Mediagazer: Why I left news — I get asked two questions several times a week … (Allyson Bird)

7:00 PM ET, March 20, 2013

Top News:

Why I left news — I get asked two questions several times a week, and I brush off both with a verbal swat. One — because I'm in my late 20s, I suppose - is when are you getting married? And the other, because it seems like small talk, is why did you leave the newspaper?

Discussion: Poynter, Strange Attractor, @ckanal, @jeffsonderman, Change of Subject, @juliemmoos and @jayrosen_nyu

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Roger Ailes Couldn't Care Less What You Think About His Obama Comments — The Fox News chief tells Howard Kurtz he stands by the laziness charge and says Sarah Palin made ‘mistakes’ and that Dick Morris looked like a ‘jerk’ when he predicted a Romney landslide. Plus, read the 16 juiciest bits from the new Ailes biography.

Discussion: Capital New York, National Review, Erik Wemple, Variety, TVNewser and Mediaite

Marc Tracy / New Republic:

The Man With the Kind Face — Roger Ailes wanted a friendly biography. Zev Chafets was the man for the job. — asked Roger, 'Why'd you agree to let me do the book?' “ Zev Chafets told me yesterday. We were speeding up Central Park West in a News Corp.-provided town car. ”

Discussion: GalleyCat, Politico, The Atlantic Wire, Erik Wemple, New York Magazine, Business Insider and TVNewser

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Washington Post seeks blogger to post ‘at least’ 12 times per day — The Washington Post's arts and living section, Style, is looking for a blogger, an internal announcement reads. Whoever lands this position may want to invest in a serious coffee machine:

Discussion: @lavrusik

Dan Kois / Slate:

Stop Making Fun of WaPo's Blogger Job and Start Applying for It — Someone sent Poynter's Andrew Beaujon an internal job announcement for a new Style section blogger at the Washington Post. The gig requires early mornings and late nights and asks that the blogger produce about 12 posts a day …

Greg Sandoval / The Verge:

Amazon in talks with record labels about subscription music service — Subscription music is all the rage with the big Web music stores — Subscription music services have yet to profit but that hasn't stopped some of the internet's biggest media distributors from jumping into the business.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Music Week, hypebot, WebProNews, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Radio & Television …, Tech Digest, GeekWire, Pocket-lint and CNET

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

The Glory Days of American Journalism — Ignore the doomsayers: The news-reading public has never had more and better information at their fingertips. — American news media has never been in better shape. That's just common sense. Almost anything you'd want to know about any subject is available at your fingertips.

Discussion: Daily Download, Reflections of a Newsosaur, @tcarmody, @emilybell, @chadmumm, @tcarmody, @tcarmody, @jayrosen_nyu, Common Sense Journalism, The Dish, Media Notes and The Fix

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Evening Standard leaks details of George Osborne's budget — Journalist suspended after tweeting picture of embargoed front page before chancellor had even uttered a word — The Chancellor has ordered the permanent secretary of the Treasury to review how sensitive budget information …

Discussion: Guido Fawkes, Reuters, CNET, @joshhalliday, Press Gazette, Bloomberg, Telegraph, Spectator, @joshhalliday, Huffington Post, HoldTheFrontPage, Guardian, The Independent and BBC

Tom Chivers / Telegraph:
Budget 2013: don't scapegoat the Evening Standard's tweeter. It's probably just some poor kid on £23k

Discussion: @fieldproducer

David Freedlander / The Daily Beast:

The Al Jazeera Charm Offensive — With nearly limitless funds from the Qatari royals and plans to hire up to 700 staffers, Al Jazeera America will launch in 45 million U.S. homes in July. But it needs a star—and a clean slate, says David Freedlander. — Al Jazeera is coming to America.

Discussion: TVNewser, FishbowlNY, The Corsair, The Huffington Post and TheBlaze.com

Greg Sandoval / The Verge:

The head of the Copyright Office says the law is broken — but can she fix it in time? — Maria Pallante takes on a behemoth task — it took 20 years to complete the last copyright overhaul — The Register of Copyrights needs a drink. — Maria Pallante heads up the US Copyright Office …

Associated Press:

AP wins copyright infringement suit against Meltwater News — Federal court grants AP's summary judgment against the subscriber-only service — NEW YORK — The U.S. District Court for the Southern District, in Manhattan, ruled today that Meltwater News infringed the use of AP content.

Sarah Meehan / Baltimore Business Journal:

Baltimore Sun names Trif Alatzas as top editor — Triffon G. Alatzas was promoted to senior vice president and executive editor of the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday. — Alatzas, 46, was previously the Sun's head of digital media, a position he held since 2010.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Lance Whitney / CNET:

Comcast scoops up rest of NBC Universal from GE — The cable giant has completed its $16.7 billion deal to acquire the remaining 49 percent of NBCU from former owner General Electric. — Comcast now owns all of NBC Universal. — The cable company shared the news in a filing with the Securities …

Discussion: Bloomberg

Hollywood Reporter:

‘Digital Omnivores’ Devouring Video on Tablets, Study Says — Research firm Deloitte says 26 percent of the U.S. population over age 14 owns a tablet, smartphone and laptop. — There were 160 percent more “digital omnivores” at the end of last year than there were at the end of 2011 …

Discussion: AllThingsD, PR Newswire and Seeking Alpha

Rip Empson / TechCrunch:

Macmillan Buys Late Nite Labs To Help Bring Virtual Science Labs To Higher Ed — Another day, another acquisition in the education technology market. As the old, familiar names in publishing and education move to get in line with the digital revolution, they're finding plenty …

Discussion: PRWeb and EdSurge

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:

Here's When People Actually “Read Later” — Eighty percent of reads happen in the first 35 days. Outside of read-later apps, that only takes six days. — “Read later” service Pocket ran the numbers on this longform story, published on BuzzFeed in November of last year.

Discussion: @pkafka and Pocket Blog

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell exiting — FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell to step down — FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell is stepping down. (AFP/Getty Images) — Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell, who was seen as a free-market advocate and friend to the media industry …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Reuters, Washington Post and Hillicon Valley

Don Clark / Wall Street Journal:

Apple Is Sued on Patent-Infringement Claim — Intertrust Technologies Corp., an early pioneer in digital copyright protection, sued Apple Inc. alleging patent infringement. — The Silicon Valley company on Wednesday said it filed suit alleging that Apple infringed 15 of Intertrust's patents.

Discussion: Forbes, GigaOM and AppleInsider