Mediagazer: Warren Buffett and Newspapers: Infatuation or Cold Calculation? (Jeff Bercovici/Mixed Media)

9:15 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: Media Decoder, eMedia Vitals, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Washington Post, Poynter, Newspaper Death Watch, TheLensNola.org, Blog of New Orleans, Gambit, The Rural Blog and CJR

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Will New Orleanians follow The Times-Picayune online after it cuts back on print? — Starting this fall, New Orleans will become the largest U.S. city to go without a daily newspaper, but it won't be the first. — That distinction is held by Ann Arbor, Mich. In 2009 …

Discussion: Newsonomics, Reinventing the Newsroom and TheLensNola.org

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

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and American Journalism Review

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

Discussion: CJR, Media News, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @ryanchittum, Erik Wemple, Charles Apple, The Huffington Post, Blog of New Orleans, Gambit, Poynter and Poynter

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, Los Angeles Times, Chickaboomer, Adweek, Hollywood Reporter, MediaFile, Broadcasting & Cable, 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, Engadget, @jbflint, The Verge, @laureni, The Next Web, @theharryshearer, 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: Reuters, 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 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

Farhad Manjoo / Slate:

BOMBSHELL: Business Insider Kinda Brilliant — A defense of the rapacious news aggregator. — Imagine a used car salesman who learns that the shiny Mercedes in his lot has a busted engine. He tells his friends not to go near the lemon, but when he notices a long line of people coming in to see the car …

Discussion: @mattrosoff, @reformedbroker, MediaPost, Business Insider, Techdirt and ReadWriteWeb, Thanks:@rossneumann

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: eMedia Vitals, Erik Wemple, CNET, ThinkProgress and Techland

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

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.