Mediagazer: Michel expected to hold nerve at Leveson (Media Monkey/Guardian)

Media Monkey / Guardian:

Michel expected to hold nerve at Leveson — Frédéric Michel, the sophisticate brought in to professionalise lobbying at News Corporation, is coolly preparing to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry on Thursday. Those who have seen him this week say he shows surprisingly few signs of nerves …

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Andy Coulson voicemails allegedly hacked — Voicemails left by Andy Coulson for the aide to former Labour home secretary Charles Clarke are believed to be among those allegedly hacked while he was editor of the News of the World. Coulson is one of a number of journalists whose messages …

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

For AOL, a Costly Gamble On Local News Draws Trouble — Patch.com, a network of small-town news sites owned by AOL Inc., has emerged at the center of a tug of war over the Internet company's future. — The high cost of running the local-news sites has fueled a campaign …

Discussion: Gannett Blog, NetNewsCheck Latest, Washington Post, Street Fight, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Poynter

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media: AOL's Patch Gets a Haircut in Push For Profitability

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:
Patch Cuts 20 Managers, Restructures

Discussion: TVNewser

Michael Wolff / Technology Review:

The Facebook Fallacy: For all its valuation, the social network is just another ad-supported site. Without an earth-changing idea, it will collapse and take down the Web. — For all its valuation, the social network is just another ad-supported site. Without an earth-changing idea, it will collapse and take down the Web.

Discussion: Guardian, @ckrewson, @jayrosen_nyu, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog and New York Magazine

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Pentagon, CIA, White House opened up to Hollywood on bin Laden raid — Just weeks after Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency officials warned publicly of the dangers posed by leaks about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, top officials at both agencies and at the White House granted …

Felix Salmon:

How Gawker wants to monetize comments — Back in November, I grappled with the fact that online display ads in general, and banner ads in particular, are clearly not working very well; my suggested alternative was for brand advertisers to embrace the power of the external link.

Voice of San Diego:

Knight Grant Fuels New VOSD On-Demand Mag — Exciting news here at VOSD: We're going beyond our online site to publish a print and digital monthly magazine. — Voice of San Diego Monthly is part of our new membership program, which aims to build a community of readers (you!) to help support us into the future.

Discussion: Knight Foundation and FishbowlLA

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Ailes Regrets ‘Scum’ Attack on NYT — Fox News chairman backs off harsh language in a college speech — Roger Ailes, who loves to bash the liberal media, used some extraordinarily harsh language the other day—and now realizes it. — In a speech Monday night at Ohio University …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Erik Wemple, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, Mediaite, @carr2n, Chickaboomer, Inside Cable News, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM and TVNewser

Jay Greene / CNET:

How Amazon is changing the rules for books and movies — Amazon Studios is crowdsourcing movie-making, creating test movies, that fans can review, with storyboard art in the place of video, like this image from a possible upcoming release called “Touching Blue.”

Joseph Menn / Reuters:

Yahoo under Levinsohn seen shifting to content, advertising — (Reuters) - With two of its most distracting conflicts resolved in the past week and a half, Yahoo Inc hopes its new interim chief executive can focus on the biggest challenge of all: turning the company into an entertainment …

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

CNN's Primetime Ratings Sink to 20-Year Low — Final numbers give the network's Monday-Friday showing, between 8 and 11 p.m., its smallest take among total viewers in two decades. — CNN's ratings woes continue to get worse. Following last week's news of a 15-year primetime low during Piers Morgan …

Discussion: Politico, Media Decoder, Deadline.com and The Huffington Post

Peter Osnos / The Atlantic:

In Praise of ProPublica — Among all the nonprofit and for-profit news organizations founded in the digital era when so many traditional print publications have suffered economic catastrophe, the most respected new enterprise is ProPublica. Launched in 2007-08 with a $30 million long-term commitment …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

Lynne Marek / Chicago Business:

Tribune prepares to spin off business units — Tribune Co. is streamlining its corporate structure for the possible sale of publishing and broadcast units after its exit from bankruptcy. The Chicago-based company recently filed a document with the Delaware court handling the bankruptcy …

Discussion: Poynter