Mediagazer: Tim Armstrong Says AOL Plans to Invest in TechCrunch and Engadget, Not Sell Them (Jason Del Rey/AdAge)

6:10 PM ET, May 9, 2012

Top News:

Status Update — So first thing's first: We're not being sold! Instead, we've just hired a bunch of brilliant writers and a new COO. Also, we've seen a resurgence of community support (with over a thousand people attending our NYC meetup last night, for example), are back around 12% …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu, @nero, @eldon, PandoDaily and Talking Biz News

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

Tim Armstrong Says AOL Plans to Invest in TechCrunch and Engadget, Not Sell Them — Domestic Display Advertising Falls as Activist Investor Seeks Shakeup — AOL reported a 4% drop in average monthly visitors to AOL owned-and-operated properties, when it reported first-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, FishbowlNY, Business Insider and VentureBeat

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:

Sources Say AOL Seeking Buyers for Engadget and TechCrunch, Arrington “Not In The Least Bit Interested” — We weren't sure about this one at first, but now we have two independent sources confirming that AOL is exploring the sale of its cornerstone technology sites Engadget and TechCrunch.

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Why Doesn't AOL Just Sell The Huffington Post? — (Image credit: Getty Images for AOL via @daylife) — There's not much of AOL that's not in play these days, one way or another. In response to a report that the company is looking to sell TechCrunch and Engadget, chairman Tim Armstrong …

Discussion: paidContent

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

DDOS attack: Ustream down, Bambuser under heavy load — Updated. Ustream has been unavailable this morning, and Bambuser has been under a heavy load of unusual traffic due to what looks like a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack against both live streaming providers.

Discussion: VentureBeat, CNET and Business Insider

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Ustream Says Russian Citizen Journalist Is The Focus Of Today's DDoS Attack — Developing story: Ustream has sent out some details on the DDoS attack that is currently attacking its system — which was reported on earlier by GigaOm, along with another DDoS attack on Bambuser.

Janko Roettgers / @jank0: New update: Ustream now says its up and running again http://gigaom.com/...

Charlie Warzel / Adweek:

ABC Bungles Obama Gay Marriage Scoop — President Obama's announcement of his support for same-sex marriages this afternoon was touted as a major win for network TV, getting the scoop over cable and the noisy clamor of the Internet. Yet, what looked to be an airtight scoop for the network appears …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and @producermatthew

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:
Robin Roberts interview with Obama a coup for ‘Good Morning America’

Discussion: Erik Wemple and Capital New York

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Leveson inquiry obsessed with print, claims Mail Online publisher — The publisher of Mail Online has urged the Leveson inquiry to stop “obsessing” with the “last war” over print media and to concentrate on the real “elephant in the room” - the battle for internet readers.

Discussion: Media Week, Journalism.co.uk and Guardian

David Leigh / Guardian:
Milly Dowler: truth about deletion of messages may never be known

Discussion: Guardian

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
News International misses another accounting deadline

Discussion: Press Association

Lynne Marek / Chicago Business:

Sun-Times parent to buy Chicago Reader for $3 million — (Crain's) — Wrapports LLC, the parent of the Chicago Sun-Times, is poised to purchase the Chicago Reader as soon as next week for about $3 million, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

Discussion: Change of Subject, @jcstearns, @sethlavin and @milesraymer

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

News Corp.'s hacking tab so far this year: $167 Million — It may be years before anyone can figure out the real cost to News Corp. and its shareholders of the UK hacking scandal that has dominated the headlines for months. For now, whatever the reputation cost for Rupert and James Murdoch …

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:
News Corp. Tops Profit Estimates, Boosts Buyback to $10 Billion

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Associated Press, Reuters, @edgecliffe, @pkafka, @edgecliffe, @edgecliffe and @edgecliffe

Patrick Wintour / Guardian:
David Cameron texted Rebekah Brooks before she quit NI, claims biography

Discussion: Guardian

Bill Dedman / msnbc.com:

Conservative author Jonah Goldberg drops claim of two Pulitzer nominations — On the dust jacket of his new book, “The Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas,” best-selling conservative author and commentator Jonah Goldberg is described as having “twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.”

Discussion: Erik Wemple, The New York Observer, Gawker, FishbowlDC, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, mediabistro.com, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Mother Jones

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon snags another book industry vet: Sara Nelson, former Publishers Weekly EIC — Just about a year after it hired publishing industry vet Larry Kirshbaum to launch a New York-based imprint and office, Amazon is announcing a new high-profile hire: Sara Nelson, the former books editor for Oprah's …

Discussion: GalleyCat and Publishers Weekly

Voice of America:

Chinese Official Questioned About Al Jazeera Reporter's Expulsion — Al Jazeera English announced Tuesday that its Beijing correspondent Melissa Chan did not have her visa renewed. That is in effect, an expulsion from China. The following is a transcript of some of the questions and answers …