Mediagazer: Media mergers and acquisitions - where's the money going in 2013? (Jasper Jackson/TheMediaBriefing)

11:05 AM ET, April 15, 2013

Top News:

Dish Launches $25.5 Billion Bid for Sprint — Satellite-TV provider Dish Network Corp. is making a $25.5 billion bid for Sprint Nextel Corp., an effort to derail the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier's acquisition by Softbank Corp. of Japan. — Dish said Monday it is offering to pay $4.76 in cash …

Discussion: Dish, GigaOM, VentureBeat, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Forbes, AllThingsD, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, The Week, GeekWire, DealBook, The Verge, ABCNEWS, Associated Press, Reuters, MarketWatch, www.wnyc.org, ZDNet, Electronista, SlashGear, SlashGear, Seeking Alpha, The Next Web and App Advice

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Great Long-Form Journalism, Just Clicks Away … In the age of hundreds of cable channels, millions of 140-character bulletins and an untold number of cat videos, a fear has been growing among journalists and readers that long-form storytelling may be getting lost.

Michael Holden / Reuters:

British university attacks BBC over covert North Korea trip — (Reuters) - A leading British university criticized the BBC on Sunday for arranging an academic trip to North Korea to make an undercover documentary, saying it had put students who were unaware of the plans in danger.

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian, Guardian, pressgazette.co.uk, Deadline.com, Gawker, The Beaver, BBC and The Independent

Guardian: LSE students on North Korea trip with BBC team ‘have received threats’

Roy J. Harris Jr / Poynter:

Winners to watch for when the Pulitzers are announced today — About a half-dozen journalism organizations have already weighed in on their versions of 2012's best reporting, commentary and press photography. Today at 3 p.m. ET, it's the Pulitzer Prize Board's turn — for the 97th time …

Discussion: New York Times, @mlcalderone, @sulliview, PARADE Magazine and Daily Texan

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Texas Tribune Scores $1.5 Million Knight Foundation Grant — There's not a lot of good news about the the economics of serious public-interest journalism these days, so pay attention, because this is pretty good. — The Knight Foundation is giving a $1.5 million grant to the Texas Tribune …

Discussion: Knight Foundation and eMedia Vitals

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Jeff Zucker at CNN Hires Michael Bass, a Deputy From His NBC Past — Jeff Zucker, who left Katie Couric's syndicated talk show, “Katie,” at the end of last year to take over CNN Worldwide, is bringing in one of the show's top producers to join him. — Michael Bass, a longtime deputy …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Deadline.com and Chickaboomer

David Carr / New York Times:

More Cracks in Television's Business Model — For the longest time in the media business, the concept of the bundle has been foundational. Ads go with editorial content in print, commercials go with programming on television and the channels you desire are paired with ones you did not in your cable package.

Discussion: @cdixon

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Simon & Schuster launches ebook lending pilot with New York City public libraries — Simon & Schuster will finally make its ebooks available to libraries, through a one-year trial with New York City's public libraries. The publisher is making all of its titles available in the trial …

Discussion: GalleyCat and FishbowlNY

Christopher Heine / Adweek:

NBC News Turns Big Flipboard Presence Into Ad Sales — About a year ago, NBC News established an account on Flipboard—the increasingly popular magazine-formatted, social mobile app—and has since grown its presence to a whopping 1.3 million monthly active readers.

Christopher Spillane / Bloomberg:

Pearson Sells Stake in South African Business Publisher BDFM — Pearson Plc (PSON), which owns the Financial Times newspaper, has agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in publisher BDFM Publishers Ltd. to South Africa's Times Media Group Ltd. (TMG), the Johannesburg-based company said today.