Mediagazer: China Seeks Soft Power Influence in U.S. Through CCTV (David Folkenflik/NPR)

3:50 AM ET, April 27, 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, Mashable, The Verge, RapFix, AllAccess.com, Radio & Television …, Fast Company and CNET

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, Hit & Run and FishbowlNY

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, msnbc.com, Wonkblog and JIMROMENESKO.COM, 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.

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

Philip Ball / Nature:

Crowdsourcing in manhunts can work — Despite mistakes over the Boston bombers, social media can help to find people quickly. — The social news website Reddit was left red-faced last week after misidentifying suspects in the bombings at the Boston Marathon in Massachusetts …

Discussion: Poynter

David Folkenflik / NPR:

China Seeks Soft Power Influence in U.S. Through CCTV … At a time when so many major American news organizations are cutting back, foreign news agencies are beefing up their presence abroad and in the U.S. One of the biggest new players arrives from China and, more likely than not, can be found on a television set near you.

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

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

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.

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Time Warner Cable to Squeeze More Profit From Fewer Users — Time Warner Cable Inc. customers should prepare to pay more for the services they want. — The cable company is scaling back its discounts after years of offering low introductory rates on all-encompassing packages of Internet, television and phone service.

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:

New York Times Going Back to Not Caring About Blogs — As part of its looming redesign, the New York Times is moving away from what the Internet calls “blogs,” starting with the Media Decoder section of the site, home to the quicker, sassier musings of Bill Carter, Brian Stelter, David Carr …

Discussion: New Republic, Media Decoder and Capital New York

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, Guardian, Seeking Alpha, Reuters and FishbowlNY

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: Good E-Reader, New York Times, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Business Insider and Reuters