Mediagazer: Why Bill Gates-owned Corbis is screwing up its new acquisition (Corey Pein)

7:25 PM ET, May 3, 2013

Top News:

Howard Kurtz Status at CNN Unchanged — The “Reliable Sources” host will address the controversy on Sunday's program. — Howard Kurtz status at CNN remains unchanged, according to the network. — “There has been no status change with Howard Kurtz, he remains the host of Reliable Sources,” said a network spokesperson on Friday.

Discussion: Erik Wemple, American Journalism Review, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Wire, TVNewser, The Daily Beast, WebProNews and Media Law Prof Blog

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Why Did Howard Kurtz Take Such Large Role In Obscure Site? — NEW YORK — Before The Daily Beast fired Howard Kurtz on Thursday, newsroom staffers had been wondering why their Washington bureau chief appeared to be spending so much time working with an obscure media site called Daily Download.

Discussion: BuzzMachine, Gawker, Politico, FishbowlNY, @mlcalderone, Slate, Salon, Pressing Issues and The Wrap

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Washington Post profit plunges 85 percent on weak news, education revenues — (Reuters) - Washington Post Co reported an 85 percent drop in first-quarter net income on Friday on weakness in its education and newspaper businesses. — Stronger results from the television and cable operations …

Discussion: Quartz, Fort Mill Times, RTTNews, The Week and New York Magazine

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

The Washington Post Co. earnings decline; revenue sees slight increase — The Washington Post Co. reported an 85 percent drop in earnings, although after subtracting one-time items, profits from continuing operations fell by 55 percent while revenue inched up slightly.

Discussion: Poynter and paidContent

Peter Gelling / GlobalPost:

American journalist likely held by Syrian government — BOSTON, Mass. — After a five-month investigation inside Syria and the wider Middle East, GlobalPost and the family of missing American journalist James Foley now believe the Syrian government is holding him in a detention center near Damascus.

Discussion: Poynter, Associated Press, The Huffington Post, The Lede and CBS Boston

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Spotify Takes a Page From the Twitter Playbook, Buys Music Discovery App Tunigo — Last fall, Twitter bought We Are Hunted, a “music discovery” startup that made a popular app for Spotify. — Apparently Spotify is paying attention: It just bought Tunigo, another music discovery startup with a popular Spotify app.

Discussion: Radio & Television …, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, CNET, The Next Web, SocialTimes, GigaOM, VatorNews, hypebot, WebProNews and AppNewser

Michael Kelley / Library Journal:

OverDrive and Sourcebooks to Launch Ambitious Ebook Data Experiment — OverDrive and Sourcebooks are preparing to launch an innovative and ambitious pilot program whose goal is to clearly demonstrate the impact library ebook lending has on book sales and author recognition.

Discussion: paidContent

John Plunkett / Guardian:

BBC Newsnight journalists nominated for award for axed Jimmy Savile report — Liz Mackean and Meirion Jones shortlisted for scoop of the year by London Press Club, as is Mark Williams-Thomas's ITV film — The two Newsnight journalists responsible for the BBC's aborted Jimmy Savile investigation …

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk

Corey Pein:

Why Bill Gates-owned Corbis is screwing up its new acquisition — tl;dr: Corbis management strikes again. — Most people don't know much about Bill Gates's other company. I didn't, either, until a few months ago. I was only a teenager when my fellow Washiongton Stater bought the famous Bettmann Archive in the '90s.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and Valleywag

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Nicole Cliffe is Leaving The Hairpin to Start New Site — Nicole Cliffe, the books editor at The Hairpin, is leaving The Awl network's site to start her own. Ms. Cliffe is partnering with Mallory Ortberg, who is a familiar name over at The Hairpin and has contriubuted to Gawker, The Atlantic and The Gloss.

Discussion: The Hairpin

Jillian C. York / Mediashift:

Why We Still Need World Press Freedom Day — Eskinder Nega is an Ethiopian journalist and blogger who, in July 2012, was convicted under the country's broad anti-terrorism law and sentenced to 18 years in prison for exercising his right to free expression. Nega's conviction has been roundly condemned …

Discussion: Index on Censorship, unric.org, Center for Investigative …, Electronic Frontier Foundation and english.ahram.org.eg

Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Those immobile newspaper companies — Only 22 percent of a big sample even offer mobile products — One of the truisms of digital journalism, and one that happens to be true, is that mobile is a big part of the future of news, if it isn't the future. — The latest Pew “State of the Media” …