Mediagazer: Fox News Responds To Gawker Mole: 'Joe Muto Is Fired Effective April 12′ (Frances Martel/Mediaite)

12:10 PM 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.

Erin Carlson / Hollywood Reporter:

Roger Ailes Slams Gawker as Fox News Mole Reveals Himself, is Fired (Video) — The network found and suspended the rogue employee who had filed anonymous posts at Gawker that ripped the organization, while FNC chief Roger Ailes discredits the site in a conversation with THR.

Discussion: TVNewser, New York Magazine, FishbowlNY, Inside Cable News, BuzzFeed, Gawker, The Huffington Post, The Raw Story and Politico

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: Gawker, Forbes, FishbowlLA, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Boing Boing, TVNewser and News on News

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: The Awl, TVNewser, Gawker, Chickaboomer, The New York Observer, The FJP and Gothamist

Jack Shafer:
Fox mole hunting

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Erik Wemple, Gawker, @carr2n, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine and Mediaite

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: The Huffington Post, Media Decoder, Fortune, GigaOM, App Advice, The Billfold, Melville House Books, Boing Boing 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: Publishers Weekly, Ricochet Conversations Feed, 9to5Mac, MacStories, Business Insider, The Authors Guild Blog, SlashGear, Multichannel and App Advice

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

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

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

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

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, Kindle Review, The Digital Reader, ZDNet, SlashGear, The Week and The United States Department …

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, WebProNews, Journalism.co.uk, VentureBeat, 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: The Wrap and Business Insider

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Gingrich Unloads on Fox News in Private Meeting — DOVER, Del. — During a meeting with 18 Delaware Tea Party leaders here on Wednesday, Newt Gingrich lambasted Fox News Channel, accusing the cable network of having been in the tank for Mitt Romney from the beginning of the Republican presidential fight.

Discussion: Associated Press, msnbc.com, Politico, TVNewser, Mediaite, Chickaboomer, ThinkProgress and The Huffington Post

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Special prosecutor in Trayvon Martin case: ‘The media has helped’ — Florida State Attorney and special prosecutor Angela Corey praised journalists during the news conference in which she announced that George Zimmerman has been charged with murder in the second degree for the February 26th shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Stefanie Botelho / Folio:

REPORT: Disappointing First Quarter for the Magazine Industry — Overall pages down 8.2 percent for January to March 2012, per PIB. — The magazine industry has not shaken its advertising slump quite yet. According to the latest report from industry authority Publishers' Information Bureau …

Discussion: minonline.com and AdAge

Pew Internet:

72% of Americans follow local news closely — Nearly three quarters (72%) of adults are quite attached to following local news and information, and local newspapers are by far the source they rely on for much of the local information they need. In fact, local news enthusiasts are substantially …

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Newspaper Fires Reporter for Showing Mild Sense of Enthusiasm — Khristopher J. Brooks is a young reporter who was excited to be hired by the Delaware News-Journal last week. In a playful little gesture, he wrote up a fake “press release” on his own personal Tumblr announcing …

Discussion: MyFoxPhilly.com, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @yurivictor, @stevebuttry and @mattderienzo

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

Vikram Dodd / Guardian:

Met ‘showed poor judgment’ over Wallis — 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” professional boundaries and showing …

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

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.

Sarah Marshall / Journalism.co.uk:

How the Texas Tribune is making $5K a month from Google microsurveys — A look at how the Texas Tribune and Adweek are using Google microsurveys as an additional revenue stream — Two weeks ago Google announced that it had partnered with a group of US publishers to launch microsurveys.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and The Next Web

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

New Forecast: Media Spending Growing Faster Than GDP — This may not feel like for much of a recovery, but for the media and communications sector, the economic prospects are bright and getting brighter — provided you're in the right parts of it. — Overall communications spending by consumers …