Mediagazer: Banned in China: Bloomberg and New York Times say they had no choice (Jeff John Roberts/GigaOM)

8:40 PM ET, April 26, 2013

Top News:

Alexander C. Kaufman / FishbowlNY:

AOL Music Shuttered, Staff Laid Off [Updated] — AOL has shuttered its AOL Music division and laid off its staff, according to pink-slipped employees on Twitter. — Spinner.com, a rock-music news site under the AOL Music banner, announced suddenly on Thursday afternoon that it was shutting down.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Fast Company, CNET, Radio & Television …, Mashable, The Verge, AllAccess.com and RapFix

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Koch Brothers Could Buy Tribune Papers To Add Media Division … David and Charles Koch control what is believed to be the nation's largest privately held company, Koch Industries. They share a strong libertarian bent against high taxes and government regulation.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY and Hit & Run

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:
Why Big Cities Make Media Liberal—and Why the Koch Brothers Can't Do Anything About It

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, Wonkblog, Slate, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Thanks:@underoak

Jim Romenesko:

Meet Michelle Boatley, fake Thomson Reuters legal publication reporter — A few years ago, Boatley was cranking out stories left and right — short pieces about law firm layoffs, merger deals, and firm expansions. — Then she vanished. — People who knew the secret about Boatley thought she had been killed — by her editors.

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

New Reality Show to Skip TV, Play Entirely on Social Media (EXCLUSIVE) … Who says a reality show has to air on TV? — The Chernin Group is producing an audacious new unscripted series that will be distributed entirely on social-media platforms instead of having a home on TV, according to sources familiar with the production.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Glenn Beck on the CNN ‘Pit of Despair’ and Why He Got Out of Cable TV — Glenn Beck thinks the television industry as we know it is dying, but that's not why he left it to start his own digital network, The Blaze. He's making a lot more money now than he did at Fox News, but that wasn't it either.

Discussion: Mediaite

Tom Lavell / Bloomberg:

Murdoch to Get $28.3 Million Pay When News Corp. Splits — Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire founder of News Corp., will receive $28.3 million in combined compensation next year from the two businesses created by the breakup of his media empire. — Murdoch's base pay in 2014 will amount to $8.1 million …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Seeking Alpha, Reuters, Guardian and FishbowlNY

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

White House Correspondents' Association dinner isn't costly, but the parties are — Figure on paying big time for a semi-glamorous locale; an embassy will do (but only one for a major country). Then, add in food and booze — about $100 a head. Plus entertainment, security, cleanup, insurance.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and Chickaboomer

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

Banned in China: Bloomberg and New York Times say they had no choice — Media outlets operating in China face an unpleasant dilemma: self-censor or else lose access to millions of readers and a valuable news market. Both the New York Times and Bloomberg News chose the second option, and don't regret the decision.

Discussion: The Official Google Blog

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Financial Times faces weak advertising market, says parent company — Pearson predicts difficult first quarter for newspaper, with total group revenues down 1% year on year to £1.2bn — Pearson has said that the Financial Times faced a “weak” advertising market in the first quarter of this year …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, The Drum and Talking Biz News

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Powerhouse reporter Bob Hennelly to leave WNYC; station suffers a digital divide — WNYC has lost one of its heavyweights: Bob Hennelly, a longtime investigative reporter who's been with the National Public Radio affiliate for more than a decade, is leaving the station.

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

New York Times paywall growth slows — But it remains to be seen whether that's a one-quarter blip or the new normal — The torrid growth in digital-only subscribers to The New York Times slowed sharply in the first quarter. Worse, advertising fell so sharply that the paper's overall revenue declined slightly.

Discussion: The Buttry Diary, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Atlantic Wire, Business Insider, Newsonomics and AdAge

Reuters:

Amazon's success formula: move bits instead of boxes — (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc appears to have figured out the secret to being more profitable: sell less physical stuff. — The company reported slowing revenue growth and offered a disappointing outlook for this quarter on Thursday …

Discussion: Washington Post, Good e-Reader, New York Times, Bloomberg and Business Insider

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Kindle TV: why does Amazon need a set-top box?

Discussion: ReadWrite, VatorNews, Wall Street Journal, GigaOM and The Next Web

Sarah Lyall / New York Times:

New Law Makes Suing for Libel Harder in England — LONDON — London's reputation as the libel capital of the world, “a town called sue,” is poised to end. — A new law enacted Thursday strengthens the position of people sued for libel here and puts an end to most cases of so-called libel tourism …

Discussion: Nature