffington Post and Mediaite

Jack Shafer:
Fox mole hunting

Discussion: Inside Cable News, BuzzFeed, Gawker and @carr2n

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: Business Insider and The Wrap

Brian Farnham / Patch Blog:

This isn't goodbye... As you heard on today's All-Company call, after four years as Editor-in-Chief of Patch, I'm moving on. My last day is May 4. I'm leaving for an assortment of reasons, but I'm glad to be able to say that none of them is negative. I love Patch, and I plan on staying …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, NetNewsCheck Latest, VentureBeat, Street Fight, @jayrosen_nyu, @romenesko, JIMROMENESKO.COM and FishbowlNY

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: Deadline.com, msnbc.com, Journalism.co.uk, Press Gazette, NetNewsCheck Latest, The Independent, The New York Observer, Daily Mail, New York Magazine and Guardian

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: Journalism.co.uk, Center for Investigative …, Network News, Media Decoder and San Francisco Peninsula …

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

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

Vikram Dodd / Guardian:

Met police ‘showed poor judgment’ in hiring former News of the World deputy — Former Scotland Yard press chief Dick Fedorcio criticised in wake of phone-hacking revelations for giving Neil Wallis contract — An independent report has criticised the Metropolitan police for “blurring” …

Discussion: Press Gazette, The Independent, Journalism.co.uk, BBC, ipcc.gov.uk, Associated Press and Telegraph

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: Journalism.co.uk, Media Week, Google Mobile Blog, MediaNama, CNET, ZDNet, GigaOM, App Advice and The Next Web

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Hearst Programs Its Brands for YouTube — Can print publishers hold their own in the unfamiliar world of high-quality TV? Hearst, one of the publishers that have signed on to YouTube's quality content push, will soon provide some answers with its two forthcoming YouTube channels.

Discussion: Daily Dot

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:

The Daily What Founder Neetzan Zimmerman Grows Out of Memes, Moves to Gawker — Zimmerman. — In the age of the personal brand, it's surprising to come across a successful web proprietor who's not concerned with byline clout and self portraits, but Neetzan Zimmerman might be both the quietest and most obsessive blogger of his kind.

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

‘Good Morning America’ Expanding to the Afternoon — ABC's “The Revolution” is being canceled and replaced by an extra hour of “Good Morning America,” in the afternoon. The hour will broadcast live at 2pmET/1pmCT and will be hosted by members of the GMA team.

Discussion: Deadline.com, Broadcasting & Cable and The Huffington Post