Mediagazer: Esquire to Publish E-Books Devoted to Men's Fiction (Julie Bosman/Media Decoder)

2:55 AM ET, May 24, 2012

Top News:

New Orleans Paper Said to Face Deep Cuts and May Cut Back Publication — The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which distinguished itself amid great adversity during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, is about to enact large staff cuts and may cut back its daily print publishing schedule …

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Kate Holton / Reuters:

Piers Morgan “showed journalist how to hack phone” — (Reuters) - One of Britain's most respected journalists said on Wednesday that former tabloid newspaper editor Piers Morgan showed him how to hack into phones 10 years ago, the latest twist in a scandal that has so far centered on Rupert Murdoch.

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Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
Lord Justice Leveson discusses role of bloggers

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Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Andy Coulson voicemails allegedly hacked

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

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Survey: NPR's listeners best-informed, Fox viewers worst-informed — People who watch no news at all can answer more questions about international current events than people who watch cable news, a survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind finds.

Discussion: The Media Machine, Erik Wemple, Hit & Run, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Michael Miner / Chicago Reader:

Wrapports buys the Reader — Wrapports LLC, the collection of high-flying investors who own the Sun-Times and Sun-Times Media, have added the Reader to their stable, buying this 41-year-old weekly-which the Wrapports news release chooses to call “iconic”—for slightly under $3 million.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
It's official: Chicago Reader sold to Sun-Times parent

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David Kravets / Wired:

New York Legislation Would Ban Anonymous Online Speech — Did you hear the one about the New York state lawmakers who forgot about the First Amendment in the name of combating cyberbullying and “baseless political attacks”? — Proposed legislation in both chambers would require New York-based websites …

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Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

This Was Inevitable: Huffington Post + Oprah Coming — While it might seem as though Web content queen Arianna Huffington could soon launch a moon edition of her eponymous Huffington Post — perhaps HuffPo Lunar — the AOL-owned unit's next effort will be an Oprah Winfrey section on the huge online publishing platform.

Discussion: Adweek, The Huffington Post and MediaPost

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:
Huffington Post Gets Its First Publisher Amid Broader AOL Changes

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, MediaPost, NetNewsCheck Latest, FishbowlNY, Adweek and Capital New York

Julie Bosman / Media Decoder:

Esquire to Publish E-Books Devoted to Men's Fiction — That creaky label “women's fiction” tends to conjure up images of novels about family, career or relationships. But men's fiction? — Esquire magazine will try to define it in June with a new push into publishing fiction …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and New York Magazine

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Katharine Zaleski leaves Washington Post — Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli announced to staff today that Katharine Zaleski, the Washington Post's executive director of digital news, will be leaving the news organization to join Planet Daily, where she'll be managing editor.

Discussion: @buzzfeedben and Betabeat

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

Apple: U.S. e-book lawsuit “fundamentally flawed” — (Reuters) - Apple Inc is rejecting charges that it conspired to fix prices of electronic books, calling the U.S. government's antitrust lawsuit a “fundamentally flawed” endeavor that could discourage competition and harm consumers.

Discussion: CNET, 9to5Mac and GigaOM

Michael Roberts / The Latest Word:

Denver Post program delivers ex-subscribers ads but not newspaper — Even as it planned sweeping copy-editor layoffs, the Denver Post touted a circulation leap, albeit one taking place mainly online. Indeed, the number of physical papers being delivered keeps sliding — hence “Sunday Select …

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Hachette is offering new e-books to some libraries — Hachette, which has not made new e-books available to libraries since 2010, is reconsidering the idea. In a pilot program starting this spring (which is...now?), the publisher is working with two e-book distributors to bring a …

Jim Romenesko:

Larry Platt resigns as Philadelphia Daily News editor — Philadelphia Daily News editor Larry Platt says he's leaving the paper after just a year and a half. “I never looked at this gig as a long-term play for me,” he tells his staff. Larry Platt “I have long loved the Daily News …

Discussion: Off Mic, Philly.com and @ckrewson

Erik Wemple:

Washington Times takes de Borchgrave's recent columns offline — On Monday night, the Washington Times announced that it would conduct an inquiry into the work of longtime columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave, following allegations that he'd lifted material from other sources on the Internet.

Discussion: @jackshafer, FishbowlDC and The Corsair

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Digital story-telling and the rise of the new publishers — In order to tell the story of Star Wars, George Lucas had to create a new technology company that was powerful enough to tell that story. The same thing has to happen in digital news publishing. — That's the conclusion of Jim Bankoff …

Greg Sandoval / CNET:

Amazon Prime acquires access to Paramount films — When it comes to offering popular movies over the Internet, Amazon continues to close the gap with Netflix. — Follow @sandoCNET — Thanks to a new agreement with Paramount Pictures, subscribers of Amazon's Prime service will now get access to …

Discussion: Home Media Magazine and TechCrunch