Media News

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Microsoft Gives Yahoo Deadline on Offer (AP)
Microsoft set the clock ticking for Yahoo to accept its $41 billion buyout offer in a letter to the board Saturday, warning that if a deal wasn't reached by April 26 the software maker would launch a hostile takeover at a less attractive price. "If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders," wrote Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. NYP: Yahoo readying reply to Microsoft attack.

Yahoo Touts 'Amp' as Cure for Ad Blues (LAT)
Hoping to gain wiggle room, Yahoo is releasing more details about its effort to become a one-stop shop for selling and distributing online display ads — the Internet's equivalent of billboards. The upgrade, called Amp, won't be available until sometime this summer, and then only on a limited basis among newspaper publishers trying to recover some of the revenue the Internet has siphoned off.

In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop (NYT)
They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Justice Department Sues Fox (Variety)
The Justice Department has taken on the role of the FCC's enforcer, filing a lawsuit Friday against Fox and Sinclair Broadcast Group to collect $56,000 in fines levied in the long-running indecency case involving Fox reality show Married by America. Fox said it was prepared to argue its case against what the media giant views as an arbitrary standard applied in the FCC's indecency rulings.

For Third-Place Couric, an Uphill March (WaPo)
The CBS Evening News is far more traditional now than when Couric made her debut in 2006, serving up new features and interviews that ran as long as nine minutes. In fact, the Project for Excellence in Journalism says that last year Couric spent much less time on interviews with outside guests (178 minutes) than did NBC's Brian Williams (371 minutes) and ABC's Charlie Gibson (308 minutes).

Rifts in Family and Companies Hang Over Redstone's Legacy (NYT)
Sumner Redstone's relationships with family and business associates remain complicated. Like many who have risen to preside over large business empires, Redstone, who turns 85 next month, has left a trail of tattered relationships — with family members, executives and, in his case, one very famous movie star.

Adam Liptak Named New NYT Supreme Court Reporter (NYO)
For the first time in decades, The New York Times has a new Supreme Court reporter. Adam Liptak, the Times' national legal reporter, is taking over the position Linda Greenhouse — who covered the beat, off and on, for 30 years — vacated in February after taking a $300,000 buyout. Before Mr. Liptak was a reporter, he was a lawyer for the paper. He joined the newsroom in 2002.

Journalists Contemplate Beijing Olympics Boycott (Guardian)
Roy Greenslade: There are hints of a broadcasting boycott of the Beijing Olympics if the Chinese authorities do not relax their current media censorship. After Hubert Lacroix, director general of CBC Radio Canada, wrote last week to the Chinese ambassador to Canada to demand that his company's Web sites should be unblocked, CBC TV's executive vice-president Richard Stursberg mused in public about "the potential implications of even a small boycott."

Animal Rights Group Lashes Out at SI (Folio:)
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, a Washington state-based organization that supports chimpanzees "discarded from the entertainment and biomedical testing industries," has organized a letter-writing campaign protesting the magazine's use of animals in its swimsuit pictorials.

The Disappearing TV Critic (B&C)
Caught in the financial turmoil roiling the newspaper industry, TV critics have become a beleaguered lot, a growing part of the collateral damage of the digital revolution. In the past two years, more than one-dozen longtime critics at major-market dailies have been either let go, shunted to different beats, or been forced to take the ubiquitous buyout proffered by bean-counting corporate bosses.

Local News Endures (TV Week)
Local TV stations lost far less of their late news audience than their network partners did in the lead-in prime-time half-hour in the wake of the writers strike. Late local newscasts are crucial programming for stations, as the late news accounts for as much as 20 percent of some stations' advertising revenue.

Strike Pushes New HBO Shows, Returning Hits to Fall (Mediaweek)
The strike postponed production on the fifth season of Entourage, which had been set to return in June but was pushed to the fall. Filming also was delayed on vampire drama True Blood, from Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball. That, too, now has a fall launch. Other strike victims include polygamy drama Big Love and cult comedy Flight of the Conchords, both of which were bumped to the fourth quarter.

Revolving Door Newsletter: Tina Brown Channels Arianna Huffington (mediabistro.com)
Don't tell us there isn't a social media bubble swelling; first The Huffington Post announces it wants to be The New York Times (on the front page of the Times' Business section, naturally) and now Tina Brown has decided she wants to be The Huffington Post (or, perhaps more to the point, Arianna Huffington). Brown and Barry Diller are teaming up to launch their own news aggregation site.

An Unabashed Media Love Story in 13 Parts (AdAge)
Simon Dumenco: Some readers have pointed out to me that this column has been on a grim, cranky tear lately. But honestly, all hope is not lost. To prove it, it's time once again for a puppies-and-rainbows installment of Media Guy, wherein I do nothing but give warm shout-outs and show my love.

How James Risen Overcame Pulitzer 'Burnout' (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: The newest batch of Pulitzer Prize winners is scheduled to be announced this afternoon. When the cheering for the recipients fades, many of them will ponder the inevitable question: What's next? In journalism, like every other profession, once you've climbed to the top of the mountain, it can be hard to muster the enthusiasm or find the inspiration to do it all over again.