Mediagazer: NPR sees sharp downturn in advertising revenue, leading to talk of cuts (Paul Farhi/Washington Post)

5:00 PM 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: paidContent, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Guardian, Poynter, PRNewser, Washington Post, Business Week, NetNewsCheck Latest, @romenesko, FishbowlNY, MediaPost, Broadcasting & Cable and mediabistro.com

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 …

Discussion: @ckrewson

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

Los Angeles Times receives $1-million grant from Ford Foundation — The funds will help The Times expand coverage of key areas, including immigration and ethnic communities in Southern California. — The main entrance of the Los Angeles Times building (Los Angeles Times / April 30, 2012)

Discussion: LA Observed, Politico, Poynter, The Informer, @jayrosen_nyu, @michelemclellan, @jayrosen_nyu, @ckrewson and @ckrewson

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Sir Harold: ‘Fatal miscalcuation’ over Murdoch's 1981 bid — Speaking about Rupert Murdoch's bid for the Times and the Sunday Times Sir Harold Evans also described the revelation of a meeting between Margaret Thatcher and Murdoch in 1981 as ‘astonishing’ — Sir Harold Evans …

Discussion: Guardian and Telegraph

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

After 7 Years, No End in Sight to Phone Hacking Scandal — LONDON — The phone hacking scandal that shook Rupert Murdoch's global media empire and hit the heart of the British government began quietly on a Monday in 2005, when aides to the British royal family gathered in a palace office appointed …

Discussion: Free Press

Huffington Post UK: David Cameron ‘Was Briefed By News International’ On How To Treat Murdoch

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: Mediaite, Poynter and JIMROMENESKO.COM

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 …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and Techland

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
Netflix launches sexy new web-based video player

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

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Obama Campaign Keeps Press Away From Biden — MARTINS FERRY, Ohio — Staff members for Vice President Joe Biden prevented reporters from asking him a question after a campaign event here, as Biden greeted supporters on a rope line. Four reporters approached Biden as he was shaking hands …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Huffington Post

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

Discussion: Capital New York, Politico and The Huffington Post

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 and All Things CNN

Greg Sandoval / CNET:

Simon & Schuster settles antitrust-ebook suit with state AGs — Simon & Schuster is the first of the five publishers accused of illegally fixing e-book prices with Apple's help to settle an antitrust suit brought by 29 states. — Follow @sandoCNET — Simon & Schuster …

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Pottermore adds Kobo as a Harry Potter e-book partner — Pottermore has partnered with Kobo to make the Harry Potter e-books available on Kobo devices. — As with Pottermore's other retail agreements, the e-books aren't sold directly through Kobo. Instead, Kobo's website (which …

Discussion: Publishing Perspectives and TeleRead

John Cook / Gawker:

Wall Street Journal Fights Back Against Claims Rupert Murdoch and Jon Huntsman Fed It a Bulls**t Rumor — A Chinese writer is claiming that Rupert Murdoch was behind one of the Wall Street Journal's more embarrassing recent corrections—the paper wrongly claimed that the son …

Discussion: WantChinaTimes-News