Mediagazer: Phone hacking row shows News Corp is no ordinary news company (Jay Rosen/Guardian)

11:25 AM ET, July 20, 2011

Top News:

Glenn Mulcaire legal payments terminated by News International — Private investigator at centre of News of the World phone-hacking scandal was still having certain legal fees paid — News International has terminated “with immediate effect” its arrangement to pay the legal fees of Glenn Mulcaire …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer, NetNewsCheck Latest, Media Week and Crikey

D.M. Levine / Adweek:

Piers Morgan Emerges as A Staunch Defender of Murdoch — Rupert Murdoch has an increasingly outspoken defender on TV: Piers Morgan. After a week of relative silence on the subject of the ballooning hacking scandal, the CNN primetime host and one-time Murdoch tabloid editor has taken …

Discussion: The Wire, TVNewser, Future of Journalism, GalleyCat, ThinkProgress and Mediaite

Jay Rosen / Guardian:

Phone hacking row shows News Corp is no ordinary news company — Rupert Murdoch's news organisations are not in the news business. What they crave is influence — Watching the phone hacking crisis crack wide open over the last few weeks has left me puzzled about its ultimate causes …

Discussion: BuzzMachine, Poynter, Company Town, Wall Street Journal, Mixed Media, New York Times, Adweek and The Daily Beast

The New York Observer:

Murdoch and His Critics — Regarding the scandal that has roiled Rupert Murdoch's global media empire, a few things seem clear. The phone-hacking scandal in London is deplorable. Journalists have violated the privacy of ordinary citizens and, it is alleged, the law of the land in the United Kingdom.

Discussion: Mediaite, Guardian, Runnin' Scared, @rafat, @mlcalderone, @gabrielsherman, The Content Makers and Erik Wemple

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Jon Stewart on Rupert Murdoch, Wendi Deng, and The Pie. And, of Course, Fox News (Video). — Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems as if Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have gone quite ... easy on News Corp.'s PhoneGate scandal, which seems like a story tailor made for them.

Discussion: Poynter, The Snitch and Guardian

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Wall Street Journal Staffers Push Back: We're Not ‘Fox-ified’ — NEW YORK — While Rupert Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, faced tough questions from members of Parliament Tuesday over the phone hacking scandal, Wall Street Journal staffers were watching — whether on newsroom televisions or computer screens at their desks.

Discussion: Poynter, CJR, ProPublica, Wall Street Journal, Stop Big Media News, Shelly Palmer Digital Living, Seattle Times and Talking Biz News

Farrah Bostic / Mediaite:

An American Watches The NewsCorp Hearings In London — Watching the BBC's live coverage of the Murdochs' testimony before the Culture Committee in Parliament, while sitting on a couch in southeast London, and watching my twitter feed roll on about the hacking scandal, I noticed a few things, and thought I'd share them.

John Cook / Gawker:
Rupert Murdoch Has Left the Building

Discussion: Guardian, Forbes.com, paidContent, The Awl, Gizmodo, The Wire and paidContent:UK

John Plunkett / Guardian:
Brooks: hacking payments not my remit

Discussion: Media News, Advertising …, BBC, Crikey, Media Week, Jon Slattery, The Lede, The Huffington Post, Press Gazette, Future of Journalism and On Media's Blog

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:
News Corp's independent directors hire own legal team over phone hacking

Discussion: Globe and Mail, Erik Wemple, WWD Media Headlines, Media Week, Hillicon Valley and Capital New York

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:
Video: Murdoch Attacked! Deng Fights Back! (Updated, With Slow-Motion Replay)

Discussion: Mediaite, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Daily Dish, msnbc.com, On Media's Blog, Digital Spy, @jonniemarbles, mUmBRELLA and BBC

Bloomberg:

Microsoft Said to Drop Out of Hulu Auction — Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is dropping out of the bidding for Hulu LLC, the online video service put up for sale by its media-company owners, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. — Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington …

Discussion: Online Video News, Fortune, Electronista, Future of Journalism, The Next Web, The Wire, Seattle Times and FT Tech Hub, more at Techmeme »

Andy Fixmer / Bloomberg:
Hulu Owners Offer 5-Year Show Extension

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

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Scandal Stirs U.S. Debate on Big Media — Progressive activists and public interest groups that have long blasted Rupert Murdoch and his News Corporation for political biases now have a new and much more tangible reason to call for the revocation of his TV licenses and the breakup of his company.

Discussion: TVNewser, Guardian, Free Press, Future of Journalism, Chickaboomer and The Nation

Paul Ford / New York Magazine:

Facebook and the Epiphanator: An End to Endings? — I do not enjoy Facebook — I find it cloying and impossible — but I am there every day. Last year I watched a friend struggle through breast cancer treatment in front of hundreds of friends. She broadcast her news with caution …

Discussion: The Technium, Future of Journalism, The Awl and Anil Dash

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Amazon Lands CBS Licensing Deal To Stream TV Shows To Instant Video Offering — Amazon has just announced a deal with CBS to allow Amazon Prime customers to stream television shows from CBS's library of content. Financial terms of the non-exclusive deal were not disclosed.

Discussion: rbr.com, AllThingsD, paidContent, The Wrap and GigaOM, more at Techmeme »

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Topic [B]? The Daily Beast Prepares for Chat Shows and Cable Spots — Tina Brown is planning to launch an online talk show for The Daily Beast, according to former Newsweek staffers apprised of the company's plans. The Newsweek Daily Beast company recently hired several network television producers …

Discussion: The Wire and mediabistro.com

Michael Crowley / Swampland:

Reporter Accosted After Bachmann Comments on Migraines — It's not easy to get to Michele Bachmann. Her appearance at a rally on Tuesday in Aiken, South Carolina, attended by perhaps 150 people, featured three uniformed police officers and two body guards in plain clothes.

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Times, The Huffington Post, ABCNEWS, The Daily Caller, nation.foxnews.com, New York Magazine, CNN, TPMDC and Ben Smith's Blog, Thanks:beet_tv

Nitasha Tiku / The New York Observer:

Condé Nast Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties — While other media rushed online, Condé Nast dug int its Louboutin heels. Now, with its much ballyhooed iPad play stalling out—so 2010!—the knives are out for digital wonder boy Scott Dadich.