Roger Ebert, whose death is being mourned online today, "may have been just a movie reviewer to some, but mainstream journalists of all kinds could learn a lot from his example" using social media, writes Matthew Ingram. Ebert blogged and tweeted enthusiastically after he lost his vocal cords and "could no longer speak without the aid of a computer," writes Ingram."In a sense, Ebert’s adoption of Twitter was somewhat ironic, since social media has helped to rob traditional movie reviewers of much of their authority — to the point where many newspapers don’t even employ a dedicated …

Should NBC have relinquished the reins to late night's "highest-rated show" by deciding to switch Fallon for Leno? Adam Buckman plays devil's advocate, arguing that the decision move is unnecessary, saving "a show that didn’t need saving."  Fallon, "like Conan O’Brien before him, acquits himself well every night on the network’s other late-night show, but... like Conan, is no sure thing in the earlier time period."

At the Weather Channel's upfront event -- the first in five years, and "first real presentation in its history" -- the company announced the "largest programming push in its history over the next year," writes Alex Weprin. To gain share in prime time, the channel will focus on more character-drive reality shows and "long-form documentary programming with an emphasis on weather," like “The Strangest Weather On Earth."

Good news for big media companies from the financial folks: U.S. media stocks "tied with pharmaceuticals for the biggest improvement from the prior three years," according to two Bloomberg reporters. These stocks, "instead of faltering, produced the best risk-adjusted return since the end of 2011 of the 24 industries in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, according to the BLOOMBERG RISKLESS RETURN RANKING."

Disney, which recently bought Lucas Films, is closing LucasArts, the company's video-game division."Disney plans to take the many franchises under LucasArts' control and license them to third-party game developers," writes Adrian Covert. "LucasFilm said it would lay off workers 'across the organization' as a result."

Almost a third -- 14.5 million out of 45 million -- of ESPN's digital users tap into the sports network's content exclusively through mobile devices, according to an ESPN Mobile SVP. More examples of how fast mobile is growing:  30% of ESPN users who filled out their March Madness brackets this year did so on mobile devices -- up from 10% last year.

Elle Accessories, the pub's semiannual special issue "that relaunched last fall after a four-year hiatus," last week launched Shop Accessories, an e-commerce platform that lets readers shop and buy more than 1,110 products from its pages by clicking on its website, writes TJ Raphael. Users can can filter the product index "by price, color, designer and subtype," according to Deanne Kaczerski, director of Elle.com and RealBeauty.com.

Dish Network aims to sell $1 billion in debt notes to institutional investors to help finance founder Charles Ergen's plan "to buy or build a Dish wireless broadband network," writes Greg Avery. If he succeeds, "Dish would be the first major U.S. company to have a complete mobile and in-home bundle of services of its own."

The Financial Times' focus on data has paid off subscription and ad-wise, according to Lauren Indvik. With a rise in subcriptions "by  more than a quarter in the last five years," this year "the paper expects to generate more money from subscriptions than from advertising," she writes. "That's a big deal in the transformation of our business model," John Ridding, CEO of the FT, tells Indvik. The "data-driven approach is transforming [the paper's] marketing and advertising, too," allowing advertisers to target campaigns to very specific targets, and use a proprietary reporting tool called Deep View to provide "insight …

After much speculation (and sniping from Jay Leno about NBC execs being the snakes St. Patrick chased out of Ireland), it's now official: Jimmy Fallon is replacing  Leno as host of "The Tonight Show." The handoff will take place next February, when the network's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics concludes. Leno's feathers seems to have been smoothed; he's quoted as saying, “This time it feels right.”