Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
AT&T considering acquisition of DirectTV, in deal likely worth at least $40B — AT&T Has Approached DirecTV About Possible Acquisition — AT&T has approached DirecTV about a possible acquisition of the satellite TV firm, say people familiar with the situation, the latest sign of a possible shakeup in the television industry.
Discussion:
Washington Post, multichannel.com, Deadline.com, Engadget, The Next Web, Mashable, Variety, The Verge and Rapid TV News
Leo Mirani / Quartz:
Why LinkedIn is morphing from a social network into an online newspaper — On May 5th, LinkedIn will be celebrate its 11th birthday. It announced last month that 300 million people had signed up for the professional social network. This evening, LinkedIn will report earnings for first quarter …
Gideon Spanier / London Evening Standard:
Google Maps and BBC iPlayer traffic surges during tube strike — Londoners used up a fifth more data on their smartphones during the Tube strike as millions of commuters were forced to make journeys above ground, according to mobile giant EE. — The owner of the Orange and T-Mobile networks …
Oliver Knox / Yahoo! News:
Meet Jessica Allen, the aide scouring Twitter to act as liaison between press and White House — When the White House hates your tweet — For the Obama White House, tweets from reporters are a kind of early warning system. It's up to Jessica Allen, 24, to sound the alarm.
Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Press regulation: Newspapers lose court of appeal battle over rival royal charter — Industry wanted judicial review of government's rejection of their own version of charter — The newspaper industry has lost its latest battle for a judicial review of the government's rejection of its version of a royal charter.
Discussion:
BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
Hillel Italie / Associated Press:
“To Kill a Mockingbird” finally going digital … NEW YORK (AP) — Harper Lee has signed on for Scout, Boo Radley and Atticus Finch to enter the electronic age. — Filling one of the biggest gaps in the e-library, “To Kill a Mockingbird” will become available as an e-book and digital audiobook on July 8 …
Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Danish magazine at the centre of a phone hacking-style scandal — A media controversy has broken in Denmark that is being compared to the News of the World phone hacking scandal. — Police in Copenhagen are investigating claims that an employee at a Danish IT company leaked details …
Discussion:
India & World and cphpost.dk
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Viacom to Acquire U.K.'s Channel 5 for $760 Million — Entrepreneur Richard Desmond had bought the broadcaster for $171 million a few years ago. — LONDON - After Discovery Communications and British pay TV giant BSkyB dropped out of the auction, Viacom is set to announce a deal …
Discussion:
Guardian, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Associated Press, broadcastnow.co.uk, London News, Reuters, Bloomberg, Variety, Telegraph and MediaTel
Mark Sweney / Guardian:
BSkyB's TV customers rise by 74,000, but broadband growth slows — Company says focus on investment in Now TV is starting to pay off as revenues rise 6.6% in nine months to end of March — BSkyB added more than 70,000 TV customers in the three months to the end of March …
Discussion:
Telegraph, Bloomberg, Press Association, Life Style Extra, Reuters, @skynewsbreak, Broadband TV News and thedrum.com
Ellyn Angelotti / Poynter:
Legal issues surrounding ownership of Twitter followers unclear — Who owns your Twitter followers? — This is the latest in a series of articles by The Poynter Institute and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on legal issues affecting journalists.
Discussion:
@nprrussell
Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Does having native advertising make a news site less credible? This study, at least, suggests no — Native advertising is providing an ever-larger chunk of digital revenue for publishers these days. But despite (or perhaps because of) the money, lots of journalists are still squeamish about the topic.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Audience Network Mobile Ad Network Launches At f8 — Facebook today launched its mobile ad network called Facebook Audience Network so developers can make money without having to sell their own ads, do their own targeting, handle measurement, or route payments. Facebook will take care of it all.
Discussion:
Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, AdAge, MoPub, Softpedia News, @joshconstine, Forbes and Globe and Mail
Ron Nixon / New York Times:
Paywast, an Afghan social media network with 1.6M users was backed by the US govt until 2011 — Social Media in Afghanistan Takes On Life of Its Own — WASHINGTON — Afghans have long been resistant to central authority — as the United States has found to its frustration …
Discussion:
@nytimesbits and Daily Dot
Henry Taylor / TheMediaBriefing:
Ofcom study: fewer people reading newspapers regularly, apps preferred over browsers for news — 5 charts showing the rapidly changing face of UK content consumption — The ways in which people access and consume media are changing incredibly rapidly, and one of the most comprehensive studies …
Discussion:
@henryctaylor
RELATED:
Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
Rdio will launch free, ad-supported service later this year, add traditional radio content — Music subscription service Rdio will launch a free, ad-supported service later this year, according to Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey. Cumulus, which is better known for its terrestrial radio stations …
Discussion:
@jank0, Radio Ink Magazine and Digital Media Wire
David Kravets / Ars Technica:
US State Department adopting social media to counter Al-Qaeda propaganda — US says violent extremists increasingly taking to social media. — The State Department unveiled Wednesday that it is widely employing social media as a method to counter online violent extremism from Al-Qaeda and others.
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, VentureBeat, The Wrap, Washington Post, Forbes, Business Insider, AppleInsider, The Verge, CNET, CNNMoney.com, Electronista, Ars Technica, Consumerist, Gigaom, TechCrunch, TIME, VentureBeat, 9to5Mac, Engadget, App Advice, The Next Web, WebProNews, Deadline.com and Softpedia News
Steven Waldman / Columbia Journalism Review:
Columbia Spec's smart switch to digital — As some trustees cry foul over Spec being the first Ivy-League daily to cut print, one says the students could teach their elders a thing or two — When the alumni advisory board of the Columbia Daily Spectator gathered recently to consider …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, College Media Matters, @nymag and @megreenwell
Alex Rogers / TIME:
Comcast Has About 76 Lobbyists Working Washington On The Time Warner Cable Merger. This is Why. — The company has registered at least 76 lobbyists across 24 firms to work on its impending $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable, making for a special ops squad with high-priced relationships to the most powerful members of Congress
Discussion:
@timkarr
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Music app Bloom.fm shuts down after investor yanks funding — Update 12:31 p.m.: We spoke with Bloom.fm founder Oleg Fomenko by phone. — Music streaming startup Bloom.fm announced today that it is shutting down immediately following a highly publicized ban from Apple's iAds advertising network.
Discussion:
hypebot, MacRumors, The Next Web, Pocket-lint and @frank_meehan
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Attkisson: CBS News wasn't willing to fight for Benghazi documents — Ever since her separation from CBS News, Sharyl Attkisson has been doing a series of media interviews in which she drops vague and uncorroborable charges against her former bosses, such as this one, which she gave …
Discussion:
Politico