Mediagazer: AOL Waits for a Huffington Post Payoff (Edmund Lee/Businessweek)

5:40 PM ET, March 28, 2013

Top News:

Otis Chandler / Goodreads:

Exciting News About Goodreads: We're Joining the Amazon Family! — When Elizabeth and I started Goodreads from my living room seven years ago, we set out to create a better way for people to find and share books they love. It's been a wild ride seeing how the company has grown and watching …

Discussion: The Next Web, Bloomberg, CNET, ZDNet, Marketing Pilgrim, @tcarmody, @laurahazardowen, @emilygould, @rafat, GeekWire, WebProNews, Mashable, Business Insider and AppNewser

Drew Olanoff / TechCrunch:

Amazon Acquires Social Reading Site Goodreads, Which Gives The Company A Social Advantage Over Apple — Today, Amazon has announced the acquisition of social reading service, Goodreads. Specific terms of the deal weren't disclosed and it should close by the end of Q2.

Discussion: paidContent, PublishersWeekly.com, Forbes, VentureBeat, Betabeat, AllThingsD, Gizmodo and Pocket-lint

Dan Reimold / MediaShift:

Business Insider Just Told College Students Their Secrets of Success — Earlier this month, in a Manhattan hotel conference room, a student journalist admitted being nervous about an upcoming business reporting internship. “I'm going to be blunt,” she said. “I'm 20. I don't know about the Stock Exchange.

Discussion: @petersterne, @abrams, @thestalwart, College Media Matters, The Editorialiste and Talking Biz News

Patrick Smith / TheMediaBriefing:

Behind the business model of MailOnline, the biggest newspaper site in the world — There is much talk of paywalls at the moment, but don't forget the other side of the payfence: there is a huge opportunity in ad-supported free media and MailOnline is showing the way forward.

Discussion: paidContent and @jayrosen_nyu, Thanks:@mediabrief

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

After Casting Wide Net, CNN Finds Co-Host for Morning Show — In his search for a new morning television host that lasted months, the new head of CNN, Jeffrey Zucker, considered dozens of names, some boldface and some unknown. It wasn't until he paired Christopher Cuomo …

Discussion: Adweek, Business Insider, Deadline.com, The Wrap, Variety, Los Angeles Times, LA Observed, The Huffington Post, FishbowlDC, AdAge, Mediaite, Broadcasting & Cable and Erik Wemple

Wendy Davis / MediaPost News:

Backpage Wins Permanent Order Blocking Tennesse Sex-Trafficking Law — In a victory for Backpage.com, a federal judge in Tennessee has permanently barred the state from enforcing a 2012 law regulating online ads. That law, which was aimed at curbing the sex-trafficking of teens …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Edmund Lee / Businessweek:

AOL Waits for a Huffington Post Payoff — Two years after their merger, seated side by side in a corner conference room at AOL's (AOL) Manhattan headquarters on March 20, Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington say they couldn't be happier.

Discussion: @natives

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Storify starts to monetize with VIP, a premium plan for live-blogging, custom sources and more — Storify is moving forward with plans to realize its business model. Today, the social media curator is announcing the launch of Storify VIP, its premium service designed for media organizations …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Mashable and Storify

Ann Friedman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Quotas get results — A chat with MSNBC's Chris Hayes on tapping sources more diverse than the usual pool of white dudes — Let's face it: The conversation about diversity in journalism is mostly boring hand-wringing. With each new byline count, it's easy to despair that gender …

Discussion: Poynter, TVNewser, Politico and @jcstearns

Foreign Affairs:

Foreign Affairs Launches iPad Extra Franchise with “Foreign Affairs on Television” — On March 28, Lynda Hammes, the publisher of Foreign Affairs, unveiled “Foreign Affairs on Television” to a crowd of industry professionals at the MPA Swipe Conference. This special edition …

Discussion: Folio

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Steve Swartz to succeed Frank Bennack as CEO of Hearst Corp. — One of the longest-serving chief executives in the media industry is stepping down. — Frank A. Bennack Jr., chief executive of Hearst Corp. since 1979, will give up that title in June. Steven Swartz, currently president and chief operating officer, will become CEO.

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

New York Times:
Chief Who Led Expansion at Hearst Will Step Down

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, San Francisco Chronicle, Media Decoder, Hollywood Reporter and Los Angeles Times

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Penguin will offer its new ebooks to libraries again as of April 2 — In 2011, Penguin decided to stop offering new ebooks to libraries, citing “concerns about the security of digital editions.” The publisher then ended its relationship with digital library distributor OverDrive.

Discussion: Associated Press, VentureBeat and PublishersWeekly.com

Jessica Testa / BuzzFeed:

Matt Lauer Apologizes To Disgruntled Former Intern On Twitter — Sort of. The Today host is not having the best week. It started Tuesday, when an executive producer at Fox 8 in Cleveland tweeted something said by anchor/reporter Mark Zinni.

Discussion: @markzinni, @rudemattlauer and @rudemattlauer