Mediagazer: Lonely Planet sold to US firm for $75m (Georgia Wilkins/Sydney Morning Herald)

4:00 AM ET, March 19, 2013

Top News:

The Washington Post to charge frequent users of its Web site — This summer, The Washington Post will start charging frequent users of its Web site, asking those who look at more than 20 articles or multimedia features a month to pay a fee, although the company has not yet decided how much it will charge.

Discussion: Politico, JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY, Deadline.com, VatorNews, Guardian, TechCrunch, The Verge, @karynelevy, @goldfarb, @bostonabrams, VentureBeat, CNET, Poynter, paidContent, @hblodget, WebProNews, AppNewser and The Huffington Post

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

WaPo will, finally, charge online — Anti-paywall forces routed in the US; attention shifts to Kings Cross — The Washington Post is making it official: It will put up a metered paywall sometime this summer, the paper reports. — But the Post is hardly diving in.

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

The Washington Post Is Building a Paywall (With a Huge Hole) — For the Washington Post and digital subscriptions, it's better late than never. — Two years after its great northern rival, The New York Times, ushered in an era of paywall experimentation in the newspaper industry …

Discussion: Media Decoder

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

ABC Works on an App for Streaming Shows to Mobile Devices — THE WALT DISNEY Company, while sorting out the future of the online video Web site Hulu, has an app in the works that may render Hulu passé for some people. — The app will live stream ABC programming to the phones …

Discussion: CNET and The Verge

Georgia Wilkins / Sydney Morning Herald:

Lonely Planet sold to US firm for $75m — Lonely Planet has been sold to a US media group by its parent company, BBC Worldwide, after years of financial strain on the business. — The sale of the group, to Nashville-based NC2 for $75 million, ends another era for the global backpacking brand …

Discussion: bbc.co.uk and Bookseller + Publisher's …

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BBC Worldwide criticised for sale of Lonely Planet at ‘significant loss’ — Travel guides sale to US billionaire Brad Kelley for £80m less than originally paid was not good business, says BBC Trust — BBC Worldwide has been criticised by the corporation's governing body for incurring a …

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

This Is the Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today — Here it is: In 2012, newspapers lost $16 in print ads for every $1 earned in digital ads. And it's getting worse, according to a new report by Pew. In 2011, the ratio was just 10-to-1.

Discussion: The Week, Slate, LA Observed and Rehak/Stuebing Mostly Media

Erik Wemple:
On cable TV, talk is cheap — and profitable

Discussion: Hot Air, The Huffington Post, TVNewser and Associated Press

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Nearly one-third of U.S. adults have abandoned a news outlet due to dissatisfaction

Discussion: Pew, New York Times, Forbes, Poynter, Adweek, Mediaite, paidContent, FishbowlNY, @jeffjarvis, Fast Company, @alansmurray, @alansmurray, @alansmurray, Digital TV Europe, Tampabay.com, Poynter's News University, Broadcasting & Cable and Deadline.com

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Press regulation at risk as newspaper groups refuse to endorse deal — Publishers of Daily Mail, Sun and Telegraph taking high-level legal advice before deciding whether to join new watchdog — The political consensus over a new system of press regulation is running into difficulty …

Discussion: Digital Spy

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Phone-hacking victims give press regulation deal cautious welcome

Discussion: Guido Fawkes

Patrick Wintour / Guardian:
Press regulation deal: the key points

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, Jon Slattery, The Sun, AdAge, Associated Press, Guardian, Big News Network.com, BBC and Big News Network.com

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Steve Coll named dean of Columbia Journalism School — Steve Coll, the decorated Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker staff writer, has been named dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. — He replaces Nick Lemann, a fellow New Yorker writer who announced last October he would be stepping …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Many j-schools 'still haven't mastered the Web,' Knight says

Discussion: danielbachhuber and Knight Foundation

Keach Hagey / Digits:

NBCNews.com Snags Yahoo News Editor-in-Chief Amid First Wave of Hires — NBCNews.com will not be another web portal. — That's the message in the first batch of hires that the new site announced Monday, nine months after it was created following the end of the 16-year joint venture between between NBC and Microsoft.

Discussion: nbcuniversal.presscentre.com, AllThingsD, Media & Entertainment, Adweek, Talking Points Memo, Politico and @vivianschiller

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:

Steve Brill Gets the Last Laugh Over Epic Health-Care Story — The New Republic's young owner Chris Hughes wasn't crazy to think an exclusive interview with President Obama was a fine way to relaunch a magazine, but the 36-page article on health care he booted to make room ended up the runaway hit.

Discussion: NPR

Christine Haughney / New York Times:
Time's Health Care Opus Is a Hit

Discussion: Politico, Maza's Bazaar, Poynter and The Dish

Roque Planas / The Huffington Post:

‘Generation Y’ Blogger Plots Unprecedented Project In Communist Cuba — Communist Cuba may soon see a non-government newspaper produced on the island. — Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez said she plans to launch an independent digital newspaper this year, and may follow with a paper edition …

Al Bawaba:

YouTube to allow users in Egypt and Saudi to monetize videos — YouTube, the world's largest online video community, announced that it would extend its “YouTube Partner Program” to users in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE during a press conference on Sunday.

Discussion: Wamda and The Next Web

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Publisher Jesse Angelo is restructuring the money-losing New York Post's revenue operation — For years, Jesse Angelo had been a rising star in the editing ranks of Rupert Murdoch's Australian, British and U.S. tabloids. — Now, fresh off his doomed voyage as editor of News Corp's tablet title …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Raphael Minder / New York Times:

Spanish Magazine Publisher Bets Against the Crisis — MADRID — Andrés Rodríguez, the publisher and founder of SpainMedia, has the most at stake in the debut this month of a Spanish-language edition of Forbes, the U.S. business magazine, in crisis-hit Spain.

Discussion: Garcia Media and Media Decoder

Katy Bachman / Adweek:

Streaming Internet Service Runs Out of Legal Moves — Ivi, a pay TV service that was streaming over-the-air TV signals on the Internet without permission, has finally reached the end of the road in court. — The Supreme Court on Monday denied the company's petition for certiorari and refused …

Discussion: New York Times and GeekWire