Mediagazer: Valley greets, but doesn't meet, heavy hitters (Rebecca Meany/mtexpress.com)

1:20 PM ET, July 6, 2011

Top News:

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Murdoch Responds To Hacking Claims From Sun Valley — Rupert Murdoch is standing by News International head Rebekah Brooks in his first public statement on the new phone hacking accusations causing a firestorm for the News Corp (NSDQ: NWS). UK publishing group—and a potential last-minute roadblock …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Guardian

The Independent:
Wapping in turmoil as hacking saga hits Murdoch where it hurts

Discussion: Press Gazette, The Independent, The Huffington Post and Guardian

Jack Shafer / Slate:
Rupert Murdoch can't escape his nemesis, Nick Davies of the Guardian.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Gawker, Guardian, Mixed Media, The Independent, CJR, The Independent and Big News Network.com

Sarah Ellison / Vanity Fair:
The Never-Ending Story: News of the World's Andy Coulson Condoned Police Payoffs

Discussion: Mixed Media, Guardian, New York Magazine, BBC, BBC, Channel 4, Telegraph, CJR, The Independent, Sky News and CJR

Nick Davies / Guardian:
Phone hacking: Glenn Mulcaire blames ‘relentless pressure’ by NoW for actions

Georgina Prodhan / Reuters:
New hacking allegation piles pressure on Murdoch

Kevin Cochrane / Media Week:
Ford pulls News of the World advertising following Milly Dowler allegations

Discussion: Adweek, Guardian, Press Gazette, Guardian, NPR and The New Yorker Blog

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

5 ways to turn traffic spikes from major news stories into return visits — Many news sites have seen traffic spikes this year following major news events. But as website editors are learning, just because readers come to a site once for news doesn't mean they're going to come back later.

Discussion: The Wire, Future of Journalism, Broadcasting & Cable and Mediaite

New York Times:

Watching a Trial on TV, Discussing It on Twitter — As the lawyers for Casey Anthony gathered at a restaurant in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday afternoon, two hours after a jury found their client not guilty of killing her daughter, Caylee, the television host Nancy Grace was sequestered in a studio …

Discussion: Adweek, EW.com, Hollywood Reporter and msnbc.com

David Zurawik / Baltimore Sun:
Casey Anthony attorney blasts TV ‘talking heads’ in verdict wake

Discussion: blogs.thedailybeast.com, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, Tuned In, Orlando Sentinel, This Just In, The Wire, Poynter, Mediaite, msnbc.com, Mediaite, TVNewser, MarketWatch and Chickaboomer

Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:

Media moguls focus on digital dollars at Sun Valley — (Reuters) - Media and technology moguls gather in Idaho this week to once more debate a shift to a digital world, but the talk this year will finally focus on how to make money off it. — Unlike in years past, this year's attendees …

Discussion: Company Town, Media Money …, AllThingsD, mtexpress.com, New York Post, Future of Journalism, CNBC, Bloomberg, The Wire and New York Post

Rebecca Meany / mtexpress.com:

Valley greets, but doesn't meet, heavy hitters — Allen & Co. attendees come to Sun Valley for annual retreat, possible business deals — Telltale signs of the much-discussed but always secretive Allen & Co. conference create tantalizing images of business deals taking place in Sun Valley.

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Does Turnover Signal Tumult at The Huffington Post Business Desk? [Update] — Since merging with AOL, the Huffington Post has been on an ostentatious hiring spree, luring editors away from The New York Times with big paychecks and grabbing young reporters while the ink on their diplomas is still wet.

Discussion: Poynter, Street Fight, AllThingsD, Press Gazette and Future of Journalism

NPR Topics: World:

Al Jazeera Reporter Reflects on Detainment in Iran … Dorothy Parvaz was detained in Syria when she tried entering the country to cover uprisings. She spent three days in Syrian detention, then was handed over to Iranian authorities. Host Michel Martin continues her conversation with Parvaz about her detainment in Syria and Iran.

Arthur S. Brisbane / The Public Editor's Journal:

Times curbs Pogue's PR appearances — Journalists are accustomed to seeing public relations pitches in their inbox. I was surprised, though, when I recently got one on June 8 touting tech columnist David Pogue's speech to PR professionals in which he credits PR with providing most of his ideas.

Discussion: Poynter and The Wire

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

HuffPo UK 'We're The Only Independent Digital Destination For News' — Today, Arianna Huffington's online news phenomenon The Huffington Post is making its European debut, with the launch of Huffington Post UK, the third site in what AOL (NYSE: AOL) hopes will become a rapidly-growing franchise by the end of this year.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Editors Weblog

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The MacGyver method: With News Challenge funding, The Public Lab is building up its civic media toolkit — Of all the projects that have won Knight News Challenge grants since 2007, The Public Laboratory is the only one that owes its funding, in some part, to balloons.

Discussion: Future of Journalism and O'Reilly Radar

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Updated: Seeking Alpha On Track To Pay Its Bloggers $1.2 Million This Year — Financial analysis and earnings transcription site Seeking Alpha expects to pay its “premium bloggers” a collective $1.2 million by the end of this year, says CEO David Jackson. While most of the site's 4,000 …

Discussion: Felix Salmon

Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily:

NY Times: No Longer A Sell, Says UBS; Paywall Brightens — Prospects for The New York Times's (NYT) electronic paywall, introduced in May, are looking better, writes UBS's Jon Janedis, who today raised his rating on Times shares to Neutral from Sell, and raised his price target to $9 from $7.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Florence Pichon / Editors Weblog:

Press releases in journalism: friend or foe? — These days, PR is everything. — Companies, governments, and organizations use press releases to communicate with the media. By releasing their own official version of events, a press release helps companies maintain an image for the general public and …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and Future of Journalism

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

CEO Jason Kilar Is Contract-Less as Hulu Seeks Buyer — As bankers in Century City gathered to pitch Hulu to potential buyers on Tuesday, they more than likely disclosed this anomaly: CEO Jason Kilar is now without a contract. — Kilar's contract expired at the end of June, according to an individual close to the company.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, AllThingsD and Online Video News, more at Techmeme »

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

How Kara Swisher Gets Her Scoops: “Tasers and Idle Threats” — Here on the streets of Manhattan last week, we spoke with Kara Swisher, Co-Executive Editor, All Things Digital, about her Loeb award and her definition of blogging (it's the same as reporting she says).

Discussion: Poynter