Mediagazer: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler defends net neutrality approach, seeks path to avoid years in court (Tom Wheeler/Official FCC Blog)

11:25 AM ET, April 30, 2014

Top News:

Ben Fischer / New York Business Journal:

The Onion to launch Clickhole.com to satirize viral sites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy — Finally! The Onion is taking on BuzzFeed and Upworthy on their turf. — This June the satire site — stuck for now in the hopelessly 20th century business of spoofing reported, written news articles — will launch Clickhole.com.

Discussion: Gawker, FishbowlNY, TechCrunch, @paulmozur, @wolfrum, @zhongnanhai, @joshuatopolsky, Tubefilter, PopWatch and New York Magazine

Mike Hopkins / Hulu Blog:

Hulu will allow free viewing of select full TV episodes on mobile devices starting this summer — Today at the Hulu Upfront in New York City, joined by Peter Naylor, SVP of Sales, Craig Erwich, SVP Head of Content, and many of our talented stars and creators from Hulu Originals …

Discussion: VentureBeat, The Wrap, Deadline.com, VentureBeat, BGR, App Advice, 9to5Mac, Engadget, The Verge and The Next Web

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Twitter and TV Working Just Fine, Says Twitter — Yesterday, after a top TV executive lobbed a bomb at Twitter's TV pitch, Twitter executives kept quiet. — But Twitter CEO Dick Costolo knew he'd get asked about NBC* research chief Alan Wurtzel's “Emperor has no clothes” comments today during his earnings call.

Discussion: Engadget, Forbes and @mcproulx

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Twitter Beats In Q1 With $250M In Revenue And Picks Up 14M New Monthly Active Users

Discussion: Forbes, Mashable, RT, Business Insider, Softpedia News, @fmanjoo, New York Times, broadstuff, AdAge, Gigaom, Pocket-lint, Forbes, MarketWatch, Gawker, Marketing Land, VatorNews, The Wrap, ZDNet, @papadimitriou, The Next Web and @lukew

Mike Isaac / Re/code:
Twitter faces decelerating growth in active users and timeline views

Discussion: @thestalwart, @jennydeluxe, @tim and Washington Post

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Condé Nast to Launch New Digital Brand Aggregating Video — Variety among the news brands named as inaugural video partners for The Scene — Condé Nast Entertainment sees strength in numbers in the video space-even if that means mixing its high-class brands with those outside the company.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Folio, Wall Street Journal, WWD Media Headlines and AdAge

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Murdoch hints at News Corp. acquisitions — News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch is keen on making some additions to the publishing side of his media empire, which was formally split in half nearly a year ago. — “News Corp. is in the first sort of, transformational year,” …

Scott Cendrowski / Fortune:

After years of piracy, Chinese video sites are sending $100M a year to US and UK studios — Hollywood's new friends: The Chinese — After years of rampant piracy, Chinese video sites are sending $100 million a year to U.S. and U.K. studios, while creating new fans in a country with 1.3 billion potential viewers.

Lily Kuo / Quartz: Why China is censoring ‘The Big Bang Theory’ but not ‘Game of Thrones’

Tom Wheeler / Official FCC Blog:

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler defends net neutrality approach, seeks path to avoid years in court — Finding the Best Path Forward to Protect the Open Internet — I am a strong believer in the importance of an Open Internet. As President Obama has explained, “Preserving an Open Internet …

Discussion: New York Times, Variety, Washington Post, FierceOnlineVideo News, PandoDaily, Softpedia News, Consumerist, @aprilaser, @byersalex, Re/code, @fcc, Business Insider, Engadget, @ddayen, The Verge, @rafat and @karlbode

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Ex-FCC chief says politics and funding droughts would slow the internet if it were a utility

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Re/code and Cable Tech Talk

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:

Harper's Publisher Rick MacArthur Quits Columbia Spectator Board Because the Internet — Harper's publisher John “Rick” MacArthur hates the internet. This we know. But seriously, this guy really hates the internet, rejecting the Columbia University student paper's plan to go “web-first” …

Discussion: The New York Observer, @nymag, @joecoscarelli, College Media Matters and Wall Street Journal

Asif Shahzad / Associated Press:

