Mediagazer: Leveson Inquiry: DCMS exchanged 799 texts with News Corp during BskyB bid (Gordon Rayner/Telegraph)

12:15 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: Erik Wemple, NetNewsCheck Latest, Media Decoder, JIMROMENESKO.COM, CJR and The Newspaper Guild

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

New Orleans Times-Picayunes Faces Deep Cuts, Will End Daily Publication — The New Orleans Times-Picayune, the paper that became internationally famous for its courageous reporting during Hurricane Katrina, is facing steep cuts and will end its 175-year history of daily publication, the paper announced Thursday.

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

Reuters:

UK minister leaked information in Sky deal - News Corp — The UK minister in charge of approving News Corp's bid for BSkyB passed on information about the process to Murdoch's media empire through his aide, a News Corp lobbyist insisted, brushing off denials by the government.

Gordon Rayner / Telegraph:

Leveson Inquiry: DCMS exchanged 799 texts with News Corp during BskyB bid — Between June 2010, when the bid was announced, and July 2011, when it was abandoned because of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, Mr Michel also exchanged 191 telephone calls and 158 emails with Mr Hunt's department …

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

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

Fox News Slams Professors Who Claimed Its Viewers Were Ill-Informed — The cable channel was mum the first time around, but now that Fairleigh Dickinson University has released a follow-up study that disparages its audience, FNC is striking back with some observations of its own.

Discussion: TVNewser, mediabistro.com, TVWeek.com and Mediaite

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, Mediaite, Hit & Run and The Huffington Post

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: JIMROMENESKO.COM

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: WebProNews and The Domino Project

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Time and Newsweek Magazine Covers Catch Eyes and Clicks — Who knew there could be so much controversy left in the subject of breast-feeding? — The recent Time magazine cover featuring an attractive 26-year-old mother suckled by her 3-year-old son — with the headline “Are You Mom Enough?”

Discussion: FishbowlNY and magCulture.com/blog

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: Publishing Executive …

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 …

Discussion: Techland, CNET, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Betabeat, Guardian, @anonyops, @jimgiles, The Atlantic Wire, Mediaite, Mashable!, Runnin' Scared, Gothamist, Techdirt, NYConvergence.com, New York Magazine and Digital Trends

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: New York Magazine and The Huffington Post

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: NetNewsCheck Latest, mediabistro.com, Media & Entertainment, FishbowlLA, MediaPost, The Huffington Post and Adweek

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.