Mediagazer: Social Media and Satire Fuel Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt (MediaShift)

3:40 PM ET, July 14, 2011

Top News:

Murdochs Now Say They Will Appear Before Parliament — LONDON — In an abrupt about-face, News Corporation said Tuesday afternoon that Rupert Murdoch and his son James would testify next week before a British parliamentary panel looking into phone hacking. They will appear along with Rebekah Brooks …

Discussion: Poynter, The Wire, The Lede and Mediaite

Tom Hays / Associated Press:

AP source: FBI investigating News Corp. — Below: — updated 2011-07-14T18:18:48 — NEW YORK — A law enforcement official says the FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Adweek, Mediaite, The Wire, Broadcasting & Cable, Reuters and The Raw Story

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Whatever happened to the WSJ editorial integrity committee? — News that the Bancroft family might not have sold The Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch if they knew then what they know now about his newspapers' journalistic practices, reminded me: Wasn't there a panel established to protect …

Discussion: Tom Watson, Media Nation and CJR

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:

The Myths of Murdoch: Real, Unreal and Surreal — Forget the tired “gate” applied to this scandal, as in the limp Phonegate. This News Corp scandal so far surpasses mere phone treachery that the name diminishes what's at stake. Perhaps our so-far unnamed scandal will lend “Murdochian” …

Discussion: Time, Capital New York and Guardian

New York Times:

Father and Son Split on Tactics in Murdoch Family Drama — Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing its $12 billion bid to buy complete control of the satellite giant British Sky Broadcasting, a move intended to calm the torrent of derision directed …

Discussion: Time, Business Week, Guardian, DealBook, New York Magazine, Kempton, The First Post, Gordon's Republic, The Wire and Wall Street Journal

Guardian:

Phone hacking: Rupert Murdoch calls in PR firm Edelman — PR company will report directly to general manager of News International — Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has called in PR and lobbying specialists Edelman to help the embattled company handle mounting public anger …

Discussion: paidContent, Mixed Media, FishbowlNY, Kempton, Mogulite and Reuters

Seung Min Kim / The Politico:
GOPer wants FBI probe of Rupert Murdoch

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Poynter, The Wrap, Adweek, The Nation, Free Press, Mediaite, Swampland, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, Gothamist and Indecision Forever

Hélène Mulholland / Guardian:
Phone hacking: Rupert Murdoch summonsed to appear before MPs

Discussion: Adweek, Gothamist and The Wire

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
Handicapping Who Survives the Coming Purge at News Corp.

Discussion: Mediaite, Crikey, Gordon's Republic, News Desk, Poynter and Guardian

Dylan Byers / Adweek:
The Ben Bradlee of Phone Hacking

Discussion: Guardian, Media Week and Media & Entertainment

ProPublica:
Bancroft Family Members Express Regrets at Selling Wall Street Journal to Murdoch

Discussion: Poynter, The Daily Beast, Company Town, bookforum.com, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, The Nation, The Lede, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Salon, On Media's Blog, The Raw Story, Gizmodo Australia, Talking Biz News and Daring Fireball

Journal Register Company:

Journal Register Company Acquired by Alden Global Capital — Yardley, PA - Journal Register Company, a leading multi-media company in local news and information, announced today that Alden Global Capital ("Alden") has purchased the Company. — “This is a great vote of confidence from Alden …

Discussion: Digital First and Poynter

David Cay Johnston / Reuters:

How I misread News Corp's taxes — (Reuters) - Readers, I apologize. The premise of my debut column for Reuters, on News Corp's taxes, was wrong, 100 percent dead wrong. — Rupert Murdoch's News Corp did not get a $4.8 billion tax refund for the past four years, as I reported.

Discussion: Poynter, Mediaite, Regret the Error, The Atlantic Wire, Reason, NPR and On Media's Blog

Sarah Marshall / Journalism.co.uk:

How to: create a Facebook page as a journalist — Why journalists should create a Facebook fan page, examples of best practice and tips on setting up a page — “Facebook is a rolodex of more than 750 million potential sources,” journalist programme manager at Facebook Vadim Lavrusik told Journalism.co.uk.

Discussion: Poynter, Facebook and Journalism.co.uk

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

BBC.com Says It's In The Black, Two Years Ahead Of Schedule — BBC's push to make money from its overseas businesses, particularly online, had a good boost this morning, when the international site, BBC.com, announced that it has reached profitability—two years ahead of schedule.

Discussion: BBC Worldwide Blog and The Next Web

Francis Tan / The Next Web:

South Korea to regulate incentives given to bloggers — South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) aims to curb influential bloggers who get compensation from companies in return for favorable reviews of products. — The fair trade watchdog recently amended regulations so that companies and bloggers …

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Union-Tribune owner hires investment advisor to explore possible sale — Platinum Equity, the private investment firm that owns The San Diego Union-Tribune, has hired an investment adviser “to help the company explore alternatives for its future,” the newspaper reported.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

BBC publishes its social media guidelines for journalists — We've written before about the double-edged sword of social media. On the one hand it can boost profiles and raise revenue, on the other it can get a lot of people in hot-water if someone steps even a little bit out of line.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and BBC

MediaShift:

Social Media and Satire Fuel Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt — Political satire is, historically, a great propeller of social movements. As Srdja Popovic, a leader of Optor, the Serbian resistance movement, said: … Nowhere has this been more true that in the pro-democracy movements in Tunisia and Egypt …