Mediagazer: Amazon in talks with record labels about subscription music service (Greg Sandoval/The Verge)

2:00 PM ET, March 20, 2013

Top News:

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: Politico, New York Magazine, Business Insider, TVNewser, The New York Observer and Chickaboomer

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: Mediaite, TVNewser, Variety and New York Times

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

Allyson Bird:

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, Change of Subject, @jayrosen_nyu, @ckanal, @jeffsonderman and @juliemmoos

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, Common Sense Journalism, @tcarmody, @emilybell, @jayrosen_nyu, @chadmumm, @tcarmody, @tcarmody, The Fix, Beyond Search and TheBlaze.com

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 — When George Osborne took to his feet in the Commons on Wednesday lunchtime, he might not have expected to be greeted …

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

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

Discussion: @fieldproducer

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Journalism Professor Sues Columbia, Claiming Misuse of Endowment Funds — A tenured professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism and co-director of that school's business program filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the university of misdirecting $4.5 million in funds over the last decade.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Inside Higher Ed and Talking Biz News

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

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, The Corsair and TheBlaze.com

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon launches “Send to Kindle” button for web publishers and WordPress blogs — Amazon is now allowing publishers to add “Send to Kindle” buttons to their websites and WordPress blogs, the company announced on the Kindle blog Tuesday. It can be integrated into WordPress blogs as well.

Discussion: Kindle Post US, Journalism.co.uk, CNET, Forbes, GalleyCat, VentureBeat, BetaNews, SocialTimes, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, NetNewsCheck Latest, The Verge and Engadget

Tom Gara / Corporate Intelligence:

End of an Era for eMusic, Subscription Music Pioneer … eMusic, the online music service that pioneered the subscription approach before Spotify was a glimmer in Daniel Ek's eye, quietly merged Monday with an e-book distributor, in an unusual bit of digital-media consolidation.

Discussion: Music Week and Engadget

Michael Holden / Reuters:

Deputy editor of Murdoch UK tabloid charged over payments — * Latest Murdoch executive to be charged — British police, investigating allegations of phone-hacking centred on Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, charged the deputy editor of his top-selling Sun tabloid on Wednesday with making illegal payments to public officials.

Discussion: Guardian, ProPublica, The Independent, itn.co.uk, Daily Mail, seattlepi.com, Telegraph and BBC

BBC:

BBC staff vote in favour of strike action — The date or dates of the industrial action will be announced on Thursday — The BBC is facing another strike by its journalists and other staff that could potentially have a significant impact on the corporation's output.

Discussion: Multichannel

Boris Johnson / Telegraph:

Leveson report: Only a gutter press can keep clean the gutters of public life — Legislation to control newspapers threatens our global reputation for honest dealing — OK, don't take it from me. Listen to the voice of international business. Every year they do surveys …

Discussion: National Review

Fraser Nelson / Spectator:
Why The Spectator said ‘no’ to David Cameron's Royal Charter for regulation of the press

Discussion: Guardian, pressgazette.co.uk and Telegraph

Guardian:
Press regulation: newspapers may form breakaway bodies

Discussion: @rupertmurdoch, Media Notes and @jackmirkinson

Rebecca Shapiro / The Huffington Post:

Roland Martin Out At CNN — CNN political analyst Roland Martin announced on Twitter that his last day with the network will be in April, Breitbart reported on Tuesday. — Roland, who was a regular presence during the network's election coverage and on its morning show “Starting Point,” …

Discussion: Politico, The Maynard Institute … and Chickaboomer