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| Pacifica Radio in turmoil as ousted executive stages sit-in Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 08:00 PM PDT  By Laila Kearney BERKELEY, California (Reuters) - The fired executive director of the Pacifica Radio network says she is not leaving the left-leaning organization's California headquarters, and equipped with an inflatable air mattress at her office, she is settling in for a fight. Summer Reese, 40, was fired by the non-profit foundation's board in an 11-7 vote on March 13 and locked out of the headquarters in Berkeley, California, both sides said. After cutting the padlock to get into the building, Reese has hunkered down for nine days with a team of supporters in the headquarters of Pacifica Foundation Radio, which oversees a five-station radio network serving New York, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Houston and Washington, D.C. At least on a day-to-day level, Reese still claims to be running the network. "I'm being asked to follow the illegal actions of a rogue board." She and her team have equipped themselves for their working sit-in, which Reese said involves around-the-clock shifts, with an inflatable air mattress leaning against a cubical wall and takeout food boxes plopped around the offices. Full Story | Top |
| 'Scandal' actor Short charged in felony battery case Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 04:50 PM PDT  Actor Columbus Short, best known for his role as Harrison Wright on ABC's hit drama series "Scandal," was arrested on Wednesday on a felony battery charge, the Los Angeles County District Attorney said. Short, 31, was involved in a March 15 incident where he was alleged to have punched and knocked out a male guest at a restaurant in West Los Angeles, the District Attorney's office said in a statement. The actor was booked and released from Claremont Police Department in eastern Los Angeles County after posting $50,000 bail. Full Story | Top |
| Murdoch sets up sons to take over media empire Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 03:25 PM PDT  By Kate Holton and Jennifer Saba LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch has returned eldest son Lachlan to the leadership of his media empire and promoted younger son James, paving the way for the 83-year-old tycoon to pass the reins to the family's next generation. Lachlan, 42, will become non-executive co-chairman of both entertainment company 21st Century Fox and publishing operation News Corp, sharing both roles with his father. He rejoins the company after quitting as deputy chief operating officer nearly 10 years ago amid friction with other News Corp executives. James, 41, will become Fox's co-chief operating officer alongside longtime Murdoch stalwart Chase Carey, the latest step in the younger son's comeback after he was forced to relinquish some roles during a phone hacking scandal in Britain. Full Story | Top |
| German recluse Gurlitt to return Nazi-looted art: media Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 02:55 PM PDT  A German recluse whose billion-dollar art hoard was confiscated will return all works looted by the Nazis to their owners or their descendants, his legal custodian told German media on Wednesday. The paintings, drawings and sculptures were seized from Cornelius Gurlitt's two homes by authorities investigating possible tax evasion in February 2012. In February, Gurlitt's lawyers had said he had filed a formal complaint against the seizure of his art collection. Gurlitt wants to "return all (artworks) that have been stolen or robbed from Jewish ownership to each of their owners or descendants," lawyer Christoph Edel was quoted as saying on Wednesday by Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. Full Story | Top |
| HuffPo editor Willow Bay to head California journalism school Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 02:44 PM PDT  Journalist Willow Bay, senior editor at The Huffington Post and wife of Walt Disney Co. chief executive Bob Iger, on Wednesday was named the new director of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism. Bay, also a special correspondent and host for Bloomberg TV, has been working in journalism since the early 1990s, including co-hosting stints at ABC News' "Good Morning America/Sunday," CNN's "Moneyline News Hour" and NBC's "Early Today." Bay said she wanted to put a focus on equipping students with a fluency in covering stories across multimedia platforms as jobs in traditional journalism decline in the digital age. Full Story | Top |
| 'Frozen' hits sales high note, holds throne on top of Billboard Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 02:42 PM PDT  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The soundtrack to Disney's "Frozen" showed no signs of slowing down four months after its release, as sales for the album hit a high note and held the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday. "Frozen," which features the Oscar-winning song "Let It Go," sold 202,000 copies last week according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, its biggest sales week since its November 25 release. Alt-rockers Foster the People debuted its latest record "Supermodel" at No. 3, electronic music DJ Skrillex came in at No. 4 with "Recess" and grunge rockers The Pretty Reckless notched No. 5 with "Going to Hell." Latin pop crooner Enrique Iglesias' latest studio album "Sex and Love" clocked in at No. 8 in its opening week, while rockers Taking Back Sunday rounded out the top ten with "Happiness Is." For the week ending March 23, overall album sales totaled 4.7 million, Billboard said, down 22 percent from the comparable sales week in 2013. Full Story | Top |
