Mediagazer: Let's Ban Books, or at Least Stop Writing Them (Bill Keller/New York Times)

7:35 PM ET, July 13, 2011

Top News:

John Cook / Gawker:

In Defense of Sleazy Journalism — As delightful as it's been to watch Rupert Murdoch's British fiefdom slowly drown in a foul swamp of wickedness and criminality, it's worth remembering that all good reporters are amoral monsters and that without a lot of highly questionable behavior …

Discussion: The Politico, Guardian, ProPublica, CBS News, Future of Journalism, BBC, New York Times and News Desk

BBC:

News Corp withdraws bid for BSkyB — WATCH: Robert Peston says it will have been ‘incredibly painful’ decision for Murdoch — Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has announced that it is dropping its planned bid to take full ownership of BSkyB. — The announcement came as the House …

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian, TVNewser, Sky News, Poynter, paidContent, MediaFile, The Daily Dish, CNN, Slate, Media Law Prof Blog and New York Times

Hollywood Reporter:

Confessions of a News of the World Reporter (Exclusive) … My first assignment was cake. I tagged along with a features reporter to interview Baywatch actress Traci Bingham because she was on the U.K.'s Celebrity Big Brother (or Big Bruv, as they call it) that season. Nothing unusual.

Discussion: The Wire

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

James Murdoch To Stay On As BSkyB Chair After News Corp Abandons Bid — News Corp today walked away from its bid to buy out all shares in UK broadcaster BSkyB (NYSE: BSY), but one of its most senior executives will continue to have a role there. Sources at BSkyB say that James Murdoch …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Guardian, mediabistro.com, paidContent:UK and Christian Science Monitor

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
In the Murdoch Hacking Scandal, Roger Ailes Stands to Gain

Discussion: TVNewser

Larry Kramer / paidContent:
NoTW Lesson: The Coverup Is Usually More Damaging Than The Original Crime

Discussion: Guardian, Forbes.com and The New York Observer

Reuters:
Legal head of News International leaves company: source

Discussion: Mixed Media, Guardian, Guardian and FOXBusiness.com

Alexandra Topping / Guardian:
Phone-hacking scandal reaches US

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Media Decoder, The Atlantic Wire, MediaFile, MediaPost, Guardian, Media Week, Forbes.com, rbr.com, Adweek, The Nation, Media Matters for America, New York Magazine, Reuters, Hillicon Valley, Hillicon Valley and Media & Entertainment

Julie Moos / Poynter:

The journalistic value of aggregation creates the business value — Aggregation has been core to this website's success for the last decade. Our most popular feature since 1999 has been a blog that earns its iconic place in journalism by highlighting the most interesting and important news for a passionate audience.

Discussion: New York Post

Gabe Rivera:

Let's call rewriters “rewriters”, not “aggregators”. Also: why Techmeme is wonderful. — Something bothered me about Simon Dumenco's piece about Huffington Post yesterday. Not the substance of his column, which was valid and well-argued, nor the favorable comparison to Techmeme, which was, well, favorable to Techmeme.

Discussion: @dannysullivan, GigaOM, ZDNet, @kvox, Silicon Valley Watcher, Forbes.com, The Snitch, Future of Journalism and Gawker, more at Techmeme »

ProPublica:

Bancroft Family Members Express Regrets at Selling Wall Street Journal to Murdoch — This story was co-published with The Guardian. — A number of key members of the family which controlled The Wall Street Journal say they would not have agreed to sell the prestigious daily to Rupert Murdoch …

Discussion: Guardian, Poynter, Salon, New York Magazine, Mediaite, On Media's Blog, The Wrap, The Raw Story, Talking Biz News and The Wire

Bill Keller / New York Times:

Let's Ban Books, or at Least Stop Writing Them — There was exciting news last month among the Twitterati. Brian Stelter, The New York Times prodigy and master of social media, announced to his 64,373 followers that he is going to write a book. The obvious question: What's up with that?

Discussion: The Nation, Poynter, The New York Observer, Gawker and The Wire

David Kaplan / paidContent:

NYT On The ‘Psychology Of Sharing’: E-Mail Still Rules — When the New York Times first began talking about creating a metered paywall for its website last year, the company was quick to note that social media links would be exempt in order to keep the traffic flowing.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and ANA

Reuters:

Global ads spend returning to pre-crisis level-Zenith — (Reuters) - The global advertising market is still expected to return to pre-recession levels this year, despite Europe's debt crisis and economic uncertainty slowing demand in the United States and Europe, according to media buyer ZenithOptimedia.

Thanks:beet_tv

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Times Company to Repay Carlos Slim Early — Updated The New York Times Company said Wednesday that it would pay back the $250 million loan from Carlos Slim Helú, a Mexican telecommunications billionaire, on Aug. 15, freeing itself from one of its larger financial obligations.

Discussion: The New York Times Company, Poynter, FishbowlNY, Personanondata, Media & Entertainment, The Huffington Post, bookforum.com and The Wire

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

Guardian deputy editor: ‘It got pretty lonely’ covering News International scandal — Ian Katz, deputy editor of The Guardian, says covering The News of the World scandal was a lonely undertaking until last week. The Guardian has covered the scandal for two years, but the scandal …

Discussion: Future of Journalism, The Independent, http://www.Stinkyjournalism …, The Atlantic Online and NPR

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

The Latest iPad-Only Magazine — Here's a good example of putting your money where your mouth is: TabTimes, a new magazine about tablet news and put out by tech vets that can only be read on the iPad. — TabTimes, launching this fall as a free iPad app (and already on Twitter) …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and SiliconFilter

Lauren A. E. Schuker / Wall Street Journal:

Oprah to Take Bigger Role at Her Struggling Network — The queen of daytime television is moving into the corner office. — Oprah Winfrey is poised to become chief executive of her cable channel, OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network, starting sometime in the fall, according to people close to the venture.

Discussion: Media Decoder, The Wire, Deadline.com, Gawker and Company Town