Mediagazer: Murdoch's News International in talks to occupy Shard neighbor (Tom Bill/Reuters)

7:30 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, 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: Forbes, 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 …

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
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

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

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, Street Fight, MarketWatch, Reuters, TechCrunch, FishbowlNY and Softpedia News

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 …, Columbia Journalism Review, 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

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, Bloomberg, Guardian and London SE1 community website