Mediagazer: Patching up? Tim Armstrong's hyperlocal-news baby has numbers to brandish against hostile shareholders (Joe Pompeo/Capital New York)

4:15 PM ET, June 11, 2012

Top News:

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

Politico to Expand Its Subscription Service — Just as print publications across North America are cutting newsroom staff and daily publication schedules, Politico is expanding. — This week, the news outlet is starting to hire 20 more reporters and editors to help increase its coverage on the economy and military.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, FishbowlDC, paidContent, Politico, Free Press, Gannett Blog and eMedia Vitals

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

A Sports Aggregator Finds a Home: Gannett Buys Quickish — The folks at Gannett, the newspaper publisher best known as the people who bring you USA Today, also want to be known for online sports. Here's another move in that direction: The company's USA Today Sports Media Group has acquired Quickish …

Discussion: Adweek, NetNewsCheck Latest, Nodes - Quickish and Gannett Blog

New York Times:

Syrian Conflict Cracks Carefully Polished Image of Assad — For some journalists, Syria has been one of the least hospitable countries in the Middle East, a place where reporters — if they can get in — are routinely harassed and threatened as they try to uncover the repression that has propped up the Assad government for decades.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Erik Wemple, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, Media Decoder, Washington Free Beacon and Newsweek

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Orange County Register sold to Aaron Kushner group — The Orange County Register has been sold to 2100 Trust LLC. The newspaper had been owned by Freedom Communications, which announced the sale of its newspapers in Texas and in the Midwest last month and of its newspapers in North Carolina and in Florida on June 1.

Discussion: Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Free Press

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Robin Roberts Will Undergo Bone Marrow Transplant — “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts will undergo a bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed with a form of leukemia. On the show this morning, an emotional Roberts explained she was diagnosed with the cancer following treatment …

Discussion: Mediaite, Yahoo! Good Morning America, The Wrap, mediabistro.com, Speakeasy, Broadcasting & Cable and TVSpy

Michael Wolf / GigaOM:

Introducing GigaOM Books — Here at GigaOM, we've followed the tectonic shifts happening in book publishing pretty closely. From Laura Owen's great daily analysis of all things e-books to Mathew's thoughtful takes on how publishers are adapting, to the occasional analysis from yours truly …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk and Publishers Lunch

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Beck Renews His Radio Deal — Glenn Beck, who departed Fox News last year and started his own Internet television network, is sticking with his radio network partner. — His company, Mercury Radio Arts, will announce on Monday that it has renewed its contract with Premiere Networks …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Wrap, TVNewser, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline.com, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and PopWatch

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Phone hacking: Met refers files on five journalists to CPS — Scotland Yard has referred files relating to five journalists arrested on suspicion of phone hacking to prosecutors, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced. The journalists' cases are the first to be referred to the CPS …

Reuters:
Gordon Brown challenges Murdoch for misleading inquiry

Discussion: @skynewsbreak, Guido Fawkes, @lisaocarroll, Guardian and New York Times

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Why is the U.S. State Department paying Amazon $16.5 million for 2,500 Kindles? — The U.S. State Department has signed a no-bid, $16.5 million one-year contract with Amazon to provide Kindle Touches- 2,500 of them to start, preloaded with 50 titles each — for its overseas language-education programs.

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Patching up? Tim Armstrong's hyperlocal-news baby has numbers to brandish against hostile shareholders — AOL's Patch has been taking a beating lately thanks to Starboard Capital, an investor group that thinks the costly community-journalism venture should be shut down.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Poynter and Wall Street Journal

Michaelle Bond / American Journalism Review:

A New Executive Director for ASNE — Arnie Robbins, who stepped down as editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last month, will be the new executive director of the American Society of News Editors starting July 9. Current executive director Richard Karpel, appointed in 2009 …

David Carr / New York Times:

Newspaper as Business Pulpit — There is a growing worry that the falling value and failing business models of many American newspapers could lead to a situation where moneyed interests buy papers and use them to prosecute a political and commercial agenda.

Discussion: The New Republic, @jayrosen_nyu, @mathewi and @jeffjarvis

Amy Davidson / The New Yorker:

The President's Press Problem — “The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive,” President Obama said at his press conference Friday. “It's wrong. And people I think need to have a better sense of how I approach this office …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Robin Bravender / Politico:
Woodward, Bernstein caution against ‘witch hunt’ on leaks

Discussion: New York Times

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

TV Content Ratings System Set to Expand to Web — The black labels that tell families what to expect from network television shows will start to appear on the Internet streams of those shows, too. — The expansion of the TV content ratings system is expected to be announced by the major broadcast networks on Monday morning.