Mediagazer: It doesn't matter what e-books cost to make (Mathew Ingram/GigaOM)

8:55 AM ET, May 4, 2012

Top News:

Amy Wicks / WWD:

ASME Announces Award Winners — ASME'S BIG NIGHT: The newsweekly is dead! Long live the newsweekly! The format may be struggling in ad sales and on the newsstand, but in the close-knit magazine world, it seems to still reign supreme. During the American Society of Magazine Editors' annual gala …

Discussion: CJR, AdAge, MinOnline, Poynter, LA Observed and Adweek

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Arianna Huffington's Role at AOL Narrowed to Focus on Huffington Post — She originally had editorial oversight of all AOL properties when the online company acquired her site, but she shoots down rumors that she could leave AOL. Arianna Huffington said Thursday that her role at AOL …

Discussion: Poynter and AllThingsD

Gordon Rayner / Telegraph:

Leveson Inquiry: Government makes ‘controversial’ last-minute bid for advance sight of Andy Coulson's evidence — The Government is making a last-minute application to the Leveson Inquiry today to be allowed sight of witness statements submitted by Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks before they give evidence next week.

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson to face Leveson inquiry

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Press Gazette and London Evening Standard

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Tom Watson accuses Louise Mensch of tabling pro-Murdoch amendments

Discussion: Crikey and @luciawalker5

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Discovery Channel Gets a Web Video Arm, Courtesy of Revision 3 — Web video is supposed to disrupt cable TV. And maybe it will, one day. In the meantime, the cable guys are doing just fine. — Here's a proof point: The Discovery Channel has purchased Revision3, a Web video startup …

Discussion: PC Magazine, MediaPost, Adweek, SocialTimes, WebProNews, The Next Web, Broadcasting & Cable, @pkafka, The Wrap, CNET, Digital Media Wire and TechCrunch

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

It doesn't matter what e-books cost to make — Book publishers are trying hard to defend the pricing of e-books — perhaps in part because they've been accused by the Justice Department of rigging prices to keep them artificially high — by arguing that it costs a lot more than most people …

Discussion: Techdirt, The FJP and TERRIBLEMINDS, Thanks:@mathewi

Associated Press:

AP Apologizes For Firing Reporter Over World War II Scoop — 67 Years Later — NEW YORK (AP) — In World War II's final moments in Europe, Associated Press correspondent Edward Kennedy gave his news agency perhaps the biggest scoop in its history. He reported, a full day ahead of the competition …

Jed Lipinski / Capital New York:

It's the year 1472 in journalism, a fact some people like and some don't — Jarvis, Rosen, Dean Starkman, Karen Dunlap, Joshua Benton Jed Lipinski — “You ask what the future of news is? I have no friggin' idea. No one does.” — So said Jeff Jarvis at last night's roundtable discussion titled …

John Koblin / Deadspin:

Sources: Sarah Phillips And Nilesh Prasad Picked Games Together, Scammed People Together, Got Fired From T-Mobile Together — What have we learned about Sarah Phillips, the woman who was apparently scamming people on the Internet when she wasn't writing a column for ESPN.com, in the 24 hours since our story was published?

John Koblin / Deadspin: Meet Nilesh Prasad, Sarah Phillips's Scamming Partner And Supposed “Puppetmaster”

Chris Greenberg / The Huffington Post: Sarah Phillips Scandal: Ex-ESPN Columnist's Story Could Have Wide Ramifications

John Koblin / Deadspin:
Another Sarah Phillips Scam: “I'm A Writer For ESPN And I Plan To Take Over The World”

Discussion: Forbes

Jeremy Greenfield / Digital Book World:

Nearly 100% of Publishers Have Seen E-Booksellers Get Their Metadata Wrong — magine if when a book hit Barnes & Noble store shelves it had a different cover than when the proof left the publisher. That's what nearly all publishers are experiencing with their e-books, but in a digital way.

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Ted Turner: ‘I wanted CNN to be like the New York Times’ — Amid falling ratings and negative press, CNN founder Ted Turner is defending his network's attempts to offer straightforward, nonpartisan cable news while the competition — Fox News and MSNBC — drifts ever further toward the ideological fringes.

Discussion: Mediaite, @rafat and nation.foxnews.com

Brian Stelter / New York Times:
CNN Ratings Decline Stirs Worries

Discussion: Media Decoder, mediabistro.com, Mediaite, WebProNews, Wall Street Journal, TVWeek.com and New York Magazine

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Romney Woos Conservative Media In Private Meeting — NEW YORK — In an effort to reach out to conservative media, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney and wife Ann met for two hours Wednesday with several dozen conservative bloggers, reporters and columnists in an off-the-record gathering …

Discussion: Poynter, Slate, Mediaite, TVNewser and The Atlantic Online

Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers: Romney campaign backs off... BuzzFeed to stay in the Romney press pool...

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
News Orgs Balk At Romney Campaign Deciding Press Pool Membership

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Erik Wemple

John Cook / Gawker:

A Low Six-Figure Book Deal for the Fox Mole — Congratulations to Joe Muto, formerly known as the Fox Mole, for selling a book about his experiences inside Fox News Channel to Dutton, an imprint of Penguin. — The book—tentatively titled An Atheist in the Foxhole—will be a …

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

On World Press Freedom Day, the spread of mobile and publishing technology shifts the playing field — It's World Press Freedom Day, when we set aside time to think about journalists around the world who struggle under repressive conditions to report and tell the truth.

Discussion: Media News, NetNewsCheck Latest, MediaShift, freemedia.at, Reporters Without Borders and The Huffington Post

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Murdoch's Daily adds iPhone app: lower price, some free stories — The Daily, which launched in early 2011 as a tablet tabloid available only on the iPad, finally is adding an iPhone edition, with Android handsets to follow. The new app includes some free stories but readers will have to subscribe …

Discussion: FishbowlNY