Amnesty urges Pakistan to probe threats to media — ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan should investigate threats to journalists and probe its military and intelligence agencies for stifling media freedoms, Amnesty International said Wednesday. Pakistani journalists often face threats …

Discussion: Guardian, Reuters, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Voice of America, Observer, DAWN.COM, presstv.ir, The News International, Amnesty International, Amnesty's global human … and The Nation

Diana Reese / Al Jazeera America:

In small towns with local investment, print journalism is thriving — MARYVILLE, Mo. — Newspapers aren't dead yet. — Far from it in this town of 12,000 nestled among the rolling hills of northwestern Missouri, where the daily paper has returned to local ownership for the first time in decades …

Discussion: @niemanlab and @rosental

Paul Adepoju / HumanIPO:

BBC partners BlackBerry to deliver Hausa news via BBM in Nigeria — BBC has announced a partnership with BlackBerry to deliver news from its Hausa service to its users in Nigeria, offering five BBC Hausa news alerts daily via BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). — The new service is part of BBC's move …

Discussion: BerryReview and Rapid TV News

Philip Galanes / New York Times:

A Conversation With Liz Smith, Gossip Columnist and Jess Cagle, Editorial Director of People Magazine — If you've ever found yourself intrigued by the meltdowns of Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, puzzled by Jennifer Aniston's seemingly endless difficulty in finding romantic bliss …

Discussion: @cschweitz, @jordanbreal, @jennafnc and @mrjesscagle

John McDermott / Digiday:

How Hearst uses Pinterest to boost traffic — Publishing is increasingly becoming a game of which publisher can best market its stories on social platforms, typically Facebook and Twitter. But Hearst has experienced an unexpected but much welcomed traffic boost over the past two years from Pinterest.

Rob Tannenbaum / Rolling Stone:

Bill Simmons' Big Score: How a failed newspaper writer built a new kind of media empire at ESPN — How a failed newspaper writer built a new kind of media empire at ESPN — From Bill Simmons' fourth-row seats at the Staples Center in L.A., we're close enough to hear basketball players swearing.

Discussion: Deadspin

John Jurgensen / Wall Street Journal:

‘Super Size Me’ Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock Inks Development Deal With AP — The filmmaker who made “Super Size Me” has teamed up with one of the world's largest news agencies. Morgan Spurlock and the Associated Press announced an agreement Tuesday that gives his production company …

Discussion: Deadline.com, /Film and Capital New York

Nitasha Tiku / Gawker:

Whistleblower Claims Google Stole Money From Publishers Using Adsense — An anonymous individual claiming to be a former Google employee posted detailed allegations about the search giant on Pastebin today. The self-stylized whistleblower claimed that Google managers directly ordered employees …

Discussion: Softpedia News, Marketing Land, The Next Web, Re/code and ZDNet

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BSkyB faces fall in subscribers as competition from BT and Netflix grows — Broadcaster predicted to suffer drop in sign-ups as analysts say growth in traditional TV business has stalled — BSkyB is facing its first fall in TV subscribers in 15 years as pressure mounts from rivals including BT and Netflix.

Discussion: Financial Times, MediaTel and Digital TV Europe

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Media economist Matthew Gentzkow: fixed costs of producing news remain high on the internet — Q&A: Clark Medal winner Matthew Gentzkow says the Internet hasn't changed news as much as we think — The Clark Medal is one of the most prestigious awards in all of academia, awarded to the …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Andy Coulson denies being told MI5 was monitoring William and Harry calls — Ex-NoW royal editor allegedly claimed he introduced his boss to a ‘spook’ who was eavesdropping on royal family, court hears — Andy Coulson has denied being told that MI5 was monitoring Prince William …

Ben Fox Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

IAC/InterActive Earnings Shrink Amid Media Segment Weakness — Media Company Posts Higher Expenses While Its Revenue Declined Slightly — IAC/InterActiveCorp. said its first-quarter profit shrank 33% as the company posted higher expenses and a slight decline in revenue, due in part to continued weakness in its media segment.

Ben Fox Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

Thomson Reuters Swings to Profit — Year-Earlier Period Included $247 Million Tax Expense; Revenue Falls 1.4% — Thomson Reuters Corp. swung to a first-quarter profit, but revenue edged down 1.4% as the financial data and news provider's core financial and risk business reported softer revenue.