Top News:
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:
Forbes, paidContent, mediabistro.com, Street Fight, New York Times, FishbowlNY, @jeffjohnroberts, Reuters, MarketWatch, TechCrunch, Softpedia News and Beet.TV
Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Breaking: Pink slips for ‘Daily News’ staffers, 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. — Several sources put the total number of pink slips at around 15.
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
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
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:
PublishersWeekly.com and @bloombergnews
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:
JIMROMENESKO.COM, Baton Rouge news … and New Orleans Times-Picayune
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
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
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Most YouTube Subscription Videos Will Have Ads — Love YouTube, but hate the ads? — Then you're not going to be any happier with most of the subscription videos the site is going to start selling. They're going to have ads, too, say people familiar with YouTube's long-awaited plans.
Discussion:
Daily Download, Co.Create, The Week, VatorNews and Softpedia News
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.
Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Government acts on health care costs, in part because of Time story — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will release a data file showing prices for inpatient services at U.S. hospitals, Steven Brill reports. Brian Cook at the department's Centers for Medicare …
Discussion:
TIME, The Huffington Post and The Week
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Former News Corp. Top Executive Tom Mockridge to Become CEO of Virgin Media — He will run the company once John Malone's Liberty Global closes its acquisition of the U.K. cable operator. — John Malone's Liberty Global said Wednesday that it has picked former News Corp. top executive Tom Mockridge …
Discussion:
Reuters, Variety, Bloomberg, The Register, Bloomberg, RTTNews, Deadline.com, Guardian, Telegraph and Pocket-lint