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, The Huffington Post, Reuters and Fox Business
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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, Radio & Television …, 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 …
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Former News Corp. Top Executive Tom Mockridge to Become CEO of Virgin Media
Former News Corp. Top Executive Tom Mockridge to Become CEO of Virgin Media
Discussion:
Reuters, Variety, Bloomberg, The Register, Telegraph, Pocket-lint, Deadline.com, Guardian, RTTNews 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 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:
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, New York Times, @jeffjohnroberts, MarketWatch, Street Fight, Reuters, 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
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:
10,000 Words and Medium
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 Week, 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