Mediagazer: The “Indie” Journalists At the Center of the Bradley Manning Trial (Arun Rath/PBS)

3:45 AM ET, March 16, 2013

Top News:

The long, slow decline of alt-weeklies — Alternative weekly colossus Boston Phoenix cracked and fell yesterday, ceasing publication after 47 years. According to a Phoenix executive quoted in the obituary in today's Boston Globe, the alternative weekly was losing more than $1 million a year …

Susan Orlean / New Yorker:

Memories of the Phoenix — I attended the University of Michigan, but I got my real education at alternative newsweeklies. That's where I learned to write, to report, and to think of myself as a journalist; that's where I grew up. Even now, many years out from my last newsweekly job …

Discussion: Gawker, NetNewsCheck Latest and Boston Globe

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The Boston Phoenix closing is another sign that glossing up print doesn't work miracles

Discussion: ESPN.com - null, Guardian, Phlog, Navel Gazing, Columbia Journalism Review, The Wrap, The New York Observer and AAN

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

BuzzFeed to Launch Business Section — BuzzFeed, the news and entertainment website known for its mix of animal lists and political scoops designed to be shared on social networks, is launching a business section. — The move, which Buzzfeed plans to announce Monday …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, BuzzFeed, @dylanbyers and FishbowlNY

The Huffington Post:

Matthew Keys Was An Undercover Journalist, Attorney Says — Matthew Keys, the Reuters deputy social media editor charged with helping Anonymous attack the website of his former employer, acted as an “undercover” journalist when he communicated with members of the hacker group, his attorneys told The Huffington Post Friday.

Discussion: The Next Web, Politico, The Atlantic Wire, Betabeat, Gawker, BuzzFeed and Reuters

Paul Bond / The Hollywood Reporter:
Billionaire Eli Broad Teams With Financier to Make L.A. Times Bid

Discussion: Poynter, The Informer and LA Observed

Stefan Becket / New York Magazine:
Indictment Probably Wasn't a Surprise for Reuters Social Media Editor

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Don Kaplan / NY Daily News:

Time Warner Cable makes move to rename NY1 so viewers know it's an exclusive news channel — Market research has shown that viewers are not aware that NY1 is owned and only broadcast on Time Warner Cable, says TWC spokeswoman Amy Summers. The move to rename the channel will reinforce …

Discussion: City Room, NY Daily News, FishbowlNY, Radio & Television …, The Awl, The New York Observer, New York Magazine, TVSpy, Gothamist and NewscastStudio

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:

Pat Kiernan calms us down about the NY1 name change — “It will all be fine,” NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan has just assured me in an email. “The corporate office fully understands how important the channel is to the city.” — I had asked him about the plans to rebrand NY1 …

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

Maxim Magazine Exploring a Sale — Maxim, the lad mag that doles out advice and ribald humor that is especially appreciated in military circles, is on the market. — The magazine's parent company, Alpha Media Group, announced Friday that its board of directors had decided to sell or find …

Discussion: Forbes, Media & Entertainment, FishbowlNY, Adweek and New York Magazine

Felix Salmon:

The many flavors of native content — A story about smartphone use in emerging markets appeared on Quartz Wednesday morning. The byline at the top is that of Donald Fitzmaurice, the CEO of Brandtone, who wrote the introduction and the conclusion. The rest of the piece comprises short country reports …

Discussion: Edelman

Arun Rath / PBS:

The “Indie” Journalists At the Center of the Bradley Manning Trial — One reporter had the scoop on the day after the 2012 election, when the lawyer for Bradley Manning, the young Army private accused of leaking more than 500,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks, stood up in the courtroom …

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

New York Times Reorganizes Staff to Promote Online Operations — New York Times Co. (NYT), reshuffling its staff after the arrival of Chief Executive Officer Mark Thompson last year, will create three new groups in an effort to streamline the company and promote its online operations.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon Publishing launches literary fiction imprint, Little A — Amazon Publishing is launching a new imprint, called Little A, that will publish literary fiction — novels and collections of stories — and memoir. — Little A joins Amazon's six other imprints, which focus on genres like romance and science fiction.

Discussion: CNET, GalleyCat, PublishersWeekly.com and New York Times