Mediagazer: Misinformation campaign targets USA TODAY reporter, editor (Gregory Korte/USA Today)

1:15 PM ET, April 20, 2012

Top 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: New York Magazine, Guardian, The New York Observer, Media Decoder, The Atlantic Wire, Gannett Blog, @jayrosen_nyu and The Raw Story

Erik Wemple:

USA Today alleges harassment scheme — USA Today Washington Enterprise Editor Ray Locker says that the worst thing they said about him was that he “was in bed with the Taliban.” — Who would say that about Locker? He doesn't know. But what he does know is a timeline …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Daily Dot, The Huffington Post and Business Insider

Steven Rosenbaum / Fast Company:

Content Curators Are The New Superheros Of The Web — Yesterday, the ever-churning machine that is the Internet pumped out more unfiltered digital data. — Yesterday, 250 million photos were uploaded to Facebook, 864,000 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube, and 294 BILLION emails were sent.

Business Week:

The DOJ's Publishing Lawsuit May Doom Digital Rights Management — In the days following the announcement of the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against publishers accused of colluding with Apple (AAPL) to raise e-book prices, much of the U.S. publishing industry decamped to the U.K. for the annual London Book Fair.

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, SFist and San Francisco Peninsula …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Phone hacking: News International faces nearly 50 new claims — Civil claimants now include Sir John Major's former daughter-in-law, Lord Blencathra and former union leader Andy Gilchrist — The number of new civil claims for damages over alleged News of the World phone hacking faced …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Guardian, The Huffington Post, Deadline.com, Wall Street Journal and Company Town

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

Discussion: Capital New York, Thomson Reuters News …, Digital Spy, Crikey, The Huffington Post, Journalism.co.uk, @edpilkington, @mlcalderone, Deadline.com, @mlcalderone, @edmundlee, Guardian and @jeffbercovici

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Hulu Announces Four More Original Series, Bringing Total Lineup To Seven — Hulu has been having a busy week. On Tuesday, the company announced a new deal for advertisers, which now charges them only for ad completions, and today at Hulu's upfronts, the company announced the arrival of even more original shows.

Discussion: PC Magazine, WebProNews, Hillicon Valley, AdAge, Bloomberg, Guardian, The Verge, The Wrap, CNET, VentureBeat and Adweek

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Nick Denton wants to turn the online media world on its head — Over the past couple of months, Gawker Media founder Nick Denton has made it clear that he doesn't like blog comments very much, and that includes the ones on his own sites such as Gizmodo and Jezebel.

Discussion: The Corsair, Thanks:@mathewi

Justin Elliott / ProPublica:

Meet the Media Companies Lobbying Against Transparency — News organizations cultivate a reputation for demanding transparency, whether by suing for access to government documents, dispatching camera crews to the doorsteps of recalcitrant politicians, or editorializing in favor of open government.

Discussion: @romenesko and @davidfolkenflik

Reuters:

Exclusive: Disney film studio chief Ross steps down — (Reuters) - Rich Ross, chairman of Walt Disney Co's movie studio, stepped down after a two-year stint that included the release of “John Carter,” one of the biggest flops in recent Hollywood history. — Ross, named to the job in October 2009 …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Deadline.com, Forbes and Hollywood Reporter

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

How Mitt Romney Beats the Press, Avoiding Most National Interviews — The candidate is carefully avoiding most national interviews outside of Fox. Howard Kurtz on why Mitt resents the media—and what his isolation is costing him. — It wouldn't be fair to say that Mitt Romney is hiding from the national media, exactly.

Discussion: Slate

Michelle Quinn / Politico:

California: Bloggers should disclose political pay — SAN FRANCISCO — In a new twist on political disclosure, California may soon require bloggers to report financing from campaigns. — The proposal, by the state's Fair Political Practices Commission, is believed by state election officials …

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Business troubles show signs of deepening despite strong 1st 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: paidContent, Associated Press, New York Times and FishbowlNY