Mediagazer: As Newspapers Experiment With Sponsored Content, Google Says Keep It Out Of Google News (Danny Sullivan/Search Engine Land)

4:45 AM ET, March 28, 2013

Top News:

Steven R. Swartz to Succeed Frank A. Bennack, Jr. as Hearst Corporation's CEO in June 2013 — Bennack Continues as Executive Vice Chairman of the Board, Among Other Leadership Roles — Hearst Corporation today announced that Steven R. Swartz, president and chief operating officer of Hearst Corporation …

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Adweek and Los Angeles Times

New York Times:

Chief Who Led Expansion at Hearst Will Step Down — After nearly 30 years of running the Hearst Corporation, the privately held media company, Frank A. Bennack Jr. has announced that he is stepping down. — Mr. Bennack, the 80-year-old chief executive of Hearst, used profits from titles …

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

As Newspapers Experiment With Sponsored Content, Google Says Keep It Out Of Google News — Newspapers and news publications having “sponsored” content deals are on the rise, and Google's apparently concerned enough that it's issued a warning today that publishers should keep such content out of Google News.

Discussion: Google News Blog, @it_andrewc, @helenbranswell and @aaronwall

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

A Driving Force Behind Wikipedia Will Step Down — Sue Gardner, who oversaw a period of rapid growth and evolution at Wikipedia, said Wednesday that she would step down as executive director of the nonprofit organization that runs the free encyclopedia. — In an interview with The Times on Wednesday …

Discussion: AllThingsD, @xor and Wikimedia blog

Erik Grimm / INMA:

Digital newspaper: same advertising impact and so much more — New research reveals advertising impact is just as powerful on tablets as it is in print, especially if the online edition carries over the look and feel of the news brand. — Dutch news media have invested heavily in editions …

Andrea Morabito / Broadcasting & Cable:

Upfronts 2013: Participant TV's Cable Network Named ‘Pivot’ — Channel targeting viewers 15-34 will offer broadband-only subscription — New York — Participant TV on Wednesday announced the name of its upcoming cable network targeting millennials: Pivot.

Discussion: Lost Remote, Adweek, Variety, FishbowlNY, Deadline.com, The Wrap and AdAge

AJ Marechal / Variety: Wake Up, Kids: Disruptive TV Is Here Via Participant Media's Pivot Cabler

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Entreaty to Cooper Suggests Shakeup at ‘Today’ — Earlier this month an NBC executive contacted Anderson Cooper with a question that would flatter and intrigue just about anyone. Would Mr. Cooper, the biggest star of CNN, consider replacing Matt Lauer on the “Today” show in the months to come?

Discussion: BuzzFeed, TMZ.com, The Corsair, Gothamist, Capital New York, From Inside the Box, Business Insider, @mbaratz, @brianstelter, @dylanbyers, TV Tattle and The Huffington Post

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:
NBC: Anderson Cooper Not Approached for Matt Lauer Job

Discussion: TVNewser, Deadline.com, All Things CNN, The Huffington Post, Contactmusic.com, Vanity Fair, Daily Mail, FishbowlNY, The Hollywood Gossip, mediabistro.com, Mediaite, New York Post, Mediaite and Inside TV

Reuters:

Portugal media demands Google pays for news — (Reuters) - Portuguese media companies, struggling through the worst recession since the 1970s, are pressing Google to pay for content on its news search engine, echoing similar demands elsewhere in Europe. — Alberico Fernandes …

Discussion: CNET and The Loop

Felix Salmon:

Paywalls rise — It's paywall season right now: the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Telegraph, the Sun — all have recently announced plans to erect paywalls in an attempt to extract subscription revenues from their most loyal online readers.

Discussion: PandoDaily, TechRadar.com, PandoDaily, the Econsultancy blog, Globe and Mail and CMU

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Twitter's Revenue Forecast Jumps Again, This Time to Almost $1 Billion — Twitter's advertising business is growing so fast, it's hard to get a handle on. — For the second time in six months, eMarketer has revised its revenue estimates for the social messenging service sharply upward …

Discussion: eMarketer and Newsroom Posts, AllThingsD, Reuters, CNET, VatorNews, Business Insider, AdAge, NetNewsCheck Latest and BtoB Magazine

Charlotte Woolard / BtoB Online:

Forbes.com strategy helps grow revenue, unique visitors — Forbes.com grew its revenue last year, building a digital sales number that for the first time matched what the print side generated, said Meredith Levien, chief revenue officer at Forbes Media. — “The exciting news is that it's not because print is shrinking,” Levien said.

Thanks:@steverubel

John Jannarone / Wall Street Journal:

Data Don't Add Up for Thomson Reuters — When Thomson Corp. and Reuters Group merged, employees from the two sides suffered a typical culture clash. Nearly five years later, it is investors in the combined company who may feel most out of place. — Shares of Thomson Reuters remain 13% below …

Greg Sandoval / The Verge:

US government agencies are advertising on accused pirate sites — USC to report that US government is helping to fund intellectual property theft — The US president and vice president have come out against the theft of intellectual property; dozens of congresspeople have condemned illegal file-sharing.

Los Angeles Times:

Web-based productions are taking off in L.A. — Filming for Web productions in L.A. rose 46% over 2011. Such content has evolved from short episodes to full-length TV productions, some with budgets comparable to conventional TV shows'. — Ed Begley stars in Amazon Studios upcoming series, “Betas.”

Discussion: Variety

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

Flipboard Wants To Redesign The Entire Internet — The battle to become the next front page of the internet. — Last night, Flipboard launched a new version of its reader app that lets anyone with a smartphone or tablet to create custom “magazines” from virtually any piece of internet content — a tweet, a news story, a photo.

Discussion: Poynter, The Huffington Post, paidContent, GigaOM and Reuters

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Digital Ad Network Files For Bankruptcy — NEW YORK — CommonSense Media, a digital advertising network co-founded by film producer and Firedoglake publisher Jane Hamsher, has filed for bankruptcy to liquidate its assets. — Founded in 2007 by Hamsher, AJ Schuler and Deveria Flowers …

Steve Rubel / AdAge:

Leaner, Meaner Media Finally Ready to Invade Agency Turf — In a Bid for Survival, Press Cozies Up to the Client Side — Everyone loves a Cinderella story. Whether it's David slaying Goliath or a college basketball team's unlikely journey from dark horse to Final Four contender, it's hard not to root for an underdog.

Thanks:@steverubel

Jason Deans / Guardian:

BBC schedules face disruption from strike action on Thursday — Union members will stage half-day walkout likely to affect live programming, including BBC News and radio news bulletins — BBC programmes face further disruption on Thursday when broadcasting union members stage a half …

NetNewsCheck:

SCOTUSblog, NYT's ‘Snowfall’ Win Peabodys — Tucked among the honor roll of television and radio winners of this year's Peabody Awards are two entirely digital efforts: SCOTUSblog, devoted entirely to news about the top court in the land, and The New York Times' much lauded longform multimedia showpiece …