Mediagazer: Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz resign from Freedom, OC Register, Rich Mirman becomes president and chief executive of Freedom, Spitz to chairman at Freedom (Tom Berg/Orange County Register)

9:00 AM ET, March 11, 2015

Top News:

Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz resign from Freedom, OC Register, Rich Mirman becomes president and chief executive of Freedom, Spitz to chairman at Freedom — Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz resign from Freedom, Orange County Register — SANTA ANA - Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz …

Discussion: Poynter, Navel Gazing, Los Angeles Times, The Newspaper Guild, Voice of OC, @jayrosen_nyu, @jbenton, LA Observed, @jasonbretwells and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Insiders say Gigaom's site and events were profitable, but research platform failed to meet its goals — Inside GigaOm's VC-driven demise — Tech media eulogized one of its own on Tuesday when GigaOm abruptly announced it had run out of money and was ceasing operations after eight years.

Discussion: TechSpot, FishbowlNY, Media & Entertainment, Folio and Guardian

Chris Thompson / Poynter:

Gigaom's Mathew Ingram on the site's sudden closure: “One minute you're working on a story, and the next minute someone is telling you you don't have a job” — Gigaom's Mathew Ingram: “I don't think anyone expected this” — At 5:57 Pacific Standard Time yesterday evening …

Discussion: Howdy Y'all, @terabithia4, @bmorrissey, @bizcarson, @gigastacey, @markarms, @tomrisen, @anildash, AdAge and Gigaom

Danny Sullivan / Medium:
Gigaom's closure isn't a harbinger for all niche media companies, but it is a warning for firms taking venture capital

Reuters:

Sources: Univision hires Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank AG for IPO in second half of 2015 to raise $1B at up to $20B valuation — Exclusive: Univision hires underwriters for IPO - sources — (Reuters) - U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc …

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal, International Business Times, CNNMoney, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times and Deadline

Mark Joyella / TVNewser:

Bloomberg Apologizes for Photoshopped Clinton Promo — Bloomberg TV has apologized after releasing a promo image for Bloomberg's coverage of Hillary Clinton's afternoon news conference that featured Clinton's face photoshopped onto another woman's body. After users on Twitter and elsewhere questioned the image, the network responded:

Discussion: Politico, BREITBART.COM, BuzzFeed, @jesseberney and @simonmaloy

Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:

Quartz plans to expand into Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa this summer, joining trend of US digital organizations in global expansion — U.S. Digital-Media Outlets Venture Abroad — Mobile connectivity creates opportunity to build audiences for local coverage

Discussion: Guardian, Talking Biz News, @mitrakalita and @enterprisekenya

David Post / Washington Post:

RIAA and MPAA are pressuring ICANN to force registrars to suspend domains over “copyright abuse complaints” — ICANN, copyright infringement, and “the public interest” — Last month, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) issued a carefully-worded statement urging ICANN …

Discussion: TechSpot, @glynmoody, @ipjustice, @bretfausett, @xor and @dangillmor

BBC:

South Africa TV presenter Vuyo Mvoko mugged on camera — One of South Africa's best known TV journalists has been mugged on camera as he waited to go on air. — Footage shows two men accosting Vuyo Mvoko, from the national broadcaster SABC, who was outside a Johannesburg hospital to report …

Discussion: ITV, London Evening Standard, Reuters, Telegraph, Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Huffington Post

Storyful:

News Corp's Storyful partners with Youku in China to license and share trending videos — Storyful grows international presence with Youku partnership in China — Storyful has launched a Chinese-language channel for viral videos on the popular Chinese video-sharing portal Youku.

Discussion: Asian Correspondent, @sophiaxuqian, @storyful and Storyful

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

The Times's media editor, Alex Spence, departs after Page 3 drama — He leaves the paper following his ‘inside track’ confirmation of the Sun's decision — The Times's media editor, Alex Spence, has left the newspaper after writing an article about the decision by the paper's sister title, the Sun, to drop Page 3.

Discussion: Press Gazette

Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times:

Jury awards family of Marvin Gaye $7.4M in music copyright case, deciding “Blurred Lines” infringed on Gaye's “Got To Give It Up” — Jurors hit Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams with $7.4-million verdict — A verdict has been reached in the Los Angeles federal …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Billboard, USA Today, Vanity Fair, USA Today, Washington Post, @laurie_ochoa, Forbes, NBC News, @maira, Vox, The Verge, CBS Los Angeles, Consequence of Sound and Radio.com

Wall Street Journal:

Barnes & Noble to Close Fewer Stores Than Forecast — Shares drop as bookseller's earnings fall short of expectations — Barnes & Noble Inc. showed hints of progress in its turnaround efforts in the fiscal quarter ended Jan. 31, and even said it would close fewer stores this fiscal year than previously forecast.

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Fox Business, Bookseller News and Reuters

Miranda Ward / mUmBRELLA:

Fairfax Media to cut 80 jobs, including 62 editorial positions, in regional Victoria, Australia — Fairfax Media announces ‘proposal’ for 80 redundancies in regional Victoria — Fairfax Media has today confirmed a “proposal” for 80 redundancies of full-time equivalent positions across Victoria …

Discussion: The Border Mail, @perkinsmiki and @rexmartinich