Mediagazer: Britain to Seek Curbs to ‘Libel Tourism’ (Eric Pfanner/New York Times)

3:40 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: Talking Biz News

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: Bloomberg, @joshhalliday, AllThingsD, paidContent, Gawker, PC Magazine, TechCrunch, NYConvergence.com, New York Magazine, Forbes, Business Insider, WebProNews, Poynter, FishbowlNY, The New Yorker Blog, Betabeat, Tech Trader Daily and VentureBeat

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: FishbowlNY, PandoDaily and Business Insider

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/...

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: Journalism.co.uk, Media Week 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

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: The New York Observer, Gawker, mediabistro.com, FishbowlDC, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, 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: Publishers Weekly

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:

The making of a brand-new iPad magazine that's already sick of the Internet — Jim Windolf, a contributing editor and writer for Vanity Fair, was sitting in a large, multi-desk cubicle in a warren of similar cubicles in a 10th floor office on West 27th Street on a rainy afternoon, explaining his new project.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Eric Pfanner / New York Times:

Britain to Seek Curbs to ‘Libel Tourism’ — PARIS — Even as the British government delves into evidence of excesses at its notorious tabloids, it appears ready to offer new legal protection for serious journalism. — In a traditional speech to open a new session of Parliament …

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 …

Discussion: Guardian, Reuters, Journalism.co.uk, Global Voices, Committee to Protect …, FP Passport, China Digital Times, IHT Rendezvous, The New Yorker Blog and Globe and Mail

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