Mediagazer: Times-Picayune to publish three days a week, cut staff (Steve Myers/Poynter)

6:30 PM ET, May 24, 2012

Top News:

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Times-Picayune to publish three days a week, cut staff — A memo from Times-Picayune publisher Ashton Phelps Jr. confirms that the newspaper will cease daily publication, moving to three days a week in the fall: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The memo also confirms staff cuts, though it doesn't say how large they will be.

Discussion: Forbes, CJR, American Journalism Review, JIMROMENESKO.COM, NetNewsCheck Latest, Media Decoder, Newspaper Death Watch, Blog of New Orleans, Gambit, Erik Wemple, Charles Apple, TheLensNola.org, Save the News, The Rural Blog, Newsonomics, The Awl, Yahoo! News, Guardian and The Newspaper Guild

John McQuaid / Forbes:

The Digital Future of The Times-Picayune — I spent most of my journalism career at The Times-Picayune and have many friends there, so the news that its owners are slashing the staff, dismissing top editors, and cutting back publication days is very difficult to process.

Discussion: @ryanchittum, The Huffington Post, The Lens, CJR, Blog of New Orleans, Gambit, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Business Insider

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Advance cuts daily publication of its three Alabama papers

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Inside Alabama

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
New Orleans Times-Picayunes Faces Deep Cuts, Will End Daily Publication

Discussion: Poynter, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Forbes, JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Gambit, @davidfolkenflik, Media Decoder, @the_gambit, @the_gambit, @the_gambit, @toffleresque, @lizzieohreally, @elgray, @ryanchittum and @bmccarthytp

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Dish Seeks Ruling on Feature That Skips All Commercials — Updated Brandishing lawsuits like swords, the Dish Network and at least three television networks filed dueling lawsuits on Thursday over Auto Hop, a feature that allows Dish subscribers to automatically skip all the advertising during most prime time shows.

Discussion: Reuters, Home Media Magazine, Adweek and The Wrap

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:

Fox Sues Dish Network Over Auto Hop Ad-Skipper — Fox has sued Dish Network over its new Auto Hop service, which allows consumers to skip television ads. Fox issued the following statement on Thursday: … The suit, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday on behalf of Fox Broadcasting …

Discussion: paidContent, AdAge, Lost Remote, The Wrap, @jbflint, The Verge, @laureni, The Next Web, @theharryshearer and Engadget

Mike Shields / Adweek:

NBCU Exploring Buyback of MSNBC.com — Chris Matthews must be getting that tingling feeling down his leg again. He and his colleagues may soon have a giant news site to call their own. — That's because NBCUniversal is in serious negotiations with Microsoft to buy back MSNBC.com.

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Tech Trade and Inside Cable News

Gregory Korte / USA Today:

Propaganda firm owner admits attacks on journalists — WASHINGTON - The co-owner of a major Pentagon propaganda contractor publicly admitted Thursday that he was behind a series of websites used to discredit two USA TODAY journalists who had reported on the contractor.

Discussion: Gawker, Poynter and The Raw Story

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Warren Buffett Won't Stop Buying Newspapers Until He's Dead — Warren Buffett is going to buy more newspapers. Yes, in addition to the 63 his Berkshire Hathaway Media Group scooped up last week. In a letter sent to the editors and publishers of those publications, Buffett says he …

Discussion: Forbes, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Lists, Poynter and FishbowlLA

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Why rich people are investing in newspapers, again — In March, Chris Hughes paid around $5 million for a majority share of The New Republic. On Sunday The New York Times reported he'd be doubling the magazine's staff and hiring former editor Franklin Foer to edit the magazine once again.

Discussion: Forbes, NetNewsCheck Latest and Capital New York

Gordon Rayner / Telegraph:

Leveson Inquiry: Jeremy Hunt memo shows he backed News Corp bid for BSkyB before taking charge of decision — The Culture Secretary told the Prime Minister it would be “totally wrong” for the Government to “cave in” to News Corp's opponents and instead allow it to help the UK “lead the way” in the media industry.

Discussion: @arusbridger, Guido Fawkes, @jamesro47, @tomjharper, @skynewsbreak, @rosschawkins and London Evening Standard

Reuters:
UK minister leaked information in Sky deal - News Corp

Discussion: Telegraph

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

The Case Against AOL, In Numbers — Starboard Value, the activist hedge fund that seeks to replace three of AOL's directors with its own nominees next month, has laid out its disagreements with the internet giant's current management in a 96-page presentation to investors.

Discussion: CNET

Bobbie Johnson / paidContent:

New ‘radically simplified’ WordPress is on the way — Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress and Automattic (see disclosure) says that the service is preparing for a significant change of direction — by releasing a much simpler version designed to work on mobile.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Beet.TV and The Next Web

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon bans Kindle Store spam (finally) — Amazon is finally banning some of the junkier content in the Kindle Store, including “content that is freely available on the web unless you are the copyright owner of that content.” — The company is making new rules on public domain and “other non-exclusive content.”

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, The Domino Project and WebProNews

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Press scrambles to cover new Etan Patz developments — The news that a New Jersey man has claimed to have murdered Etan Patz on May 25, 1979, a date that became known as National Missing Children's Day in his memory, came too late for today's newspapers. The question is whether the story will remain big enough for tomorrow's.

Discussion: Forbes and The Daily Beast