Mediagazer: Richard Engel Reveals a Diary of His Syrian Kidnapping—and How His Captors Terrorized Their Victims (Richard Engel/Vanity Fair)

2:00 PM ET, March 7, 2013

Top News:

Al Gore Sued Over Current TV Sale to Al Jazeera (Exclusive) — A $5 million lawsuit claims Gore was “adamant” about not selling his network to oil-rich Qataris but had a “change of heart,” then stiffed the man who came up with the idea for the deal. — Current TV's $500 million sale …

Discussion: TVNewser, UPI, Mediaite, Chickaboomer, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic Wire, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast and New York Magazine

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch seeks to reassure bailed Sun journalists — News Corp chairman meets some of 24 journalists on bail in relation to allegations of payments to police and public officials — Rupert Murdoch has met with some of the 24 Sun journalists who are still on bail after being arrested …

Guardian: Rupert Murdoch said to have voiced doubts about corporate ‘clean-up’ unit

Richard Engel / Vanity Fair:

Richard Engel Reveals a Diary of His Syrian Kidnapping—and How His Captors Terrorized Their Victims — NBC News's Richard Engel was dispatched to cover Syria's civil war last December when he lived every war correspondent's nightmare: he and his crew were dragged from their car at gunpoint …

Discussion: Politico, TVNewser and @richardengel

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Record labels object to Apple's proposed low royalty rate for streaming service — Apple has opened talks with record labels about getting rights for a music-streaming service — but has gotten plenty of push back because its offer is seen as way too cheap, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Media Decoder, TechCrunch, Business Insider, The Verge, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Electronista, FMQB, Clickmusic, AllAccess.com, Gizmodo, Music Week and hypebot

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

AOL's Tim Armstrong: If I Had My Druthers, I'd Buy Time Inc. — The merger that brought AOL and Time Inc. together under the same roof 13 years ago is widely regarded as the single worst deal in corporate history. If he had the means, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong would love to recreate it — in part.

Discussion: Media Decoder

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Fortune Writes Articles Exclusively for Advertisers — Advertisers looking to escape the dreaded advertorial trap and give consumers content they'll actually read has helped create the boom in native advertising or branded content. At the same time, publishers continue to seek ways to make their editorial work harder for them.

Discussion: @pkafka, @pkafka and @jayrosen_nyu

Washington Post:

Doug Feaver Named The Washington Post's First Reader Representative — The Washington Post today announced Doug Feaver as its first reader representative. Feaver will serve as an advocate for readers, responding to their questions and concerns. He will work closely with Alison Coglianese …

Discussion: Poynter and Politico

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

Facebook Is Making The World's ‘Best Personalized Newspaper’ — Facebook is making a major News Feed announcement today. — It's making Feed easier to sort and more personalized. — One of those changes will go after Flipboard, an iPad news reader. Zuckerberg told the crowd:

Discussion: The Verge, Facebook Newsroom, CNET, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, @mbaratz, @mbaratz, @jguynn, @willmcavoyacn, @jguynn, @thestalwart, @jguynn, @davidlidsky, @fmanjoo, @fmanjoo and The Next Web

Matthew Lynley / Wall Street Journal:

Recommendation Engine Outbrain Acquires Editorial Data Startup Visual Revenue — Outbrain, a content-recommendation startup based in New York, is acquiring Visual Revenue, a startup that gives editors of news sites tools and data to help with decision-making when setting up page layouts online.

Discussion: VentureBeat, MarketWatch and Globes Online

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Movie Sales Increased With Shutdown of Piracy Sites — Shutting major piracy websites can increase online revenue for movie studios, a new study has found. — In research to be released on Thursday, a pair of academics found the closure of the “cyberlocker” site Megaupload and its sibling Megavideo …

Discussion: Home Media Magazine

Jonathan Skillings / CNET:

Nook Media signs up for more Hollywood content — The Barnes & Noble unit unveils new content licensing partnerships with major studios and content providers including Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, National Geographic, and Little Pim. — The Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ — The Nook is stocking up on video.

Discussion: paidContent, Home Media Magazine, Business Wire, PublishersWeekly.com, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, VatorNews, Mashable!, Engadget, Fox Business and The Consumerist

Associated Press:

Silvio Berlusconi convicted over publication of wiretapped conversations — Former Italian prime minister is sentenced to one year in jail by Milan court — A court in Milan has convicted Silvio Berlusconi for the illegal publication of transcripts of wiretapped conversations in a newspaper owned by his media empire.

Discussion: Reuters, BBC, Associated Press, CNN, Wall Street Journal, The Independent, Bloomberg, Daily Mail, Mirror.co.uk, Reuters, Business Insider, The Boston Globe and GlobalPost

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

Alloy Digital, Owner of YouTube's Top Channel, Raises $30M — Alloy Digital, which operates the most subscribed channel on YouTube, secured a $30 million Series A investment from ABS Capital Partners, the company announced on Thursday. — The new money arrives after two years …

Discussion: AllThingsD, Deadline.com, Tubefilter and VatorNews