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

7:00 PM ET, April 12, 2012

Top News:

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: NY Daily News, TVNewser, Deadspin, Mediaite, Forbes, Ricochet Conversations Feed and The Huffington Post

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, Business Insider, New York Magazine, @joemuto, @producermatthew and Mediaite

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: Mediaite, TVNewser, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine, ABCNEWS, Gothamist and Gawker

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:
The Annotated Gawker Legal Threat: What Fox News Lawyers Fired Off at Their ‘Mole’ Problem

Discussion: Gawker and Hollywood Reporter

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

Discussion: Gawker, The Awl, TVNewser and Chickaboomer

Joe Muto / Gawker:
Hi Roger. It's Me, Joe: The Fox Mole

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

Discussion: FishbowlLA, Erik Wemple, Gawker and Boing Boing

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 …

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

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

Discussion: NPR

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

Discussion: MediaFile, Boing Boing, Ars Technica, Technology Review, business.time.com, Mike Cane's xBlog and CJR

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 — 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, Daily Dot, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @yurivictor, @stevebuttry and @mattderienzo

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.

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:
How 5 news sites monitor, moderate conversation about Trayvon Martin stories

Discussion: The Huffington Post

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 …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

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

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, Media Decoder, Adweek, The Wrap, The Consumerist and Hillicon Valley, Thanks:@learmonth

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

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

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, VentureBeat, Journalism.co.uk, Street Fight, @jayrosen_nyu, @romenesko, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Mixed Media

David Benoit / Deal Journal:

Warren Buffett Building Newspaper Empire? — The Oracle of Omaha seems to see a better fate for U.S. newspaper publishers than the dismal destiny he forecasted for them back in 2009. … By buying up loans in recently bankrupt Lee Enterprises Inc., Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and Wall Street Journal

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: NetNewsCheck Latest, The Next Web and eMedia Vitals

Lucy Madison / The Awl:

How 25 National Magazine Award Nominations Went To 25 Male Writers — Last week, the American Society of Magazine Editors released its list of nominees for the 2012 National Magazine Award. In the so-called “brass ring” long-form categories—reporting, feature writing, profile writing …

Discussion: Nieman Storyboard

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 …

Eric Engleman / Bloomberg:

Web Piracy Bills ‘Dead’ in U.S. From Lobbying, Dodd Says — Hollywood-backed legislation to fight online piracy, shelved this year after an Internet protest led by Google Inc. (GOOG) and Wikipedia, is “dead,” said the head of the trade group for the largest movie studios.

Discussion: ZDNet and Fortune