Mediagazer: For its 2012 elections coverage, MTV swaps out citizen journalism for gamification (Adrienne LaFrance/Nieman Journalism Lab)

2:40 PM ET, May 16, 2012

Top News:

Laurie Fine to sue ESPN for libel, says the network “spitefully destroyed” her reputation — Geneva, N.Y. — Laurie Fine will announce this morning that she's filing a federal libel lawsuit against ESPN over its reporting of child-molesting accusations against her husband …

Discussion: Erik Wemple, The Big Lead, Associated Press, CNN, @producermatthew and Bleacher Report

Barry Petchesky / Deadspin:

Laurie Fine To Sue ESPN For Libel — That “major announcement” that Laurie Fine promised for us later this morning, at a castle for some reason? It's exactly what you thought. Fine is bringing a libel lawsuit against ESPN, reporter Mark Schwarz, and producer Arty Berko for their reporting …

Matthew Fleischer / FishbowlLA:

Exclusive: LA Times Magazine is Shutting Down — Nearly three years after the LA Times Magazine was removed from control of the business end of the paper and put back under the LA Times' editorial umbrella, the monthly pub is being shut down. FishbowlLA spoke with the mag's editor …

Discussion: Folio, Los Angeles Times, FishbowlNY, Readers' Representative …, Media Buyer Planner, LA Observed and Poynter

Matthew Fleischer / FishbowlLA:

LA Times Developing Quarterly Fashion Pub — Just got a hold of the internal LA Times memo from COO Kathy Thompson announcing the end of the Los Angeles Times Magazine. As we already reported, the mag's June issue will be its last. There are no plans to tinker and relaunch.

Politico:

President Obama and Mitt Romney's common enemy — Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spend a lot of time trumpeting their differences, but they do share at least one common conviction: disdain for a political news media they see as eager to vaporize them for the sheer sport of it.

Discussion: Politico and Capital New York

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Romney Campaign Admits ‘Error’ After Reporters Blocked At Event — Several reporters covering Mitt Romney described being blocked from a rope line on Wednesday and prevented from asking the candidate questions at a St. Petersburg, Fla., event. “Romney campaign and Secret Service attempted …

Discussion: TVNewser

Ned Simons / Huffington Post UK:

Jack Straw Tells Leveson Rupert Murdoch Likes To ‘Play’ With Political Leaders — Rupert Murdoch liked to “play with political leaders” by tempting them with the possibility that his newspapers would support them, Jack Straw has said. Giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry into press ethics …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, @hackinginquiry and @lisaocarroll

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian: Leveson inquiry: Adam Boulton says Brown's pyjama party was ‘bonkers’

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Larry Kramer's vision for USA Today — Larry Kramer, media consultant and MarketWatch founder, was named president and publisher of USA Today yesterday, putting him at the helm of the most widely circulated print newspaper in the country. In an interview this morning …

Discussion: @romenesko

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
New USA Today publisher Larry Kramer gets to apply his theories about newsroom evolution

Discussion: @martinn123, JIMROMENESKO.COM, BtoB Magazine, The Daily Beast and eMedia Vitals

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Flipboard Expands: Adds Audio From NPR, Public Radio & SoundCloud; Introduces Japanese Version — “Social magazine” Flipboard may have to think up a new tagline for itself, as tonight the company is rolling out an update which greatly expands its focus beyond text-based content to also include audio.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Techland, BBC, The Next Web, MacStories, VentureBeat and The Verge

Jonathan Stray:

The hard part of solution journalism is agreeing on the problems — The only editorial mantra that ever made any sense to me comes from the Voice of San Diego new reporter guidelines: “Our bent: Reform. Things can always be better.” It's been said that the role of journalism is to inform …

Discussion: Groundswell

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

CBS' Leslie Moonves blasts Dish's Auto Hop ad-skipping feature — CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves blasted satellite broadcaster Dish Network's new Auto Hop feature that allows consumers to more easily block commercials from recorded programming. “They can't just take our signal and change …

Discussion: The Next Web

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:
How broadcasters could have stopped Dish's Hopper

Discussion: Radio & Television … and Techdirt

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

For its 2012 elections coverage, MTV swaps out citizen journalism for gamification — Nearly 17 million Americans have reached voting age in the four years since the last presidential election cycle. This year's pool of youth voters includes 46 million people in the United States …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Cory Bergman / Lost Remote:

Turner Broadcasting invests in social video site Funny or Die — When Funny Or Die launched in April 2007 — a startup co-founded by Will Ferrell — it enjoyed an early-mover advantage in jumping on the wave of socially-shared video. Today, it sports 1.7 million Facebook fans …

Discussion: Multichannel, MediaPost and The Wrap