Mediagazer: Amazon's Quest for Web Names Draws Foes (Greg Bensinger/Wall Street Journal)

6:10 PM ET, March 11, 2013

Top News:

Matt Lauer Finally Talks — The Today host tells Howard Kurtz that NBC mishandled Ann Curry's ouster and describes how the network is rebuilding the show. Plus, his secret talks with Katie Couric. — One day last fall, Matt Lauer walked out of his 30 Rock office and took the elevator …

Discussion: Deadline.com, TVNewser, Business Insider, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, Guardian, New York Post, PopWatch, @bobbymacreports, @moorehn, Chickaboomer, @steph_griff, @brianstelter, @howardkurtz, The Huffington Post and Softpedia News

Tim Peterson / Adweek:

YouTube Co-founder Prepping Possible Rival — YouTube has had its share of competition over the years. Companies like Vimeo and DailyMotion (plus copyright lawsuits and crushing overhead costs) led Chad Hurley and the video-sharing site's co-founders to sell YouTube to Google.

Discussion: Wired, Electronista, The Next Web, T3, Fast Company, The Verge, SocialTimes, Tubefilter, WebProNews, Gizmodo and App Advice

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Mail Online expands, has bigger audience in U.S. than in U.K. — The Daily Mail's Web presence is “putting more firepower behind expanding its international digital media empire, hiring teams of reporters and ad executives across the US,” Emily Steel and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson report.

Discussion: Financial Times

Jennifer Howard / Chronicle of Higher Education:

In the Digital Era, Our Dictionaries Read Us — For Peter Sokolowski, a high-profile event like the 9/11 attacks or the 2012 vice-presidential debate is not just news. It's a “vocabulary event” that sends readers racing to their dictionaries. — Sokolowski is editor at large for Merriam-Webster …

Brooks Barnes / Media Decoder:

From YouTube to the Cineplex — LOS ANGELES — How fast is YouTube building new media companies? Consider the case of AwesomenessTV, a YouTube-based channel for teenagers. — Last year at this time, Awesomeness had not introduced its MTV-esque programs. Now the channel has about 400,000 subscribers and 80.6 million video views.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

Can E-Books Work for Publishers? — This is the second in a four-part series, “Fixing The Publisher Model,” looking at how publishers are experimenting with new models that can bring in additional revenue. — Publishers across the board are hunting for dollars beyond advertising …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, @tcarmody and @tcarmody

Erik Wemple:

Boston.com had no control over bogus Krugman post — The Daily Currant makes another round of headlines with its satire. Weeks ago, it bamboozled the Washington Post into believing that Sarah Palin had signed on with Al Jazeera as a commentator. — Now it has hoaxed the journalism world …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Mediaite, Business Insider, Capital New York, The Week, Media Nation, The Raw Story and The Huffington Post

Wall Street Journal:

Al Jazeera in Site Hunt — Broadcaster Looks at Former New York Times, Other Offices for U.S. Operations — Al Jazeera has taken a look at the former New York Times building as part of its hunt for a New York headquarters for the U.S. cable channel it plans to launch in July, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Politico, Gothamist, Business Insider and TVNewser

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Where WordPress is headed: Longform content, curation and maybe even native ads — WordPress is a content company, CEO Matt Mullenweg stressed in a panel Saturday at SXSW Interactive — and longform content is an area that the company is especially interested in. That could include native ads.

Discussion: AllThingsD and TechCrunch

Mayer Nissim / Digital Spy:

Ceri Thomas named BBC News head of programmes — Ceri Thomas has been promoted to head of programmes at BBC News. The current editor of Radio 4's Today programme will assume the role from March 18, taking over from Stephen Mitchell who is leaving the corporation.

Discussion: Guardian, Radio Today and MediaTel

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

“Zero TV” Households Now At 5 Million, Says Nielsen, Up From 3 Million In 2007, But Still Just 5% Of Market — Nielsen today released new data that examines trends in the “Zero TV household” - a definition which refers to those who no longer watch traditional television offered by cable …

Discussion: Nielsen, Broadcasting & Cable, Los Angeles Times, Multichannel, Deadline.com and Mashable!

Jillian Stonecipher / Nieman Journalism Lab:

A proposed Texas law would promote correcting incorrect news, online and off — Texas State Representative Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, has proposed a “retraction statute” that, if passed, will protect journalists both online and offline and promote truth and efficiency both in and out of court.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

LinkedIn to Buy Pulse Newsreader for More than $50M — LinkedIn will buy the maker of the newsreader app Pulse, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. — The price of the acquisition is in the tens of millions, they said — between $50 million to $100 million.