| AOL rolls out new platform in bid to become digital ad hub Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 01:45 PM PDT  AOL Inc on Wednesday unveiled a new advertising platform aimed at changing the media buying process for digital advertising by becoming a one-stop shop. The new platform, dubbed One, will knit together AOL's various ad technology offerings like its recent acquisition of Adap.TV, an electronic trading platform for video advertising. One is an open platform that will work with the hundreds of ad technology companies that have crowded the digital landscape. AOL has also launched smaller tests to purchase TV advertising through the platform. Full Story | Top |
| Dish CEO contacts DirecTV head over possible tie-up: report Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 11:44 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Dish Network Corp Chief Executive Officer Charlie Ergen recently contacted DirecTV CEO Mike White to discuss a possible tie-up of the companies, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. White is reluctant to pursue a deal and no official process is underway, Bloomberg reported. Both Dish and DirecTV representatives declined to comment. Any talks between the two major U.S. satellite television operators would come as the two top cable TV providers, Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc agreed to merge. Shares of DirecTV jumped 7.7 percent at $77. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. journalism benefiting from 'game-changing' investments: study Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 09:24 AM PDT A new wave of funding by technology-savvy investors into U.S. media companies is driving momentum in journalism, even as news organizations continue to face challenges, according to a report issued on Wednesday. The level of media investing activity is forging the underpinnings of "game-changing" developments for the industry, according to the Pew Research Center's State of the News Media 2014 report, which cited funding from entrepreneurs like Amazon's Jeff Bezos and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Full Story | Top |
| New York Times to roll out new paid apps from April Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 08:17 AM PDT  (Reuters) - The New York Times Co has introduced two new digital paid apps as it expands its subscription offerings to entice new readers to pay for its products. NYT Now will offer a selection of stories from the New York Times, as well as from other sources across the Internet, for $8 every four weeks. "Our goal with this next phase of our paid product strategy is to satisfy the demand for Times journalism by giving new subscribers the ability to choose the amount of access they desire at a price point that suits them," Mark Thompson, chief executive of the New York Times, said in a statement. Still, subscription revenue has been slowing, and the newspaper has sought new readers in the U.S. and abroad to keep up growth. Full Story | Top |
| 'Unsafe speed' caused car crash that killed Paul Walker: sheriff Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 07:24 AM PDT  The fiery car accident last year that killed "Fast & Furious" actor Paul Walker was caused by excessive speed and not a mechanical failure, the Los Angeles County Sheriff said on Tuesday, concluding its almost four-month investigation. The red Porsche Carrera GT sports car driven by Walker's friend Roger Rodas, 38, was traveling at speeds of 80 to 93 miles per hour (129 to 150 kilometers per hour) before Rodas lost control of the car and crashed into trees and a utility pole in Santa Clarita, California, northwest of Los Angeles. "Investigators determined the cause of the fatal solo-vehicle collision was unsafe speed for the roadway conditions," Los Angeles County Sheriff Commander Mike Parker said in a statement. Walker, 40, died from traumatic injuries and burns while Rodas died of multiple traumatic injuries in the one-car crash on November 30, the Los Angeles County coroner's office determined in January. Full Story | Top |
| A Minute With: Emma Watson on how Hogwarts prepped her for 'Noah' Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 05:12 AM PDT  By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After spending a decade at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the "Harry Potter" film franchise, actress Emma Watson put her magical training to good use for her first big budget post-Potter role, in biblical action blockbuster "Noah." In director Darren Aronofsky's movie, out in U.S. and Canadian theaters on Friday, Watson plays Ila, the wife of Noah's eldest son, Shem, who is played by Douglas Booth. The film distributed by Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures stars Russell Crowe as the ark-building Noah and Jennifer Connelly as his wife, Naameh, in a dark, psychological reimagining of the Old Testament flood story. Full Story | Top |
| Alibaba launches entertainment investment fund Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 03:09 AM PDT  By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the world's biggest e-commerce company, will launch a fund that allows customers to invest in entertainment products, the company said on Wednesday, as it expands its financial services platform. The product, called "Yu Le Bao" or "entertainment treasure" in English, lets people deposit a minimum of 100 yuan ($16.12) using their smartphones. The funds will then be invested in film, television programme and online game projects through insurance and wealth management products offered by Guohua Life, a Shanghai-based life insurance company. The move comes however, as China's banks and regulators move to impose limits and rules on the country's emerging Internet finance sector, which could constrain the sector's growth. Full Story | Top |
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