Mediagazer: Pub Backs Blogger in Emails Before Canning Her (Betsy Rothstein/FishbowlDC)

8:45 AM ET, May 11, 2012

Top News:

Rebekah Brooks at the Leveson inquiry - live coverage — Full coverage as the former News International chief executive appears at the inquiry into press standards — 9.43am: Good morning and welcome to the Leveson inquiry live blog. — Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Journalism.co.uk, Guardian, Reuters, The Independent, Press Gazette, Journalism.co.uk, CNN, The Daily Beast, NetNewsCheck Latest and Associated Press

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Murdoch may have had ‘selective amnesia’ over Thatcher meeting — Rupert Murdoch's lack of recollection of a meeting with Margaret Thatcher over his proposed acquisition of the Times in 1981 may have been a case of “selective amnesia”, the Leveson inquiry has heard.

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

Robert Booth / Guardian:
Andy Coulson: I may have seen top-secret state material

Discussion: Crikey and Press Gazette

Gordon Rayner / Telegraph:
Leveson Inquiry: David Cameron was personally involved in vetting Andy Coulson

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: Mediaite, Softpedia News and Guardian

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 …

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Nick Denton is betting the future of advertising is conversational — When we spoke with Nick Denton recently, the Gawker Media CEO talked about how the new commenting system he launched last month would shape the future of the company — and he hinted that this would involve the business side …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, NetNewsCheck Latest, Business Insider and Digiday

Jessica Roy / Betabeat:

Daily Foodie Newsletter Tasting Table is Gobbling Up Revenue — Tasting Table, the daily epicurean email publication in the same vein as Thrillist, doesn't fancy itself just another “To the trash bin with you!” newsletter. With stringent editorial standards ("no pay for play") …

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.

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Will Time's Breastfeeding Cover Be Bad For Business? — Time's new cover. Click to expand. — It's safe to say the folks at Time magazine weren't caught unawares by the controversy already boiling up around their latest cover, which features an attractive 26-year-old mother breastfeeding her almost-four-year-old son.

Discussion: Healthland, LA Observed, Media Week, The Daily What, The Week, Mixed Media, Gawker, The New York Observer and Poynter

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:
Time breastfeeding cover sparks controversy

Discussion: Slate, Salon, Adweek, The Huffington Post and Healthland

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

Tim Karr / Save the News:

Who's Afraid of Rupert Murdoch? — The answer: the Federal Communications Commission and Congress. — While the media mogul was called before Parliament and hammered by regulators in the United Kingdom, few in the halls of U.S. power are willing to call News Corp. to account for the …

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

Investment bank Evercore readies Variety for sale — Evercore Partners, which handled the sale of both Newsweek and BusinessWeek, is also overseeing the sale of Variety. — A Variety staff member who was briefed by management on the status of the sale told paidContent that 11 potential bidders have asked to see the deal book.

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

TV Broadcasters Warn of Huge Industry Shakeup If Barry Diller's Aereo Isn't Stopped — After filing a copyright lawsuit against Aereo in March, broadcasters on Wednesday detailed why a preliminary injunction is warranted. — All of the major TV broadcasters are fighting a legal battle against Aereo …

Discussion: The Verge

Jim Romenesko:

Will the Sun-Times buy the Chicago Tribune? — In his story about the Chicago Sun-Times parent in talks to buy the Chicago Reader for $3 million, Reader media writer Michael Miner notes that a Crain's story has “hinted” that Sun-Times owner Michael Ferro and his allies might be interested in taking over the Chicago Tribune.

Discussion: Chicago Reader