Mediagazer: The New York Times Company in 2015 (Ryan Chittum/CJR)

1:25 AM ET, April 20, 2012

Top News:

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

The New York Times Company in 2015 — Trendlines—as of right now—don't point to its demise — Will The New York Times Company survive as a stand-alone firm past 2015? — That's unknowable, of course. A lot can happen between now and then. But extrapolating from current trends can give us an idea of where things are going.

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, AdAge and Forbes

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

New York Times Staffers Protest Contract Negotiations, Pensions (VIDEO) — New York Times staffers have put out a new video speaking out against the ongoing contract negotiations with the paper's management — particularly proposed changes to their pension plans.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

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: Wall Street Journal, mediabistro.com, Agence France Presse, paidContent, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine, Poynter and Media Decoder

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Storm clouds form over strong quarter at New York Times Company — The New York Times Co. deserves to pat itself on the back, as executives did today in announcing first quarter results, for the first anniversary of its well-planned and superbly executed digital pay plan.

Discussion: Associated Press

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

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: Journalism.co.uk, Telegraph and Press Gazette

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:
Murdoch's News Corp facing growing legal threat in US

Discussion: Crikey, Deadline.com, Thomson Reuters News …, The Huffington Post, @edpilkington, @mlcalderone, @edmundlee, @mlcalderone and @jeffbercovici

Guardian:
Watson: News Corp was like ‘shadow state’

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

Reuters:
UK parliament aims to publish hacking report on May 1

Discussion: Reuters, New York Magazine, Company Town and Sky News

Gregory Korte / USA Today:

Misinformation campaign targets USA TODAY reporter, editor — WASHINGTON - A USA TODAY reporter and editor investigating Pentagon propaganda contractors have themselves been subjected to a propaganda campaign of sorts, waged on the Internet through a series of bogus websites. — Sponsored Links

Discussion: The New York Observer and The Raw Story

Rachel Swan / East Bay Express:

The San Francisco Examiner Closes in on Purchase of San Francisco Bay Guardian — The owners of the San Francisco Examiner are on the cusp of buying the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Bay Guardian Executive Editor Tim Redmond told the Express this afternoon that he's “optimistic” the deal will be signed soon.

Discussion: The Snitch, JIMROMENESKO.COM, San Francisco Peninsula … and SFist

Rohin Dhar / Priceonomics:

The Kindle Index — “No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” — Some people like to read. Other people do not. Since the age of Confucius, the people in the former camp have been judging those in the latter harshly.

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: Radio & Television …, @howardkurtz and Forbes

Robert-Jan Bartunek / Reuters:

Sony-led group wins EU approval to buy EMI publishing — (Reuters) - A Sony-led consortium won EU approval on Thursday to buy EMI's music publishing business for $2.2 billion, on the condition that it sell the worldwide publishing rights of artists including Robbie Williams and Lenny Krativz.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Media Decoder and Billboard.Biz

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

Jim Romenesko:

‘God Hates Fags’ group to speak to journalism classes — Four members of the Westboro Baptist Church will speak Monday to three Central Michigan University journalism classes taught by Prof. Timothy Boudreau. — “I try to bring [controversial speakers] in because students routinely claim …