Mediagazer: New York Times takes next step to increase digital subscribers by launching a new ad campaign (Mallary Jean Tenore/Poynter)

2:00 AM ET, May 9, 2012

Top News:

Rupert Murdoch's big backer sounds News Corp warning — Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the second-biggest shareholder in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, has revealed his frustration with the fallout from the News of the World phone-hacking scandal and admitted that it is harming the reputation …

Discussion: The Times, New York Magazine, Media Matters for America and Hillicon Valley

Patrick Wintour / Guardian:

David Cameron texted Rebekah Brooks before she quit NI, claims biography — Prime minister texted Brooks in the week she quit over the phone-hacking scandal to tell her to keep her head up — David Cameron texted Rebekah Brooks in the week she quit as News International's chief executive …

Amy Chozick / New York Times:
Steering Murdoch in Scandal, Klein Put School Goals Aside

Discussion: Capital New York

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Phone-hacking scandal: Glenn Mulcaire denies protecting News International

Discussion: BBC

Free Press: 70,000 Petition Congress to Hold Hearings on News Corp. Corruption

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Phone hacking: Andy Coulson wins leave to appeal over ruling on legal fees

Discussion: Associated Press, Journalism.co.uk and Press Gazette

The Independent: IoS exclusive: Coulson owned News Corp shares while at No 10

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

An Editor's Dangerous Mea Culpa — In a most unusual editor's note on the Chronicle of Higher Education website last night, Editor Liz McMillen apologizes profusely for what turned out to be a controversial post written by now fired “Brainstorm” blogger, former WSJ editor and Harvard graduate Naomi Schaefer Riley.

Discussion: GalleyCat

Craig Silverman / Poynter:
Writer fired by Chronicle of Higher Ed: ‘The vitriolic reaction is kind of surprising’

Discussion: Hit & Run, Brainstorm, Mother Jones and Racialicious

Jim Romenesko: Chronicle of Higher Education ousts blogger over black studies post

Christopher Shea / Wall St Journal:
Chronicle of an Academic-Media Firestorm

Discussion: msnbc.com, ArtsBeat and MetaFilter

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.

Discussion: Betabeat

Reuters:

Romeo Langlois: Colombia Won't Negotiate With FARC Rebels Over Kidnapped French Reporter — Colombia on Tuesday rejected a call by FARC rebels to debate freedom of information and news media bias as a condition for the release of a French reporter they hold hostage.

Discussion: BBC

Elyssa Pachico / Christian Science Monitor:

Is French journalist kidnapped in Colombia a prisoner of war? — In a video, Colombia's rebel group the FARC say French journalist Romeo Langlois is a prisoner of war (POW). The Colombian government has rejected this labeling. Who is correct? In the video (in Spanish) …

Discussion: Colombia Reports

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

New York Times takes next step to increase digital subscribers by launching a new ad campaign — Since The New York Times launched its metered paywall last March, about 472,000 people have become digital subscribers. The Times saw a 73 percent gain in circulation over the past six months …

Discussion: Daggle

Katherine Fung / Huffington Post:
New York Times Journalists Demand End To Contract Negotiations

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Ongo, an attempt at a pan-media paywalled aggregator, is closing — Less than a year and a half after launch, the subscription aggregation startup Ongo — a newspaper-industry effort to create a pan-media subscription system — is shutting down. It'll close its doors by month's end …

Discussion: AllThingsD, paidContent and @rafat

Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:

Twitter Fights Prosecutors Seeking Occupy Protester's Data Without Warrant — Malcolm Harris, the Occupy Wall Street protestor whose private data Twitter is fighting to protect from prosecutors. — Twitter is stepping up its legal battle for users' privacy: First it fought …

Discussion: ACLU, GigaOM, Techdirt, AllThingsD, Gawker, WebProNews, Betabeat, @jcstearns and CNET

Keach Hagey / Digits:

LA Times Developer Begins Archiving Newspaper Websites — Newspaper front pages are considered such an important mirror of American culture that they get their own rotating daily museum exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. — But there has never been an equivalent archive for the more ephemeral …

Discussion: Poynter

Brooks Barnes / Media Decoder:

ESPN and Theme Parks Drive Disney Profits — LOS ANGELES — Climbing ad sales and subscription fees at ESPN and cable channels like ABC Family helped the Walt Disney Company increase its quarterly profit by 21 percent from a year earlier, to $1.14 billion. — Disney's financial results …

Discussion: The Wrap, paidContent, Company Town, Multichannel, Home Media Magazine, Forbes and LA Biz Observed

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Demand Media raises outlook on first-quarter revenue beat — (Reuters) - Demand Media Inc (DMD.N) reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue and raised its 2012 outlook, suggesting it is finally moving past changes that Google made to its search engine that hobbled the company last year.