Mediagazer: The future of Netflix isn't just streaming — it's original programming (Ryan Lawler/GigaOM)

12:50 PM ET, April 19, 2012

Top News:

Jason Deans / Guardian:

Leveson inquiry: Rupert and James Murdoch to give evidence next week — Rupert Murdoch is to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry into phone hacking and media ethics next week, with a day and a half set aside for the News Corporation founder. Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corp …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Journalism.co.uk

Reuters:

UK parliament aims to publish hacking report on May 1 — (Reuters) - British legislators said on Thursday they hoped to publish on May 1 a long-awaited report into a phone hacking scandal centered on News Corp's now-closed News of the World tabloid. — Parliament's culture committee …

Discussion: Sky News

Guardian:

Watson: News Corp was like ‘shadow state’ — Labour MP who led campaign against phone hacking also says News of the World aimed to investigate MPs' provate lives — News Corporation is a “toxic institution” that operated like a “shadow state” in British society, according to a Labour MP …

Discussion: @skynewsbreak, Deadline.com, @kevin_maguire, Daily Mail, Guardian and @dansabbagh

Telegraph: Sun royal editor Duncan Larcombe held in ‘illegal payment’ raids

Paul McNally / Journalism.co.uk:
Starmer: Charging advice ‘likely’ for more journalist cases

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

The Independent:
Brooks and Thurlbeck at risk as prosecutors get first hacking files

Discussion: Press Gazette

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

New York Times Co. Reports Gain in Net Income — The New York Times Company reported on Thursday a large gain in first-quarter net income, driven largely by the sale of its regional newspapers, the sale of part of its stake in a New England sports group and an increase in circulation revenue at its flagship newspaper.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, FishbowlNY, Poynter and New York Magazine

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

New York Times Sees Digital Ads Droop — The New York Times says its digital paywall strategy is a success with consumers. But its digital advertising business stumbled last quarter, and dropped by 2 percent. — Times CEO Arthur Sulzberger Jr. blamed “uneven U.S. economic environment …

Discussion: MediaPost, Business Wire and mnilive.com

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: Will Sulzberger be the next Times Company C.E.O.? He doesn't quite say ‘no’

Edmund Lee / @edmundlee:

Mark Lewis said people have contacted him about concerns with practices by Fox News. “untoward dark arts to obtain information,” he says

Discussion: @jeffbercovici

Michael Calderone / @mlcalderone:
Lawyers Norman Siegel, Mark Lewis speaking to press on possible US phone hacking cases now in NYC.

Discussion: @edpilkington and @mlcalderone

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Pentagon Asked Newspaper Not to Publish Photos — The grisly photographs of American soldiers posing with the body parts of Afghan insurgents during a 2010 deployment in Afghanistan were the source of a dispute between The Los Angeles Times and the Pentagon lasting weeks.

Discussion: Boing Boing, CNN, The Week and LA Observed

Steve Myers / Poynter:
LA Times delayed publication of Afghan corpse photos at Pentagon's request

Discussion: Readers' Representative …, BAGnewsNotes, NY Daily News and Poynter

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Final Numbers Make It Official: ‘GMA’ Beat ‘Today’ Last Week — The final score is in for last week's ratings race between NBC's “Today” show and ABC's “Good Morning America,” and the winner is ABC. — ABC's morning program surpassed NBC's by 31,000 total viewers for the week, marking its first full-week victory over NBC since 1995.

Discussion: Forbes, @howardkurtz and The Wrap

Grant McCool / Reuters:

Apple wants trial on e-book price-fixing: lawyer — (Reuters) - Apple Inc wants to go to trial to defend itself against U.S. government allegations that it conspired with publishers to raise prices of electronic books, a lawyer for the Silicon Valley giant said in court on Wednesday.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Verge, Macworld Australia, 9to5Mac, CNET and MacRumors

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:
All 50 states may join e-book refund settlement

Discussion: TeleRead

Mona Zhang / 10,000 Words:

Newton to Journalists: Focusing on the Story Isn't Enough Anymore — In the digital age, journalists are required to don different hats; from multimedia to social media, there is an increasing amount of tools available for telling the story and sharing it. Still, it may not be enough.

Discussion: The Muckraker

BBC:

President Obama leads tributes to TV host Dick Clark — Tributes have been pouring in following the death of American veteran TV presenter Dick Clark, with President Barack Obama saying he “reshaped the television landscape forever”. Clark, who was 82, died following a heart attack on Wednesday.

Discussion: @newyorker

Bruce Weber / New York Times:
TV Emperor of Rock ‘n’ Roll and New Year's Eve Dies At 82

Discussion: Media Decoder, Company Town, Co.Design, Rolling Stone, Gawker, Salt Lake Tribune and The New York Observer

Matt Hardigree / Jalopnik:

Police Arrest Murder Suspects In Truck Identified By Jalopnik Commenters — Earlier this month we asked our commenters to assist the Waynesboro, VA Police Department in catching the driver in a fatal hit-and-run accident by identifying a part that came off the suspect's car.

Discussion: Poynter

Guardian:

Julian Assange's lawyer ‘prevented from boarding flight at Heathrow’ — A lawyer for the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has said she was stopped at Heathrow airport and told she was on a watch list requiring official approval before she could return to her native Australia.

Discussion: NEWS.com.au

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:

Bill O'Reilly & Sean Hannity Closing New Deals With Fox News Channel — EXCLUSIVE: I've learned that Fox News Channel is finalizing new deals with its two biggest stars, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. The new multi-year, multi-million dollar agreements, which are expected to be completed …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TVNewser, Inside Cable News, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Daniel Denvir / Philadelphia City Paper:

Why Philly will suffer if new owners close the Daily News — The sign welcoming visitors to the Inquirer and Daily News' new building's marquee on Market East will not, KYW Newsradio reported last week, include the logo of the embattled Daily News. — Or, maybe it will, it turns out.