Mediagazer: The Blogfather — MetaFilter founder Matt Haughey put the blog in blogosphere. (Ruth Brown/Willamette Week)

8:55 AM ET, July 15, 2011

Top News:

In Interview, Murdoch Defends News Corp. — In his first significant public comments on the tabloid newspaper scandal that has engulfed his media empire, News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch vigorously defended the company's handling of the crisis but said it would establish …

Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks's resignation letter — How News International's chief executive informed staff she was stepping down — Rebekah Brooks resigns over phone-hacking scandal — At News International we pride ourselves on setting the news agenda for the right reasons. Today we are leading the news for the wrong ones.

Discussion: Adweek, paidContent, Press Gazette, Gawker and On Media's Blog

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:

Rebekah Brooks Quits as News International Chief in Phone-Hacking Scandal — Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive officer of News Corp. (NWS)'s News International U.K. publishing unit, has stepped down amid a phone-hacking scandal that resulted in the closure of the News of the World tabloid she once edited.

Discussion: Guardian, The Independent, Guardian, CNN, Business Wire, Financial Times, CNBC, The Times, C21Media and @benfenton

Telegraph:

Phone hacking: Rebekah Brooks resignation statement — Rebekah Brooks has resigned as chief executive of News International following the phone hacking scandal. Here is the internal memo that was sent to NI staff: — Rebekah Brooks resigns in wake of NOTW phone-hacking scandal

Discussion: New York Times, Poynter, AllThingsD, Washington Post and ShortFormBlog

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, msnbc.com, The Wire, Guardian, TVNewser, Future of Journalism, Broadcasting & Cable and Gothamist

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

For Murdoch Loyalist, Another Stint in the Spotlight — In March 2003, a committee of the House of Commons summoned the executive in charge of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers to a hearing and put him on the spot about aggressive tabloid reporting tactics. — “Is it time to clean up your act?” demanded one member of Parliament.

Discussion: Guardian

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Phone-hacking scandal highlights the differences in British, U.S. media — Long before British journalists allegedly began prying into the phone accounts of hundreds of people, some of them were employing other eyebrow-raising methods to produce their stories.

Brian Braiker / Adweek: The Murdoch Maelstrom Comes West

Tom Hays / Associated Press:
AP source: FBI reviews News Corp. 9/11 phone claim

Discussion: CJR, The House Committee …, Felix Salmon, Reuters, The Wrap, New York Magazine, The Raw Story, PC Magazine and The Huffington Post

Guardian:
Phone hacking: Rupert Murdoch calls in PR firm Edelman

Discussion: mediabistro.com, Adweek, Time, paidContent, The Wire, Press Gazette, Kempton, Mixed Media, WWD Media Headlines, Media News, Advertising …, paidContent:UK, Future of Journalism, On Media's Blog, Mogulite, FishbowlNY, New York Times and Mediaite

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

Discussion: Guardian, Globe and Mail, paidContent, The First Post, MediaPost, Mediaite, paidContent:UK, Press Gazette, On Media's Blog and Crikey

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

Discussion: Gothamist, Adweek, Bloomberg, The Wire, Media Law Prof Blog and The Politico

New York Times:
Murdochs Now Say They Will Appear Before Parliament

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, BBC, The Nation, Poynter, Guardian, The Lede, The Wire, Mediaite, The Rumpus.net, Guy Fawkes' blog, CNN and New York Magazine

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics: The Myths of Murdoch: Real, Unreal and Surreal

Jxpaton / Digital First:

Our Next Big Step — Today we announced that the Journal Register Company has been bought by Alden Global Capital. And that's terrific news for us. — Alden has been an investor in our Company for some time and they have had a courtside seat to the Journal Register Company's radical makeover following our Digital First strategy.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, CJR, Poynter and paidContent

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: Deal Journal, eMedia Vitals, Poynter, The Buttry Diary and Future of Journalism

Natasha Mohanty / Google News Blog:

Shareable Google News badges for your favorite topics — (Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog) — On Google News, the average reader of political news has read 20 articles about politics in the last six months. Where do you stand? — Starting today, in the U.S. edition of Google News …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Softpedia News, Mashable!, ZDNet and PC Magazine, more at Techmeme »

Jonathan / awe.sm:

Twitter drives 4 times as much traffic as you think it does — Over the last few weeks, TechCrunch has run a couple posts using their own referrer logs to measure how sharing on various social services drives traffic. In these and other analyses based solely on referrer information …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, TechCrunch, the Econsultancy blog, Both Sides of the Table and AllThingsD

D.M. Levine / Adweek:

CNN Keeping Mum About Piers Morgan Hacking Allegations — CNN hasn't been shy about covering the phone hacking related woes of News Corp., parent of rival news network Fox News. It's devoted more than 100 segments to the scandal, according to liberal press watchdog Media Matters.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Huffington Post, Guy Fawkes' blog and All Things CNN

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

YouTube's New Sell: Want to Buy a Web Series for $3.5 Million? — Pursuing TV Dollars With Big-Money Web Series from Howcast, Endemol, Ben Silverman's Electus and Others — YouTube has pitched advertisers on funding big-budget web shows featuring stars like Kobe Bryant, Lady Gaga and …

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Techdirt

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Exclusive: U.S. Mobile Ad Sales to Top $1 Billion in 2011, IAB's Anna Bager — While mobile advertising is a tiny slice of the global advertising pie, “its growth is huge.....and exponential” says Anna Bager who heads the IAB's Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

MSNBC Chief on ‘Incredible’ Fox News, Life After Olbermann, More — This Friday is the 15th anniversary of the launch of MSNBC. To mark the occasion, I spoke with Phil Griffin, the network's president and the guy whose job it is to put out the fire when one of his hot-blooded hosts …

Discussion: Judicial Watch and Inside Cable News