Mediagazer: Why the Orange County Register saw record mobile traffic last weekend (Damon Kiesow/Poynter)

6:45 AM ET, January 19, 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 — Embedded in the rules that the government is imposing on Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal is one that specifically benefits Bloomberg LP, the financial news giant that owns Bloomberg Television. — Broadly, the Federal Communication …

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

Discussion: Multichannel, rbr.com and Susan Crawford blog

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, Chickaboomer, Salon, TVNewser, Ben Smith's Blog, Runnin' Scared, FishbowlNY, Gawker, On Media's Blog and The Wire

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

Discussion: The Huffington Post and 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

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

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 and Boing Boing

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, Scocca, Gawker, Mixed Media and GalleyCat

Damon Kiesow / Poynter:

Why the Orange County Register saw record mobile traffic last weekend — This past weekend, nearly 25 percent of The Orange County Register's digital traffic came from mobile devices — a new record for the paper. — Sonya Quick, who heads up social and mobile newsroom initiatives at the Register …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

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 …

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

Johnnie L. Roberts / The Wrap:

Executive Musical Chairs Won't Save Broken Record Business — Has the music stopped for the broken record business? — Pearl Jam and Gregg Allman may have new albums out Tuesday but with CD sales of chart toppers historically anemic the first weeks of 2011, record companies can't rely on old faves to keep beating the declining odds.

Discussion: Company Town and Communication Prof's News …

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

Joe Mullin / paidContent:

After 200 Lawsuits Against Sites, Righthaven Targets Online Commenters — So far, the copyright-enforcement venture Righthaven has only made a few thousand dollars per settlement with its publisher targets, according to news reports. To make any real money, Righthaven will have to widen its sights.

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

With $2 Million In Fresh Funding, FanBridge Buys DamnTheRadio — Fan “relationship management” service FanBridge recently closed a $2 million Series A financing and already completed its first acquisition of Facebook fan management startup Damntheradio. Super angels Jeff Clavier (SoftTech VC) …

Discussion: New York Observer

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

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Moore named NYC bureau chief for “Marketplace” — Heidi Moore, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, has been named the New York bureau chief for the public radio business news show “Marketplace.” — Moore is familiar to Marketplace listeners as a regular guest of host Kai Ryssdal's Friday segment, The Weekly Wrap.

Gillian Reagan / Bookish:

Editor, Agent and Author Betsy Lerner on What's Wrong with Writers — Sovereign book editor and star literary agent Betsy Lerner was “burning with rage.” She was sitting in the Booth Theatre this past Sunday after a production of Next to Normal, the Pulitzer-Prize winning musical …

Matt Shatz / paidContent:

Why Online Retailers Will Squeeze Out Publishers In The Book Business — Matt Shatz is currently Head of Strategic Content Relations for Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Previously, he was Vice President of Digital for Random House. — A decade ago, Napster made it clear that the music industry was going digital …

Discussion: TeleRead

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: paidContent and New York Observer

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 …

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: paidContent, Future of Journalism, Softpedia News, TeleRead, VentureBeat and NetworkEffect, more at Techmeme »

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Broadcast veteran Semel goes from Oprah to the Onion — Romenesko Misc. — As general manager, Mitch Semel will oversee all editorial elements of The Onion, including the newspaper, TheOnion.com, the Onion News Network, the two new television shows, “Onion News Network” on IFC and “Onion SportsDome,” and any new creative ventures.

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

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: Data Central