Mediagazer: AOL strikes deal with the Publishing Group of America to exchange online video content (Paul Sawers/The Next Web)

9:35 AM ET, April 5, 2013

Top News:

Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer — Except for those he hated. — For a film with a daring director, a talented cast, a captivating plot or, ideally, all three, there could be no better advocate than Roger Ebert, who passionately celebrated and promoted excellence in film …

Josephine McGowan / Columbia Daily Spectator:

New Journalism School dean Coll plans two-year Master's, tuition reductions — Steve Coll, the new dean at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, is considering a two-year Master's program, lower tuition fees, and a more rigorous Master's project. — Steve Coll, the new Journalism School dean …

Discussion: @laureni, @mlcalderone, @chanders and @laureni

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: Steve Coll surprises Columbia J-school faculty with talk of a two-year program

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Longreads partners with ‘The Atlantic’ — Longreads, the long-form journalism aggregator founded by Mark Armstrong in 2009, has a struck a partnership with The Atlantic. — Under the terms of the collaboration, The Atlantic's sales team will begin selling ads against the Longreads platform.

Discussion: paidContent, Adweek and Poynter

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Cleveland Paper to Curtail Delivery and Cut Staff — The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, whose reporters organized one of the industry's most active opposition movements against its parent company's plans for cutbacks, will trim home delivery to three days a week and create a new digital company …

Discussion: Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Columbia Journalism Review, Associated Press, Scene and Heard and UPI

Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:
Advance to nowhere — Advance Publications's announcement today …

Discussion: Cleveland Magazine, Facebook and Shaker Heights, OH Patch

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

AOL strikes deal with the Publishing Group of America to exchange online video content — Media powerhouse AOL launched its On Network way back in April last year, providing a shot in the arm for its online content business. In a nutshell, ‘On’ brings all the company's premium video content together, under one digital roof.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and Adotas

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Al Jazeera Hires First Anchor for New U.S. Channel — Al Jazeera on Thursday hired its first new anchor, Ali Velshi of CNN, for its forthcoming cable channel in the United States, and confirmed that the channel would be called Al Jazeera America. — Mr. Velshi, currently …

Discussion: TVNewser, Al Jazeera America, New York Magazine, Variety and Broadcasting & Cable

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

ESPN Spent $5 Million in Legal Fees Defending Its Licensing Contracts — After saying it prevailed at a trial against Dish Network, the leading sports network demands reimbursement of its costs. — When two big media companies do battle, the big winners are the lawyers.

Erik Maza / WWD:

Condé Nast Promotes Louis Cona — REWARDING CONA: Condé Nast keeps locking down moneymakers. First, it was Anna Wintour, and now it's a name less known in popular culture but vital to the publisher. On Wednesday, Louis Cona, chief marketing officer, the person responsible …

Discussion: New York Post

Marc Graser / Variety:

Disney Staffers Brace for Layoffs Amid Planned Reorg (EXCLUSIVE) … Employees at the Walt Disney Co. are bracing for layoffs that are expected in the coming weeks as part of a reorganization of key operations. — It is believed that the company's movie studio will be hardest hit …

Discussion: Reuters and Corporate Intelligence

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Disney Halts Game Development at Lucasfilm in Licensing Push

Discussion: NextBigWhat, Bleeding Cool Comic Book …, HotHardware.com News, BWW Movies Stories, Metro.co.uk, Examiner, MTV Multiplayer, San Francisco Examiner, EL33TONLINE.com Blog, Ars Technica, Variety, Engadget, The Wrap, PopWatch, Rock, Paper, Shotgun and CNNMoney.com

Brendan Coyne / AdNews:

Paywall race is on as News Limited registers News Plus domain — The paywall race is on as News Limited prepares to make people pay to access its content under a News+ banner. The firm has registered a domain name, AdNews understands, and an application for News+.

Jill Lawless / Associated Press:

British Library sets out to archive the Web — LONDON (AP) — Capturing the unruly, ever-changing Internet is like trying to pin down a raging river. — But the British Library is going to try. — For centuries the library has kept a copy of every book, pamphlet, magazine and newspaper published in Britain.

Discussion: BBC, Digital Spy, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Agence France Presse, Financial Times, The Drum and Guardian

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

CNN.com Getting New Homepage And Organizational Structure — In a sign of just how quickly new CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker is moving to change the company, the CNN.com homepage will be getting a new look this afternoon, as well as a new organizational structure.

Discussion: NewscastStudio

Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:

As Web Search Goes Mobile, Competitors Chip at Google's Lead — Say you need a latté. You might pull out your phone, open the Yelp app and search for a nearby cafe. If instead you want to buy an espresso machine, you will most likely tap Amazon.com. — Either way, Google lost a customer.

Discussion: Forbes, Beyond Search, NYT Bits, Search Engine Land, WebProNews and Street Fight