Mediagazer: Sources: AutoTrader owners show interest in Cars.com, which could fetch $2.5B (Bloomberg)

9:15 AM ET, March 12, 2014

Top News:

ObamaCare Website Traffic Spikes After President's ‘Funny or Die’ Interview — Obama's comic turn on Zach Galifianakis' “Between Two Ferns” becomes big driver to HealthCare.gov site, according to White House aides. — Within hours of President Barack Obama's appearance with comedian Zach Galifianakis …

Discussion: Fox News and FishbowlNY

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Obama bypasses traditional media again in interview with Zach Galifianakis, showing how to take advantage of fractured landscape

Discussion: Betabeat, Variety, Latest News & Headlines, @poynter, The Fix, Forbes, VatorNews, NPR, Erik Wemple, TechCrunch and Talking Points Memo

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

CNN ex-president Jon Klein talks about TAPP, the new online network he's starting with Jeff Gaspin — Jon Klein on His New Online Venture: 'We've Created the Company That I Feared Would Come Along' — Former CNN President Jon Klein and former NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Gaspin announced …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu and Bloomberg

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:
CNN, NBCU Alums Jon Klein, Jeff Gaspin Team Up for Online Video Venture

Discussion: Capital New York, TVNewser and The Wrap

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

An online Magna Carta: Berners-Lee calls for bill of rights for web — Exclusive: web's inventor warns neutrality under sustained attack from governments and corporations — The inventor of the world wide web believes an online “Magna Carta” is needed to protect and enshrine the independence …

Discussion: Fast Company, TechCrunch, Gigaom, Daily Mail, UK Blog on The Huffington Post, @henrybtam, @thelitplatform, Softpedia News, Lastest ITProPortal news, The Verge, The Next Web, BBC and Silicon Republic

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Lord Mandelson ‘was lined up to coach Rebekah Brooks for select committee’ — Phone-hacking trial hears that News International proposed ‘preparation session’ for chief's planned appearance before MPs — Lord Mandelson was being lined up to “coach” Rebekah Brooks for an appearance …

Discussion: Press Gazette, @lisaocarroll and @courtnewsuk

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks: no one told me about lead on Milly Dowler's whereabouts

Discussion: Hacked Off and Guardian

John Reynolds / Guardian:

60% of UK's video, video games and music sales now come from the internet — Netflix and Spotify help drive UK home entertainment revenues to £5.3bn — New figures show that three-fifths of Britain's video, video games and music sales are now derived from the internet

Discussion: Variety

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Disney TV Shakeup: Anne Sweeney Leaving to Pursue Directing Career — Disney's longtime TV chief Anne Sweeney will leave her post in January 2015 to pursue a career as a television director. — “The past 18 years at Disney have been the highlight of my executive career.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, TVNewser, @peterlauria3, Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes, Mediaite, Reuters, @kerrywashington and TVSpy

Jethro Nededog / The Wrap:
Anne Sweeney Exiting Disney-ABC to Become TV Director

Discussion: Variety

Bloomberg:

Beats Music raises $60M-$100M to fund new music and features in challenge to Spotify — Jimmy Iovine's Beats Music Is Said to Raise Up to $100 Million — Beats Music LLC, the subscription streaming service from rapper Dr. Dre and record producer Jimmy Iovine, raised a second round …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Billboard, VentureBeat, hypebot and Mashable

Bloomberg:

Berkshire to Buy Graham TV Station in $1.1 Billion Swap — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) agreed to buy WPLG, a Miami-based television station, from Graham Holdings Co., the former publisher of the Washington Post, paying with stock that Warren Buffett has held for more than four decades.

Discussion: NASDAQ.com and Benzinga

Grace Li / Reuters:

Nine arrested over stabbing of Hong Kong newspaper editor — (Reuters) - Police in Hong Kong and China have arrested nine men with suspected links to organised crime for the stabbing of a prominent Hong Kong journalist, the territory's chief of police said on Wednesday, an attack that was seen by many as an assault on press freedom.

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Gawker's Nick Denton Says BuzzFeed is ‘Pointless.’ Also a ‘Perfect Competitor.’ — Convenes a Company Meeting on Kinja Platform — Gawker Media founder Nick Denton used his company's own commenting platform to field a virtual company meeting on Tuesday, taking questions on the company's competition …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, FishbowlNY and Poynter

David Meyer / Gigaom:

Web firms face a strict new set of privacy rules in Europe — here's what to expect — The European Parliament has overwhelmingly passed a large package of laws intended to strengthen data protection - that's “privacy” in non-legalese - across the European Union.

Discussion: @openrightsgroup and @superglaze

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

News App Circa Looks to Native Ads for First Revenue Stream — Mobile News Reader Plans to Introduce ‘Native’ Sponsored Posts — How Advertising Performs in a Social Media World … It's time for the mobile news-reader apps to become businesses. — One of the category's earliest players …

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Amazon's TV streaming box to ship with Netflix and Hulu Plus apps — Amazon's Roku competitor, which could be unveiled any day now, won't just peddle the company's own video streaming service: The device will also have apps for direct competitors including Netflix and Hulu Plus on board, according to multiple sources.

Discussion: Electronista, Pocket-lint, Engadget and GeekWire

Myriam Robin / Crikey:

Audits exonerate Australia's ABC from bias claims, but unlikely to satisfy critics — Audits clear ABC of bias, but don't expect critics to listen — The ABC has started conducting regular audits of bias in its news coverage. The first two, released today, posed nothing to worry about.

Discussion: Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC, Sydney Morning Herald, mUmBRELLA, @themurdochtimes, @mykebartlett, The Australian, @crikey_news, ABC and Sydney Morning Herald

Michael Rondon / Folio:

New CEO at Reader's Digest — Bonnie Kintzer is 4th top executive in 3 years. — The Reader's Digest Association named its fourth CEO since 2011 Tuesday as Bob Guth, the company's current top exec, announced his intention to step down in early April. — Bonnie Kintzer will replace Guth as CEO, effective April 7.