Mediagazer: The Daily What Founder Neetzan Zimmerman Grows Out of Memes, Moves to Gawker (Joe Coscarelli/New York Magazine)

2:55 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.

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 …

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 — 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: CNET, CJR, Audience Development and Amazon Appstore Developer Blog

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: paidContent and PR Newswire

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, @joemuto, Inside Cable News, The Huffington Post, TVNewser, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, @weareyourfek, @craigsilverman, Deadline.com, News on News and FishbowlNY

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.

Jack Shafer:

Fox mole hunting — A Fox News Channel employee has turned mole at the behest of Gawker and has now filed two dispatches from the House that Roger Ailes Built. — In the first, published on Monday, the Fox Mole describes the misery of working for the channel: He (we don't know for certain it's a man …

Discussion: @carr2n, Mediaite, Gawker and Boing Boing

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: Patch Blog, VentureBeat, Street Fight, Business Insider, FishbowlNY and JIMROMENESKO.COM

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

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: The New York Observer, Daily Mail, Guardian, The Independent and New York Magazine

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.

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, App Advice and The Next Web

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

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

Victor Pickard / Philly.com:

Finding journalism's future — This newspaper's parent company sold last week for $55 million, a staggering $460 million less than what it fetched in 2006. The plight of the company, which also owns the Daily News and Philly.com, reflects trends afflicting newspapers across the country …

Hollywood Reporter:

THR's 35 Most Powerful People in Media — If you're a ruthless tyrant, an American hero or a star with a story to tell, the must-stops for getting your message out are right here. Despite the near infinite amount of outlets and platforms, the fastest and smartest players …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, TVNewser and Media Decoder

Jim Romenesko:

‘Since when does tanking a company rate a bonus?’ — In late March, Lee Enterprises CEO Mary Junck and CFO Carl Schmidt were given six-figure bonuses for refinancing the newspaper chain's considerable debt. At the same time, Lee was laying off journalists at several of its papers.