Mediagazer: Over 2/3 of U.S. libraries offer e-books; 28% lend e-readers (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

10:05 AM ET, April 12, 2012

Top News:

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: Hollywood Reporter, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Gawker, Boing Boing, The Raw Story, TVNewser and Mediaite

David Carr / Media Decoder:

Fox Quickly Hunts Down Mole (My, That Didn't Take Long) — On Wednesday night, Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, seemed to be having a lovely time at The Hollywood Reporter's party at the Four Seasons in Manhattan for the “35 Media Movers Who Matter Most.” — And why wouldn't he?

Discussion: BuzzFeed, TVNewser and Slate

Jack Shafer:
Fox mole hunting

Discussion: Inside Cable News, Gawker, @carr2n, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Cut in E-Book Pricing by Amazon Is Set to Shake Rivals — The government's decision to pursue major publishers on antitrust charges has put the Internet retailer Amazon in a powerful position: the nation's largest bookseller may now get to decide how much an e-book will cost …

Discussion: Media Decoder, The Billfold, Melville House Books and AdAge

Declan McCullagh / CNET:

DOJ is likely to lose e-book antitrust suit targeting Apple — Antitrust experts say feds have “far better case” for price fixing against publishers, three of which have settled, than they do against Apple. — Follow @declanm — Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday said the lawsuit …

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed, Business Insider, SlashGear, The Authors Guild Blog and App Advice

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

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

Julie Bosman / Media Decoder:
Justice Dept. Sues Apple and Publishers Over E-Book Pricing; 3 Publishers Settle

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

Discussion: VatorNews, Mike Cane's xBlog, The Digital Reader, Kindle Review, ZDNet, SlashGear, The Week and The United States Department …

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

Discussion: Publishers Lunch, Tor.com Frontpage Partial, GigaOM, CT.gov Portal, parislemon, VentureBeat, Digits and Bloomberg

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

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

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, NetNewsCheck Latest, The Independent, Journalism.co.uk, The New York Observer, Press Gazette, 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: Media Decoder, Center for Investigative …, Network News and San Francisco Peninsula …

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

Discussion: Media News, Nieman Journalism Lab, Politico, @jcarstensen, 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, BBC, Journalism.co.uk, ipcc.gov.uk and Telegraph

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.

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, NetNewsCheck Latest, Google Mobile Blog, MediaNama, CNET, ZDNet, GigaOM, App Advice and The Next Web

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, Chickaboomer, Broadcasting & Cable and The Huffington Post