Mediagazer: Who watches the watchmen? The Guardian crowdsources its investigation into online tracking (Justin Ellis/Nieman Journalism Lab)

1:30 AM ET, April 19, 2012

Top News:

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, Macworld Australia, The Verge, 9to5Mac, CNET and MacRumors

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

All 50 states may join e-book refund settlement — The lawsuits over price-fixing in the e-book market took a new twist today after a HarperCollins lawyer predicted that three publishers could reach a settlement with all 50 state governments in the next two months.

Discussion: TeleRead

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

Steve Myers / Poynter:

LA Times delayed publication of Afghan corpse photos at Pentagon's request — More than 1,000 comments have been posted on the Los Angeles Times story revealing that soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division had posed with body parts of Afghan corpses. The newspaper's reader's representative …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Hot Air and Jack Shafer

Julie Moos / Poynter:
LA Times publishes graphic front page photo of US soldiers with Afghan corpses

Discussion: Readers' Representative …, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, The Week, Erik Wemple, The New Yorker Blog and Guardian

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Current TV to Hire Gavin Newsom, California's Lieutenant Governor — Updated Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, is getting a second job: as a talk show host on Current TV, the progressive cable television upstart. — “The Gavin Newsom Show” will be shown weekly starting in May, the channel announced on Wednesday.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TVNewser, Mediaite, Broadcasting & Cable, FishbowlLA and New York Magazine

Tim Molloy / The Wrap: Gavin Newsom Gets Current TV Show — What About the Equal Time Rule?

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: TVNewser, Inside Cable News, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Laura Stampler / Business Insider:

FINALLY! Tumblr Will Start Selling Ad Units On May 2 — In a 2010 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Tumblr CEO and founder David Karp said, “We're pretty opposed to advertising. It really turns our stomachs.” — How times have changed. Karp announced at Ad Age's Digital Conference that on May 2 …

Discussion: @choire, Mashable!, Betabeat and New York Magazine

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Out’ lays off its entire editorial staff, but editor Aaron Hicklin wants to hire ‘most’ back into his new startup — The editorial staff of the influential gay lifestyle magazine Out is being laid off with one month's severance as of Friday, Capital has learned.

Discussion: The Wrap, AdAge, New York Magazine and The Awl

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Who watches the watchmen? The Guardian crowdsources its investigation into online tracking — As Guardian journalists were preparing to launch their new investigative project on cookies and other online tools that track you around the web, they realized they had to figure out just what kind of trackers exist on their own website.

Discussion: Guardian

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Ofcom: press self-regulation could work — TV and radio regulator tells Leveson inquiry that successor to PCC may need more robust powers and recognition in statute — Newspaper proprietors and editors hoping to stop David Cameron introducing statutory regulation of the press won support today from the broadcasting regulator Ofcom.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian: AG warns MPs to be ‘cautious’ in report

Ian Burrell / The Independent: The fight gets dirty: Sun accuses rival of using ex-MI6 men to tail civil servant

The Independent:

Brooks and Thurlbeck at risk as prosecutors get first hacking files — Four journalists named in evidence handed to CPS could be first of many to face charges — NOTE: WE DO NOT STORE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS(ES) BUT YOUR IP ADDRESS WILL BE LOGGED TO PREVENT ABUSE OF THIS FEATURE.

Joe Flint / Company Town:

FCC's Genachowski pushes putting TV political ad costs online — LAS VEGAS — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said broadcasters who resist the regulatory agency's efforts requiring television stations to put detailed information online about political advertising are …

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Gannett's poor 1st quarter results bode ill for newspapers in 2012 — Gannett is the first newspaper organization to report earnings this year, but the results were not appreciably better than the bleak patterns of 2011. — Print advertising continues to fall — 8.3 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Discussion: Gannett Blog

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

The future of Netflix isn't just streaming — it's original programming — Over the past several years, Netflix has gotten really good at licensing some serious TV content from major networks. But if the company's latest moves are any indication of its future direction …