Mediagazer: Publisher asks journalists not to comment on Obama novel (Michael Calderone/Yahoo! News)

11:50 PM ET, January 18, 2011

Top News:

Cecilia Kang / Post Tech:

FCC, Justice approve Comcast and NBC joint venture — Federal regulators on Tuesday approved Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal, allowing for a joint venture that puts a vast library of television shows and movies under the control of the nation's biggest cable and broadband Internet service provider.

The United States Department of Justice:

Justice Department Allows Comcast-NBCU Joint Venture to Proceed with Conditions … WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice announced today a settlement with Comcast Corp. and General Electric Co.'s subsidiary NBC Universal Inc. (NBCU) that allows their joint venture to proceed conditioned …

Brian Stelter / New York Times:
In Comcast-NBC Conditions, A Victory for Bloomberg

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
Updated: DOJ's Approval Of Comcast-NBCU Contingent On Giving Up Role In Hulu

Discussion: Multichannel, Broadcasting & Cable, Susan Crawford blog and rbr.com

Tom Junod / Esquire:

Why Does Roger Ailes Hate America? — An exclusive and unbiased investigation into the highly paid operative of a foreign-born tycoon, a man who reengineered political and media culture and fomented a revolt that threatens the very stability of our country — Today, here at Esquire …

Discussion: CJR, Poynter, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Ben Smith's Blog, Runnin' Scared, TVNewser, Chickaboomer, FishbowlNY, Gawker, The Wire and On Media's Blog

Tom Junod / Esquire:
The Next Steve Jobs Is Roger Ailes

Discussion: TVNewser

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Alan Taylor brings “Big Picture” prowess to The Atlantic — Starting in February, The Atlantic will have a new section on its website: In Focus, a photography blog featuring “photo essays on the major news and trends of the day.” — Editing the site will be Alan Taylor …

Discussion: Gedankengang, Poynter and kottke.org

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
The Atlantic Pretties Up With Photos

Discussion: mediabistro.com, Thanks:jaredbkeller

Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

WSJ denies rumor that editor's leaving for Australia — A thinly-sourced report in today's Sydney Morning Herald suggests that Robert Thomson, managing editor of News Corps' Wall Street Journal and one of Rupert Murdoch's top lieutenants, may be packing his bags for a move back to Australia.

Stephen Mayne / Sydney Morning Herald:
Change afoot for Murdoch's minions

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

Venerable Lefties at Harper's Divided by Union — Harper's, one of the last bastions of old-line liberalism and a lonely defender of a certain idea of what literary culture should be, has long been supported by the largesse of its owner and patron, John “Rick” MacArthur …

Discussion: Poynter, New York Observer, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, Publishing Executive … and Boing Boing

Denver Post:

MediaNews Group announces management changes; Singleton to become executive chairman — Denver Post owner MediaNews Group Inc. said today it is launching a search for a new chief executive officer to succeed current CEO and chairman William Dean Singleton. — Upon hiring of the new chief executive …

Discussion: Poynter, paidContent and LA Observed

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Strong Ratings for Piers Morgan's Debut — CNN's “Piers Morgan Tonight” premiered to 2.1 million viewers on Monday, according to preliminary ratings from The Nielsen Company. — CNN said that Mr. Morgan's audience was 219 percent bigger than the channel's average audience during …

Discussion: Show Tracker, Tuned In, ArtsBeat, Mediaite, Mashable!, Washington Post, New York Magazine, New York Post, Yahoo! News, Communication Prof's News …, TV Squad, Guardian, The Wire, Lost Remote, The Huffington Post, Gawker and The Wrap

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Publisher asks journalists not to comment on Obama novel — Time's Joe Klein said he didn't write Simon & Schuster's forthcoming Obama novel. Several other Beltway figures, in media and politics, have also denied being the anonymous author behind “O: A Presidential Novel,” which hits book stores next week.

