Mediagazer: Confessions of a Newspaper Ad Exec (Josh Sternberg/Digiday)

5:55 PM ET, May 8, 2013

Top News:

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

News Corp. Beats Profit Estimates on Higher Licensing Revenue — News Corp. (NWSA), the Rupert Murdoch-led media company that's set to split in two, beat fiscal third-quarter profit estimates on higher licensing fees for television shows such as “American Idol” and “New Girl.”

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Reuters and Fox Business

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:

News Corp shareholders renew call for Rupert Murdoch to step down — Dissident shareholders file resolution calling for appointment of independent chairman — Dissident shareholders are pressing once more for media mogul Rupert Murdoch to step down as chairman of News Corporation.

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Broadcasting & Cable and Bloomberg

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Pink slips for a dozen-plus ‘Daily News’ staffers; vets Joanna Molloy and Albor Ruiz among them — The Daily News is now undergoing what employees of the tabloid have been fearing for weeks: Multiple insiders tell Capital that layoffs have hit the newsroom today.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

NowThisNews Raises a New Round to Help Bring Pregnant Panda Videos to Your Phone — NowThisNews, the startup that's trying to create a video news service for the iPhone generation, has raised another $4.8 million. — In addition to earlier investors, who include Lerer Ventures …

Discussion: Beet.TV and VentureBeat

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

AOL's Earnings Are Light, but Revenue and Ad Sales Are on Track — This looks like a pretty good performance from AOL: Tim Armstrong's Internet company came in a couple pennies light on earnings in its Q1, but hit its revenue marks. — As important: Its underlying numbers look pretty good.

Discussion: paidContent, Forbes, mediabistro.com, Street Fight, New York Times, @jeffjohnroberts, Reuters, MarketWatch, TechCrunch, FishbowlNY and Softpedia News

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

Confessions of a Newspaper Ad Exec — The woes of the newspaper world in digital media are well known: a decimated subscription base, lower ad revenue and declining relevance. — Newspapers are continuing the long process of change, but the road is bumpy.

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …, Thanks:@haniyarae

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Advocate owner says he ‘tried to buy’ Times-Picayune — In a May 2 interview, WWL-TV anchor Melanie Hebert passed on a viewer question to John Georges, the new owner of the Baton Rouge, La.-based Advocate: Would he be interested in buying the Times-Picayune of New Orleans, with which his paper is engaged in a growing newspaper war?

Discussion: Baton Rouge news …, JIMROMENESKO.COM and New Orleans Times-Picayune

Shara Tibken / CNET:

Google, authors wrangle in court again over digital books — The authors are asking for $3 billion in damages related to Google's digital books project, while Google is asking for class action status to be revoked. — Google and the Authors Guild are wrangling in court again …

Discussion: paidContent, @bloombergnews, Reuters, Associated Press and PublishersWeekly.com

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Obama May Back F.B.I. Plan to Wiretap Web Users — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people …

Discussion: CNET, The Raw Story, @stevesilberman and @carr2n

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Get your cat on: BuzzFeed creates new section where readers can publish — Users will now get their own vertical on BuzzFeed, where they can submit according to their “Cat Power.” — Viral site BuzzFeed launched a new content vertical on Wednesday called “Community” that consists entirely of user-submitted content.

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Nieman Journalism Lab

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

Viacom says Cablevision bundling lawsuit should be tossed — * Cablevision says forced to buy channels it did not want — Viacom Inc said on Wednesday a $1 billion lawsuit by Cablevision Systems Corp accusing it of forcing cable providers and subscribers to buy channels they don't want, should be thrown out.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter

Jim Romenesko:

Philadelphia Inquirer returns to newsstands on Saturdays — The tipster who sent this Philadelphia Inquirer memo from this afternoon writes: “Combine this with the TP [Times-Picayune] news [about a new street tabloid] and one would surmise print's the new news delivery system these days!