Mediagazer: Facebook tests ‘trending articles’ feature to encourage users to try social reader apps (Brittany Darwell/Inside Facebook)

5:30 PM ET, April 18, 2012

Top News:

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, Broadcasting & Cable, New York Magazine, Mediaite, TVNewser and FishbowlLA

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

Gavin Newsom Gets Current TV Show — What About the Equal Time Rule? — Current TV has added a full-time elected official to a team heavy on former politicians: California's sitting lieutenant governor will host the weekly “Gavin Newsom Show” beginning next month.

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

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

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

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Satirical iPad App Punch Hires Vanity Fair Veteran Jim Windolf as Editor — The Punch “shelf.” — The makers of Punch started with the idea that creating media for a brand-new medium, tablet computers, requires a whole new approach. They've certainly turned convention on its head in their hiring …

Discussion: Betabeat, Forbes and Fast Company

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

NBC's London Olympics strategy: If it moves, stream it — Yes, you will be able to see men's doubles table tennis live this summer on nbcolympics.com, right after you finish watching those premiere swimming and track & field events. — Speaking to the New York Times Tuesday, Rick Cordella …

Discussion: MediaPost, Poynter, Multichannel, Media Decoder, The Verge, Bleacher Report, TVNewser and NetNewsCheck Latest

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

Julie Moos / Poynter:

LA Times publishes graphic front page photo of US soldiers with Afghan corpses — The Los Angeles Times published graphic photos in print and online this morning of U.S. soldiers posing with Afghan corpses. — Eighteen such photos were provided by an anonymous soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division …

Discussion: Erik Wemple, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, LA Observed, Readers' Representative …, Readers' Representative … and Poynter

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: New York Magazine, Gawker and The Awl

Brittany Darwell / Inside Facebook:

Facebook tests ‘trending articles’ feature to encourage users to try social reader apps — Facebook appears to be testing new feature to highlight social reader articles within users' News Feeds. — Some users now see a “trending articles” section of their feeds that includes headlines …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, The Verge, Mashable! and Poynter

Bruce Weber / New York Times:

Dick Clark, TV Host and Icon of New Year's Eve, Is Dead at 82 — Dick Clark, the perpetually youthful-looking television host whose long-running daytime song-and-dance fest, “American Bandstand,” did as much as anyone or anything to advance the influence of teenagers and rock ‘n’ roll on American culture …

Discussion: The New York Observer

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Labor Dept.'s new policies for journalists may affect market-moving data — The United States Department of Labor is changing the way journalists can prepare stories based on embargoed data, and news organizations are concerned that the new policies could keep them from filing stories with this data …

Discussion: Bloomberg and Talking Biz News

Om Malik / GigaOM:

Physical media is dead — long live the app — Over the weekend, Hunter Walk (a friend of mine who works for YouTube) tweeted about brands offering apps built on the Spotify platform. Spotify is likely to introduce these branded apps from the likes of Intel, AT&T, Reebok and McDonalds at an Ad Age event this week.

Discussion: AllThingsD and eMedia Vitals

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

How The Tuscaloosa News' post-tornado tweeting helped bring home a Pulitzer Prize — When the Pulitzer Prize Board announced last year it would emphasize real-time reporting for the Breaking News category starting in 2012, some speculated whether we would someday see a Pulitzer Prize for tweeting.

Discussion: The FJP and LA Observed