Mediagazer: Fox Sues Dish Network Over Auto Hop Ad-Skipper (Matthew Belloni/Hollywood Reporter)

8:15 AM ET, May 25, 2012

Top News:

New Orleans Newspaper Scales Back in Sign of Print Upheaval — The Times-Picayune, a 175-year-old fixture in New Orleans and a symbol of the city's gritty resilience during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, has buckled under the pressures of the modern newspaper market.

Discussion: American Journalism Review, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Reinventing the Newsroom, Washington Post and Newspaper Death Watch

John McQuaid / Forbes:
The Digital Future of The Times-Picayune

Discussion: Poynter, Media News, CJR, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @ryanchittum, Erik Wemple, The Huffington Post, Poynter and Poynter

Jed Horne / The Lens: Opinion: Changes at TP were necessary, but are they the right ones?

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Dish Seeks Ruling on Feature That Skips All Commercials — 6:50 p.m. | Updated | The Dish Network and three television networks filed opposing 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, Broadcasting & Cable, MediaFile, Adweek, CNET, Mashable!, Home Media Magazine and AdAge

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: Digital Trends, Forbes, paidContent, @jbflint, The Verge, @laureni, The Next Web, @theharryshearer, Engadget, Lost Remote and Multichannel

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: MediaPost, Inside Cable News, AdExchanger.com, New York Magazine, GeekWire and The Tech Trade

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Warren Buffett and Newspapers: Infatuation or Cold Calculation? — Warren Buffett. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife) — “For most newspapers in the United states, we would not buy them at any price,” -Warren Buffett in 2009. — “I've loved newspapers all my life …

Discussion: Lists

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Why rich people are investing in newspapers, again

Discussion: Garcia Media, Forbes and Capital New York

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:
Warren Buffett Won't Stop Buying Newspapers Until He's Dead

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Charles Apple and Poynter

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, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story and Poynter

New York Times:

Cameron Defends Handling of Murdoch Bid — LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday defended his handling of a contentious and ultimately doomed $12 billion bid by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation last year to take control of the country's most powerful and lucrative commercial television network.

Discussion: Press Gazette, Press Gazette, Guardian, Guardian, Guardian, The Independent, The Huffington Post, Media Week and Reuters

Gordon Rayner / Telegraph:
Leveson Inquiry: Jeremy Hunt memo shows he backed News Corp bid for BSkyB before taking charge of decision

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

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Daily Caller gives gun promotion a shot — Whatever your take on the Daily Caller, give them this: They know their audience. Not long after the conservative news site this morning announced a gun giveaway promotion, Publisher and CEO Neil Patel told me that “thousands” of people had entered themselves as contestants.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, DCist and The Huffington Post

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:
Daily Caller giving away guns to readers now through Election Day

Discussion: New York Times

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

A push to outlaw anonymous commenters in New York gets big eye-roll from digital media — One might have expected the news that several Republican state lawmakers in New York want to pass a law essentially banning anonymous comments on the web to be met with outrage.

Discussion: Erik Wemple, CNET and ThinkProgress

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:

Digital Notes: Pandora Revenues Grow, and Streaming Music's Global Drive — Pandora, which has been under scrutiny from investors since it went public almost a year ago, delivered some good financial news on Wednesday, and its stock price rose more than 13 percent by Thursday afternoon.

Discussion: VentureBeat and The Next Web

Associated Press:

Gunmen kill Somali journalist, bringing toll to 6 this year; ties Syria for deadliest in world — MOGADISHU, Somalia — A radio station producer says that gunmen in Somalia have killed a Somali journalist, the sixth to be slain in the country this year. — The death highlights …

Discussion: Committee to Protect … and Reuters

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

Sean Hannity Signs New Deal At Fox News — Sean Hannity isn't going anywhere. — The Fox News host just signed a new multi-year contract with the network, it was announced Thursday. He will continue his current role for at least four more years. — Hannity, who joined the network in 1996 …

Discussion: Multichannel and Mediaite