Mediagazer: Candidate-press relations are, well, about as ‘sour’ as usual (Jack Shafer)

11:25 AM ET, May 17, 2012

Top News:

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Media General to sell most of its newspapers to Warren Buffett's group — When Warren Buffett said last week that his Berkshire Hathaway might be buying more newspapers, he meant: right now. Media General announced this morning that it would be selling all of its newspapers, except its Tampa properties, to Berkshire Hathaway.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post, mediabistro.com, NetNewsCheck Latest, MarketWatch, FishbowlNY, Broadcasting & Cable and @romenesko

Eric Deggans / Tampa Bay Times:

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to purchase all Media General newspapers except Tampa Tribune for $142 million — The Tampa Tribune and its area print products have been excluded from a $142-million deal in which Richmond Va.-based Media General will sell 63 daily and weekly newspapers …

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

NPR sees sharp downturn in advertising revenue, leading to talk of cuts — NPR's new chief executive is signaling that there may be some static ahead for the radio and digital news organization. Halfway through its fiscal year — and six months into Gary Knell's tenure as chief executive …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and Poynter

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

CNN Hits Lowest Primetime Demo Rating at 9 PM In 15 Years — Last night was a typical, boring Tuesday, with little earth-shattering news to drive TV viewers to cable news. It was also May sweeps, with the season finale of “NCIS: LA,” “America's Got Talent” on NBC and “Dancing With the Stars” …

Discussion: Deadline.com

Jack Shafer:

Candidate-press relations are, well, about as ‘sour’ as usual — Having secured the nominations of their parties, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have set their campaign throttles to late-spring idle with a speech here, a speech there, a commencement address over there, and fundraisers and soft TV appearances everywhere.

Discussion: Politico

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Romney Campaign Admits ‘Error’ After Reporters Blocked At Event

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Politico and Politico

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Netflix launches sexy new web-based video player — Netflix just rolled out a completely revamped video player for browser-based viewing, and I gotta say, it's pretty slick: Not only does it come with lightbox-like text overlays while a video is paused, users can also preview entire seasons …

Discussion: Digital Trends, CNET, Pocket-lint, NetNewsCheck Latest, BuzzFeed, The Verge, PC Magazine, Hillicon Valley and VentureBeat

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

Netflix's Former Customers Are Returning After Rebranding Fiasco — At a J.P Morgan conference held in Boston on Wednesday, Netflix CFO David Wells said that the company was looking up and, more importantly, customers who cancelled the service because of the Qwikster rebranding, plan repricing, and subsequent poor PR are now returning.

Huffington Post UK:

David Cameron ‘Was Briefed By News International’ On How To Treat Murdoch — News International executives briefed David Cameron on “what to say and how to say it” before he met Rupert Murdoch but he “refused to play ball”, the Leveson Inquiry was told today.

Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:

WikiLeaks: No, Media “Morons,” We Didn't Help Iran Execute An Israeli Spy — Since WikiLeaks first released its flood of classified State Department memos in December of 2010, the secret-spilling site's critics have been searching for evidence that Julian Assange's disregard for official secrecy …

Discussion: ZDNet, Daily Mail and WebProNews

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘The New Republic’ plans to establish a New York office — The New Republic will open up a New York office sometime in the coming months, Capital has learned. — Of course, the Beltway media-scene staple had its original offices here at its founding in 1914.

Discussion: Adweek

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

What's the right price for ebooks? — Author Chuck Windig, GigaOm's Mathew Ingram, and TechDirt's Mike Masnick all took on the question of ebook pricing recently, arguing that production costs (you know, minor details like advances, editors, etc.) don't or shouldn't factor into the end price.

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Jann Wenner: Why We're Putting Us Weekly on the IPad — Magazine Enters Game Despite Wenner's Previously Pronounced Lack of Expectations for the Device — Almost exactly a year after Jann Wenner said magazines were rushing to the iPad out of “insanity and insecurity and fear,” …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals