Mediagazer: NBC Yanks ‘Rock Center’ From May Sweeps, Presence on Fall Lineup Unclear (Alex Weprin/TVNewser)

1:05 PM ET, May 11, 2012

Top News:

Rebekah Brooks Testifies About Relationships With British Elite — 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 …

Discussion: Guardian, Media Decoder, Bloomberg, Telegraph, Guy Fawkes' blog, Journalism.co.uk 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: Reuters, CNET, Media & Entertainment, Business Insider, Mirror.co.uk, Telegraph and UK News and Opinion

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian: Rebekah Brooks tells the Leveson inquiry of more meetings with David Cameron

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: 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

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: Mediaite, The Huffington Post, nation.foxnews.com, GalleyCat, Chickaboomer and AppNewser

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, Softpedia News and Mediaite

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, Reuters and Associated Press

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

The Atlantic Media's Digital Transformation — The Atlantic Media Company is hardly new to publishing. Its history stretches to 1857, but for an old guy it's proven to have some serious digital moves. Its outlets — The Atlantic, The National Journal and Government Executive …

Discussion: Folio and CJR

Robin Wauters / The Next Web:

Slashnot? Geeknet mulls sale of online media businesses, including Slashdot and SourceForge — Geeknet this morning announced that its board of directors has started evaluating “strategic alternatives” for its online media businesses, which include popular ‘news for nerds’ site Slashdot …

Discussion: VentureBeat, The Tech Trade, WebProNews and PR Newswire

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

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