Mediagazer: With Float, Scribd Hopes To Become The Netflix Of Reading (Jason Kincaid/TechCrunch)

3:45 PM ET, July 19, 2011

Top News:

BBC:

Phone hacking: Rupert Murdoch ‘humbled’ by MPs' probe — Rupert and James Murdoch are likely to be asked what took place at the News of the World — Rupert Murdoch has said his appearance before MPs to answer questions about phone hacking is the “most humble day of his life”.

Bloomberg:

News Corp. Said to Consider Chase Carey as CEO — News Corp. is considering elevating Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey to chief executive officer to succeed Rupert Murdoch, people with knowledge of the situation said. — A decision hasn't been made and a move depends in part …

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Murdoch & Son Visit Parliament, Return With a Big Helping Of Humble (and Shaving Cream) Pie — This morning, News Corp. CEO and majordomo Rupert Murdoch, his son James (who is also a top company exec) — as well as former employee and full-time lightning rod Rebekah Brooks …

Discussion: Guardian, The Snitch, VentureBeat, The Wire, Forbes.com, Gawker, The New York Observer, mediabistro.com, On Media's Blog, TVNewser, The New York Observer and Journalism.co.uk

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

The Statement The Murdochs Wanted To Make Before The MPs Said No — Before MPs kicked off their phone hacking questions for James and Rupert Murdoch today, James asked John Whittingdale, the chair of the Commons Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, if he could read out a statement—another apology.

Discussion: Guardian, On Media's Blog, http://www.Stinkyjournalism …, Editors Weblog, Online NewsHour and BBC

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Video: Murdoch Attacked! Deng Fights Back! (Updated, With Slow-Motion Replay) — Rupert Murdoch was just attacked during the big News Corp hacking hearing in the British Parliament. Via Business Insider, this is objectively insane and awesome: — Update: Via Jezebel's Whitney Jefferson, the Gif you've all been waiting for:

Discussion: @jonniemarbles, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Huffington Post, The Wire, Guardian and mUmBRELLA

Burgess Everett / On Media's Blog:

Piers Morgan takes on tabloid scandal — Former News of the World editor Piers Morgan finally, if briefly, confronted the News of the World phone-hacking scandal on Monday night after coming under pressure for avoiding coverage of the story while the rest of CNN went into overdrive.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The Book Bench, Forbes.com, GalleyCat, TVNewser, Adweek, AdAge and ThinkProgress

Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:

Rupert Murdoch has board backing — (Reuters) - News Corp independent directors are fully behind Rupert Murdoch, a board member told Reuters on Monday, as his iron grip on his vast media empire came under question because of the hacking scandal that already has consumed his London newspaper company.

Discussion: New York Magazine, paidContent, NetNewsCheck Latest and Gawker

Legalweek:

Harbottle defends Hackgate position; Grabiner to lead News Corp clean-up — Author: Simon Petersen

Discussion: The Slog

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
How News Corp. Will Change After the Hacking Scandal

Discussion: Guardian, rbr.com, TVNewser, On Media's Blog, WWD Media Headlines, Mediaite, The New York Observer, Forbes.com, Adweek, The Awl, paidContent:UK, Capital New York, AllThingsD, Fact and Comment, Wall Street Journal and Multichannel

Felix Salmon:
Could News Corp end up in play?

Discussion: The Wire, Los Angeles Times, The Big Picture and FT Alphaville

Nick Robinson / BBC: From inside the Murdoch hearing

Reuters: Special report: Rupert Murdoch, a hands-on newspaperman

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Can Hands-on Boss Rupert Murdoch Plausibly Deny Knowledge of Hacking at the News of the World?

Discussion: Poynter, Adweek, NationalJournal.com, AllThingsD and News Desk

Mike Butcher / TechCrunch Europe:
Updated: The Sun and News International sites hacked, Lulzsec claims responsibility

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:
New News Corp Strategy: Become an Even More American Company

Discussion: Techdirt, The New York Observer, About.com Journalism, Channel 4 and Telegraph

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

With Float, Scribd Hopes To Become The Netflix Of Reading — It's a big day for online document sharing and social reading site Scribd. Today at Fortune's Brianstorm conference, CEO Trip Adler will be revealing a major initiate that introduces a suite of new products and an entirely new brand: meet Float.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Epicenter, GigaOM, Shawn Blanc, App Advice, Fast Company, The Huffington Post, Softpedia News, CNET News, Fortune, TeleRead, TUAW, Adweek and ReadWriteWeb, Thanks:beet_tv

Verne G. Kopytoff / New York Times:
Scribd Creates a Paid News Site

Discussion: paidContent and AllThingsD, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Time Magazine Rolls Out Print/Digital Subscriptions — And Puts Up Another Web Pay Wall — Time magazine is making it easier for readers to subscribe to its digital and print editions. And it is making it harder for non-subscribers to read the magazine on the Web.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Poynter, FishbowlNY and paidContent, more at Techmeme »

Andy Fixmer / Bloomberg:

Hulu Owners Offer 5-Year Show Extension — Hulu LLC, the online video service seeking bids, plans to offer suitors five years of access to shows from its media-company owners, including two years of exclusivity, two people with knowledge of the situation said.

Discussion: Adweek, Bloomberg, The Business Insider and Online Video News

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

News orgs publish ebooks to capitalize on trending news, archived content — As more people buy e-readers and download books through digital stores, some news organizations are finding they can capitalize on their expertise and archives of information by quickly publishing e-books related to big stories.

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Sophie Roell / The Browser:

Jay Rosen on Journalism in the Internet Age — In a break from our usual practice of focusing on books, we asked the journalism analyst and veteran blogger to recommend five articles illustrating the upheavals of the news business — I know that as journalists we have to adapt rapidly …

Nikki Finke / Deadline.com:

Deadline Hollywood Game Launches On Facebook This Summer: News Affects Play — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — NIKKI FINKE'S DEADLINE.COM, PARAMOUNT DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT, AND LIQUID ENTERTAINMENT SET SUMMER 2011 RELEASE FOR ‘DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD GAME’ ON FACEBOOK

Discussion: LA Observed, Movieline and TVLine

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

Frustrated judge pushes Google digital book deal — (Reuters) - A Manhattan federal judge set a September 15 deadline for Google Inc, authors and publishers to come up with a legal plan to create the world's largest digital library, expressing frustration that the six-year-old dispute has not been resolved.

Discussion: The New York Observer, GalleyCat and Electronista, more at Techmeme »

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

WP hires three bloggers to work with Ezra Klein — They are Suzy Khimm, who leaves Mother Jones; Sarah Kliff, formerly of Politico; and Brad Plumer, a New Republic associate editor. The Post memo is after the jump. — The Financial staff is thrilled to announce that we've hired three talented bloggers to work with Ezra Klein.

Discussion: FishbowlDC