Mediagazer: OMG, is Amazon going to kill tech blogs too? (Laura Hazard Owen/GigaOM)

11:50 AM ET, May 11, 2012

Top News:

Rebekah Brooks Faces Hacking Inquiry in Britain — LONDON — Offering a rare glimpse into the personal relationship between political power and the press in Britain, Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper subsidiary, testified on Friday …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Guardian, Bloomberg, Journalism.co.uk, Telegraph, Guy Fawkes' blog and Poynter

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks: David Cameron signed off texts ‘LOL’ — Former News International chief tells Leveson inquiry that reports prime minister sent her dozens of texts a day are preposterous — David Cameron exchanged up to two text messages a week with Rebekah Brooks during the last general election campaign …

Discussion: The Independent, Reuters, CNET, Business Insider, UK News and Opinion, Mirror.co.uk and Telegraph

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks tells the Leveson inquiry of more meetings with David Cameron — After a morning of Leveson inquiry testimony from Rebekah Brooks, No 10's worst fears over what the former News International boss might reveal about their relationship have not been realised.

Tim Karr / Save the News:
Who's Afraid of Rupert Murdoch?

Discussion: Erik Wemple

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Murdoch may have had ‘selective amnesia’ over Thatcher meeting

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Press Gazette, Guardian, Journalism.co.uk and Journalism.co.uk

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

The Washington Post Co.'s Self-Destructive Course — Dividends, share buybacks, and an anti-paywall stance help bleed the paper dry — The Washington Post Company's dismal quarterly earnings release last week was received with something of a shrug—more of the same.

Discussion: Digg Blog, MediaPost, AllThingsD and TechCrunch

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Did the News Media Drive the Gay Marriage Debate? — On the Fox News Channel on Wednesday afternoon, the anchor Shepard Smith played a clip of President Obama expressing his support for gay marriage, then delivered this stinging assessment: “The President of the United States, now in the 21st century.”

Discussion: FishbowlDC, TVNewser, Mediaite and Softpedia News

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

NBC Yanks ‘Rock Center’ From May Sweeps, Presence on Fall Lineup Unclear — NBC has pulled its primetime newsmagazine series “Rock Center with Brian Williams” from its lineup for the remainder of May Sweeps. In its place, the network will broadcast reruns of “Law & Order: SVU.”

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, GalleyCat and AppNewser

Alan Duke / CNN:

Reporter, fired for stripping, charges gender discrimination — Los Angeles (CNN) — A part-time stripper fired from her full-time newspaper job covering Texas high society claims she's a victim of gender discrimination. — Sarah Tressler, 30, filed a complaint this week asking …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and Associated Press

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

OMG, is Amazon going to kill tech blogs too? — Is Amazon seriously launching a tech blog that aims to compete with gadget blogs like the Verge and Gizmodo? According to a new report from “The Daily,” yes. The funny thing is that Amazon already has a gadget blog called End User …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and The Daily

Gregory Korte / USA Today:

Amendment puts spotlight on Pentagon propaganda — WASHINGTON - A member of the House Armed Services Committee threatened an amendment to block funding for Pentagon propaganda efforts Wednesday, citing USA TODAY reports questioning their efficacy and management.

Steve Ladurantaye / Globe and Mail:

Globe to charge readers for online content — The Globe and Mail is moving to charge readers for its online content, following a trend established by the New York Times and other major publications. — Publisher and chief executive officer Phillip Crawley told an all-staff meeting Thursday …

Discussion: Toronto Star, The Chronicle Herald, Financial Post and Techdirt

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Search engines have same speech rights as the New York Times, says Google report — Just as the New York Times can decide “All the News That's Fit to Print,” search engines have a free speech right to choose who or what to put in their search rankings. — That's the conclusion of a prominent …

Discussion: AllThingsD and Poynter

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Pub Backs Blogger in Emails Before Canning Her — In the latest backlash over the firing of Naomi Schaefer Riley from the Chronicle of Higher Education, internal emails show that management supported Riley before abruptly canning her. — To recap, Riley, a former WSJ editor and Harvard grad …