Mediagazer: Study: 7 in 10 local news readers wouldn't greatly miss their hometown paper (Steve Myers/Poynter)

2:00 AM ET, April 13, 2012

Top News:

John Cook / Gawker:

Here's a Picture of Bill O'Reilly With a Topless Woman Along With the Fox News Legal Threat Meant to Quash It — Hey, look what just came in through the Gawker mailbag from the good people at Epstein Becker & Green P.C.: “Gawker should immediately stop publishing information and videos …

Discussion: TVNewser, Guardian, @producermatthew, Mediaite, Deadline.com, Business Insider, @joemuto and New York Magazine

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

The ‘Fox News Mole’ Only Cost Gawker $5,000 — What's the going rate for inducing someone to commit career suicide? Apparently you can do it for five grand, as long as that person has a sufficiently large ax to grind against his employer. — Gawker's John Cook tells …

Discussion: Deadspin, NY Daily News, Mashable!, Media & Entertainment, WebProNews, Show Tracker, TVNewser, Forbes, Mediaite, Ricochet Conversations Feed, FishbowlNY, Vanity Fair and FishbowlDC

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

The Annotated Gawker Legal Threat: What Fox News Lawyers Fired Off at Their ‘Mole’ Problem — Well, it wasn't long, but Gawker's Fox News Mole, Joe Muto, was nabbed. Meanwhile, sometime after Fox News chief Roger Ailes joked to the New York Times' David Carr about the incident ("'I am the Fox Mole,' he told me, then quickly added.

Discussion: Gawker

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:
Gingrich Unloads on Fox News in Private Meeting

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Caucus, Erik Wemple, Mediaite, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, Guardian, Associated Press, Mother Jones, Chickaboomer, The Huffington Post, Politico, ThinkProgress and TVNewser

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Why Fox News Shouldn't Sue Over the ‘Fox Mole’ (Analysis)

Discussion: Gawker and The Huffington Post

Erin Carlson / Hollywood Reporter:
Roger Ailes Slams Gawker as Fox News Mole Reveals Himself, is Fired (Video)

Discussion: Mediaite, Erik Wemple, FishbowlNY, Business Insider, TVNewser, Gothamist, FishbowlLA, New York Magazine, Forbes, ABCNEWS, Ricochet Conversations Feed and NY Daily News

David Carr / Media Decoder:
Fox Quickly Hunts Down Mole (My, That Didn't Take Long)

Discussion: Company Town, Erik Wemple, Forbes, The Awl, Gawker and Chickaboomer

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 …

Michael Bobelian / Forbes:

The Irony Of The Government's Antitrust Case Against Apple And Five Publishers — Yesterday, the United States Department of Justice filed a civil complaint in New York accusing Apple and five major publishers of artificially inflating the prices of e-books.

Discussion: AllThingsD, CNET, The Verge and App Advice

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: MacRumors, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Forbes, App Advice, VentureBeat, Publishers Weekly, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, MarketingVox News & Trends, The Authors Guild Blog, Business Insider, MacStories, parislemon and afr.com

Economist:
A too-cosy world? — Readers may not be the ultimate winners in an e-book antitrust case

Discussion: NPR and Technology Review

Khristopher Brooks / The Huffington Post:

How to Get Fired Before Your First Day — Most college students hope to land a nice-paying job in their field of study immediately after graduation. — And for the most part, I was headed in that direction. I finished my last two classes of graduate school at New York University …

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
Newspaper Fires Reporter for Showing Mild Sense of Enthusiasm

Discussion: MyFoxPhilly.com, Daily Dot, Gannett Blog, @yurivictor, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @stevebuttry and @mattderienzo

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Study: 7 in 10 local news readers wouldn't greatly miss their hometown paper — Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project — Pew's latest report, a deep dive into the characteristics of people who closely follow local news, is one of those glass-half-full/half-empty situations.

Pew Internet:
72% of Americans follow local news closely

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, FishbowlNY and WebProNews

Ken Wheaton / AdAge:

Court Declares Public TV's Ban on Political Ads Unconstitutional — Says There Is No Evidence It Would Harm Programming — Will your children be accosted by ads from Mitt Romney and Barack Obama while watching “Sesame Street”? A court ruling today makes it a possibility (even if it isn't a strong one).

Discussion: Reuters, The Consumerist, Adweek, The Wrap, Company Town, Media Decoder and Hillicon Valley, Thanks:@learmonth

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

How 5 news sites monitor, moderate conversation about Trayvon Martin stories — A Huffington Post story about George Zimmerman's second-degree murder charge had generated more than 15,000 comments by Wednesday evening. By noon today, the story had more than 25,000 comments.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Special prosecutor in Trayvon Martin case: ‘The media has helped’

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog

Michael Holden / Reuters:

UK police judgment poor in News Corp hacking case: report — (Reuters) - Senior London police staff linked to the News Corp phone hacking scandal showed poor judgment, took bad decisions and got too close to journalists working for Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, an independent watchdog said on Thursday.

Discussion: Bloomberg

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:

Digital Notes: Updating Digital Royalties, and a Peek Under Pandora's Hood — A Royalties Deal: The music industry has never been accused of moving too fast when it comes to new technologies. On Wednesday, after months of negotiations, the major trade groups representing labels …

Chris Fusco / Chicago Sun Times:

Don Hayner retires as Chicago Sun-Times editor — Don Hayner announced his retirement as editor of the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday. Ernie Torres~Sun-Times file — Chicago Sun-Times Editor in Chief Don Hayner, who started at the newspaper as a general assignment reporter nearly 30 years ago …

PEN American Center:

Top PEN Prize to Honor Eskinder Nega, Jailed Ethiopian Journalist and Blogger — PEN American Center today named Eskinder Nega, a journalist and dissident blogger in Ethiopia, as the recipient of its 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Nega, a leading advocate for press freedom …