Discussion: Poynter, Gawker, Mixed Media, Scocca and GalleyCat

Lisa Bertagnoli / Chicago Business:

Bloggers quitting what they call a demanding task with few rewards — Jim Harbison launched a blog thinking it would be a showcase for his love of mid-century-inspired art and design—and maybe spawn a book deal or guest editorship somewhere. — “I wanted to participate in a world …

Discussion: The Awl, Chris Mohney and Runnin' Scared

Stephen J. Dubner / Freakonomics:

Yes, This Blog Is Leaving NYTimes.com — As reported in Forbes on Friday, the Freakonomics blog will be leaving NYTimes.com on or around March 1 and returning to its indie roots. — The Forbes piece and most of the followup coverage drew the seemingly obvious connection between …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Under Pay Model, Little Effect Seen on Papers' Web Traffic — While newspapers around the world are anxiously asking themselves what would happen if they started charging readers to view articles online, a few answers have started to emerge. — Steven Brill's Journalism Online experiment …

Discussion: Poynter, CJR, The Rural Blog, About.com Journalism, ReadWriteWeb, NetNewsCheck Latest, The Next Web, Editors Weblog, Noted, J-Source, eMedia Vitals and Stowe Boyd

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

Exclusive: Ad Tech Startups Banding Together To Take On Google And Microsoft — As the online ad technology industry consolidates, it is becoming tougher for startups to stand out among the giants. The 500-pound gorillas like Google and Microsoft keep integrating in new technologies …

Discussion: New York Observer

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

TPM hires The Hill's Crabtree, plans D.C. expansion — Talking Points Memo is preparing for a significant expansion in 2011, including plans to roughly double the size of the political news site's Washington, D.C., bureau by the end of the year. — To kick things off …

Discussion: FishbowlDC

MediaShift Idea Lab:

Which Metrics Matter for Measuring User Engagement? — Gail Robinson's recent post on traffic in a post-loyal era got me thinking about measures of web traffic and, more broadly, how to measure the impact of non-profit journalism. — I certainly don't disagree with Gotham Gazette's decision …

Laura Kusisto / New York Observer:

HuffPo Bloggers Will Soon Shop More at Trader Joe's — The lefty blog that your neighbor contributes to, The Huffington Post, plans to set up new digs in one of Chelsea's most desirable buildings. — Staffers have been told that the high-end aggregator is moving to 675 Sixth Avenue, the Mattel Building.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

Scribd Raises Another $13 Million, Aims To Bring Social Reading To Every Device — Scribd, the document sharing hub that launched as a ‘YouTube For Documents’ and has since added other key features, including an online bookstore and a publisher analytics platform, has raised another big round of funding …

Discussion: Softpedia News, VentureBeat, NetworkEffect, TeleRead and paidContent, more at Techmeme »

Market Wire:

Digital Publisher Vook Closes $5.25 Million Financing — Established Leader in Publishing Content for Tablets, Smartphones and E-Readers Builds on Its Momentum for 2011 — Vook, the leading digital publisher of mixed-media reading, announced it closed $5.25 million in Series A financing …

Discussion: VatorNews, The Vook Blog and TechCrunch

Lauren Indvik / Mashable!:

HP Launches Live Improv Comedy Show on YouTube — HP is bringing a new kind of comedy show to YouTube. Actors from the Upright Citizens Bridgade Theater will take skit ideas from viewers and perform them live on Google's video-sharing site. — The two-hour show, dubbed HP ePrint Live …

Discussion: Mashable and Data Central

Stuart Elliott / New York Times: H.P. Updates TV's Old Product Demos

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Ex-AOL CEO Randy Falco Lands At Univision As COO — Nearly two years after being ousted as AOL's chairman and CEO and replaced by Tim Armstrong, Randy Falco has a new job as EVP/COO of Spanish language media network Univision Communications. Falco, who also once served as COO of NBC Universal …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, TechCrunch, rbr.com, Company Town, Media & Entertainment, Moneywood, AdAge, MediaPost, The Wrap and mediabistro.com

Sergio Hernandez / Runnin' Scared:

Inside the Great Cathie Black Media Blitz — Today in How Reporters Report: Everyone got their panties in a twist when former city schools chancellor Joel Klein resigned last November and Mayor Bloomberg appointed Cathie Black — a publishing exec with no discernible skills, background, or preparation for the job — as his replacement.

The Huffington Post:

Regis: It's Over — Regis Philbin says he's leaving the show that bears his name. — “This will be my last year on this show,” the 79-year-old host said Tuesday morning on “Live! with Regis and Kelly.” “It's been a long time, it's been 28 years since I've been here.