Mediagazer: Global ads spend returning to pre-crisis level-Zenith (Reuters)

4:25 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, ProPublica, Guardian, Future of Journalism, Media Matters for America, CBS News, New York Times and BBC

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: Guardian, New York Times, TVNewser, MediaFile, Sky News, Poynter, paidContent, CNN, Slate, The Daily Dish, 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

Larry Kramer / paidContent:

NoTW Lesson: The Coverup Is Usually More Damaging Than The Original Crime — Larry Kramer, the author of “C-Scape: Conquer the Forces Changing Business Today”, was founder and former CEO of CBS (NYSE: CBS) Marketwatch.com and the first president of CBS Digital.

Discussion: Guardian and Media Matters for America

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:
James Murdoch To Stay On As BSkyB Chair After News Corp Abandons Bid

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

Alexandra Topping / Guardian:
Phone-hacking scandal reaches US

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Media Decoder, MediaFile, rbr.com, Guardian, Media Matters for America, New York Magazine, Hillicon Valley and Reuters

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

Discussion: TVNewser

Reuters:
Legal head of News International leaves company: source

Discussion: Guardian and FOXBusiness.com

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:
WSJ Ex-Editor on Scandal: News Corp. ‘Incompetent or Complicit’ (Exclusive)

Discussion: Guardian, Adweek, Media Matters for America, Forbes.com, ProPublica, The New York Observer, Media Nation, TVWeek.com, Hillicon Valley, Media & Entertainment, New York Magazine, Talking Biz News, The Wire and Bloomberg

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, Forbes.com and Erik Wemple

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: @kvox, The Snitch, Future of Journalism, New York Magazine, Poynter and Gawker, more at Techmeme »

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

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, The Huffington Post, Media & Entertainment, bookforum.com, The Wrap and The Wire

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

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: ANA

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

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, Gawker, Deadline.com and Company Town

Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:

Yahoo Prepares New Web Ad Push — People are spending less time on Yahoo Inc.'s websites. So in a bid to reverse its waning influence, the Internet company is working on a way to get more of its content and advertising on others' websites instead. — As part of a network it expects …

Discussion: AllThingsD, Adweek, AdExchanger.com, eMedia Vitals and Future of Journalism

Steve Myers / Poynter:

U.S. has same number of newspapers now as in 1890s — Stanford has used data from the Library of Congress to illustrate the spread of all kinds of newspapers across the U.S. from 1690 to 2011. Users can see which cities had multiple papers and click on them to learn more about them.

Ken Sonenclar / AdAge:

Why the Sale of Hulu Is (Really) Good News for Content Businesses — With the Potential to Fetch $2 Billion, Acquisition Proves Just How Valuable Content Remains in the Digital Age — The prospective sale of Hulu, which was announced on June 21 after its owners received an unsolicited offer …