Mediagazer: Roger Ebert's Legacy as a Relentless Empire-Builder (David Carr/New York Times)

2:45 PM ET, April 8, 2013

Top News:

Roger Ebert's Legacy as a Relentless Empire-Builder — At journalism conferences and online, media strivers talk over and over about becoming their own brand, hoping that some magical combination of tweets, video spots, appearances and, yes, even actual written articles, will help their name come to mean something.

Discussion: Prof Chris Daly's Blog and ReadWrite

Chicago Tribune:

Roger Ebert's funeral: ‘He had a heart big enough to love all’ — As a standing ovation finally quieted inside Holy Name Cathedral, Chaz Ebert paid the last words of tribute to her husband, famed movie critic Roger Ebert. “He had a heart big enough to accept and love all,” Chaz Ebert said …

Discussion: The Wrap, Toronto Star, Detroit Free Press, Associated Press, CBC News, USA Today, Daily Mail, Chicago Sun Times, CBS Chicago and TODAY

Associated Press:

Newspaper revenue fell 2 pct to $38.6B in 2012 — ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — The newspaper industry's revenue declined at its slowest pace in six years, as publishers turned to new businesses and raised more money from online subscriptions. The industry's total revenue in 2012 fell 2 percent …

Discussion: @rajunarisetti, Newsonomics and Washington Post

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Deeper data dive finds $5.5 billion in uncounted newspaper industry revenue — Years of negative reports on ad revenue losses could leave the newspaper industry muttering, “I demand a recount.” The Newspaper Association of America has just completed such an exercise and found some solid gains …

Discussion: Newspaper Association …, Reflections of a Newsosaur, Guardian, Erik Wemple, PandoDaily and European Journalism Centre

Frank Rich / New York Magazine:

Inky Tears — Time is on the block. The New York Times is teetering. It can get an alumnus down, but the last thing the news business needs is a case of nostalgia. — This spring marks the tenth anniversary of a journalistic scandal that everyone would like to forget, and that many have.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, @marklittlenews and @jeffjarvis

Joshua Macht / The Atlantic Online:

Running Out of TIME: The Slow, Sad Demise of a Great American Magazine — The weekly was among the first to invest heavily in the Internet. So how come Time.com never figured it out? — I can still remember how jealous I felt. It was the mid-1990s, and I was a reporter at Inc. magazine in Boston.

Discussion: @codybrown

Andrew Rice / New York Magazine:

Does BuzzFeed Know the Secret? — Jonah Peretti's viral-content machine purports to have solved the problems of both journalism and advertising at once, all with the help of a simple algorithm. — Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the website BuzzFeed—though this is increasingly unlikely, as it's currently enjoying a viral moment.

Discussion: Gawker, The Corsair, @jayrosen_nyu and @jeffjohnroberts

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Why Google Should Rethink Its Approach to Sponsored Content — Native advertising is changing the economics of digital journalism, offering publishers an alternative to the ever-more-devalued display ad. And Google doesn't want any part of it. — In recent weeks, the web giant …

Discussion: FOLIO

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:
Sponsors Now Pay for Online Articles, Not Just Ads

Discussion: AdPulp, Beyond Search, Kirk LaPointe's … and eMedia Vitals, Thanks:@steverubel

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Holy Cow: Two of the Big Four TV Networks Are Considering Going Off the Air — How worried are the owners of the major broadcast television networks about Aereo, the Barry Diller-backed digital television service they've been trying unsuccessfully to sue out of existence?

Discussion: Bloomberg, Reuters, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, @pkafka and @brianstelter

David S. Cohen / Variety:
Chase Carey Threatens to Yank Fox From Broadcast TV Over Aereo

Discussion: AllThingsD

Hunter Schwarz / BuzzFeed:

A Fox News Reporter Could Be Jailed For Protecting Her Sources, And Nobody Seems To Care — Jana Winter refuses to reveal who leaked information about the Aurora, Colorado shooter. Judith Miller is “surprised and disappointed” at how little attention the case is getting. — Source: foxnews.com

Discussion: Fox News, Columbia Journalism Review, Poynter, FishbowlNY, TVNewser, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Politico

Jenna Wortham / New York Times:

Streaming Sites and the Rise of Shared Accounts — LAST Sunday afternoon, some friends and I were hanging out in a local bar, talking about what we'd be doing that evening. It turned out that we all had the same plan: to watch the season premiere of “Game of Thrones.”

Discussion: Techdirt, @ericgoldman, Fortune, @palafo and Business Insider

Guardian:

WikiLeaks publishes 1.7m US diplomatic records — Julian Assange says 1973-76 reports, including many by Henry Kissinger, show vast range and scope of US activity — WikiLeaks has published more than 1.7m US records covering diplomatic or intelligence reports on every country in the world.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Journalism.co.uk, TechCrunch, Forbes, Fast Company, CNET, Gawker, The Atlantic Wire, International Business Times, Salon, Canadian Press, The Independent, Telegraph, Sky News, Gizmodo UK, TheAustralian, Wired.co.uk and Vanity Fair

William Turvill / Press Gazette:

Guido Fawkes closes blog for day following death of Margaret Thatcher — The Guido Fawkes blog has closed for the day as a mark of respect to former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. — The blog, www.order-order.com, announced the decision on Twitter shortly after Baroness Thatcher's death was declared.