Mediagazer: Hacking trial hears details of Blair's offer to help Brooks prepare for committee appearance (Jack Mirkinson/The Huffington Post)

11:25 AM ET, March 12, 2014

Top News:

Hacking trial hears details of Blair's offer to help Brooks prepare for committee appearance — Tony Blair Offered To Help Rebekah Brooks Handle Phone Hacking Hearing — The phone hacking trial was offered yet more evidence on Wednesday of former British prime minister Tony Blair's unswerving devotion …

Discussion: Guardian, Guardian and Guy Fawkes' blog

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

News International ‘wanted Lord Mandelson to coach Rebekah Brooks’ — Phone-hacking trial hears News of the World publisher proposed ‘preparation session’ for chief's planned appearance before MPs — News International wanted Lord Mandelson to “coach” Rebekah Brooks for an appearance …

Discussion: @lisaocarroll and @courtnewsuk

Press Gazette: Brooks: ‘Climate of paranoia’ during last days of News of the World amid ‘police leaks to Guardian’

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

Discussion: Hacked Off and Guardian

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 …

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

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Time Inc. spinoff probably won't mean name change for Time Warner — Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes. — Although Time Inc. won't be part of Time Warner much longer, don't expect the media giant to change its name to better reflect its assets. — “We haven't decided to change the name …

Wall Street Journal: Media Industry Worries About Comcast-TWC

Cadie Thompson / CNBC:

Rdio drops Echo Nest after Spotify acquisition, aims for global growth via mobile — Streaming music service Rdio aims for global, and mobile — Streaming music: More noise than competition? — CNBC.com Technology Reporter Cadie Thompson and Rdio CEO Anthony Bay discuss the trends …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Gigaom, The Next Web, Electronista, The Verge and hypebot

Wall Street Journal:
Amazon hopes to boost MP3 sales with limited music streaming service for Prime members

Discussion: CNET and The Verge

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

Tina Daunt / Hollywood Reporter:

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: FishbowlNY and Fox News

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

Discussion: Betabeat, Variety, Business 2 Community, Mashable, Latest News & Headlines, @poynter, Forbes, The Fix, VatorNews, TechCrunch and Erik Wemple

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

RT posts, mocks questions from BuzzFeed reporter — RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan posted a list of questions from BuzzFeed reporter Rosie Gray with...less than sincere answers. A sample:

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: WebProNews, Engadget, Electronista, Pocket-lint and GeekWire

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

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: Bloomberg and @jayrosen_nyu

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

Discussion: TVNewser, Capital New York and The Wrap

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Appeal Court victory for Guardian in fight to see Prince Charles minister letters - Govt takes fight to Supreme Court — The Guardian today won a major legal victory for press freedom over Government secrecy as it won the right to see a number of letters to ministers written by Prince Charles.

Discussion: @pressgazette, The Lawyer and Daily Mail

Emma Graham-Harrison / Guardian:

Taliban splinter group says it killed British-Swedish reporter Nils Horner — Hardline group claims responsibility for death of radio journalist in Kabul and accuses him of spying for UK government — A Taliban splinter group linked to the kidnapping of a New York Times journalist six years ago …

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, Washington Post, Reuters, @nordbergj, American Live Wire, Committee to Protect … and NPR

Arif Durrani / Media Week:

Financial Times opens global commercial academy for staff — The Financial Times has launched its FT Global Commercial Academy (GCA) today, a learning and development programme for staff ahead of its move into a single-edition, global print product in the second quarter of 2014.

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.