Mediagazer: Brazilian Reformers Launch Campaign for Better Media (Ivan Moraes Filho/Free Press)

3:35 AM ET, May 4, 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, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Wire, TVNewser, American Journalism Review, WebProNews, The Daily Beast 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: Politico, Gawker, @mlcalderone, FishbowlNY, BuzzMachine, Slate, Salon, Pressing Issues and The Wrap

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

U.K. Publishers Hit Book Sales Record for 2012 Amid Digital Growth — Spending on printed and digital books rose 4 percent to more than $5.1 billion, with “Fifty Shades of Grey” and “Hunger Games” among the bestsellers. — LONDON - British publishers brought in their highest-ever annual sales in 2012 …

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, The Week, RTTNews, Fort Mill Times and New York Magazine

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:
The Washington Post Co. earnings decline; revenue sees slight increase

Discussion: Poynter and paidContent

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

Ivan Moraes Filho / Free Press:

Brazilian Reformers Launch Campaign for Better Media — If you've ever watched television in Brazil, you would think that the country has no ethnic or cultural diversity. Most Brazilian TV announcers and actors look the same and speak with a similar accent.

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” …

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, CBS Boston and JSOnline

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

William Cox Jr., Dow Jones Heir Who Sold Company, Dies at 82 — William C. Cox Jr., the patriarch of the Bancroft clan that controlled Dow Jones & Co. for 105 years and sold it to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in a decision sparking a family feud, has died. He was 82.

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 …, SocialTimes, VatorNews, The Next Web, CNET, TechCrunch, hypebot, VentureBeat, GigaOM, WebProNews and AppNewser

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

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: Valleywag and JIMROMENESKO.COM