Mediagazer: Philadelphia Inquirer returns to newsstands on Saturdays (Jim Romenesko)

10:55 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: @journalismbuzz, Reuters, The Huffington Post 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: Forbes, Crikey, Radio & Television …, Home Media Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable and Bloomberg

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

News Corp. earnings report highlights need for coming corporate crack-up — On a call with Wall Street analysts today, News Corp. chief operating officer Chase Carey said the international media conglomerate's planned split is “our top priority.” — And Dave Devoe, News Corp's chief financial officer …

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 and New York Magazine

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: VentureBeat and Beet.TV

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:

Open interviews and gatekeepers: The media can either open up or sources can go direct — Startup founder Chad Whitacre caused a fuss recently when he suggested that a reporter do an “open interview” that would available to everyone — but why is that approach seen as such a threat by the some media outlets?

Discussion: Co.Labs, 10,000 Words and Medium

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

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!

TechCrunch:

Microsoft Mulling Nook Media LLC Purchase For $1 Billion — Microsoft is offering to pay $1 billion to buy the digital assets of Nook Media LLC, the digital book and college book joint venture with Barnes & Noble and other investors, according to internal documents we've obtained.

Discussion: CNET and The Verge

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, Columbia Journalism Review 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: TechCrunch, @bloombergnews, paidContent, Associated Press and PublishersWeekly.com

Tom Bill / Reuters:

Murdoch's News International in talks to occupy Shard neighbor — (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News International is in talks to occupy the whole of an empty office block at the foot of London's Shard, Western Europe's tallest skyscraper, two sources told Reuters.

Discussion: egi.co.uk, London SE1 community website, Bloomberg and Guardian

Curtis Brainard / Columbia Journalism Review:

A new ‘golden era’? — Nautilus is the latest in a proliferation of science-news sites — Nautilus, a new science magazine whose first issue appeared online April 29, has New York Times reporter Dennis Overbye, one of the beat's veterans, feeling a bit a nostalgic. In a review on Monday, he wrote:

Discussion: bookforum.com