Mediagazer: Marshall McLuhan, Superstar (Maria Bustillos/Nieman Journalism Lab)

5:45 AM ET, July 22, 2011

Top News:

Justice Department Prepares Subpoenas in News Corp. Inquiry — The U.S. Justice Department is preparing subpoenas as part of preliminary investigations into News Corp. relating to alleged foreign bribery and alleged hacking of voicemail of Sept. 11 victims, according to a government official.

Discussion: The Slog and Gawker

Guardian:

James Murdoch misled MPs, say former News of the World editor and lawyer — Colin Myler and Tom Crone challenge News Corp executive's statement to MPs at phone-hacking hearing — James Murdoch has been accused of misleading the parliamentary select committee this week in relation to phone hacking …

Discussion: New York Times, Media Week, Kleinman, The Wrap, Media Law Prof Blog, The Wire, Jon Slattery, paidContent:UK, App Advice and msnbc.com

Guardian: James Murdoch: groomed for the top but now looking down the barrel

Reuters:
James Murdoch denies misleading panel

Discussion: Adweek

Business Week:
Will the Scandal Tame Murdoch?

Discussion: Company Town, Poynter and Washington Post

Susan Candiotti / CNN: 9/11 families to meet with attorney general over phone hacking

Gautam Naik / Wall Street Journal:
Scotland Yard Stint Lands Former Editor in Spotlight

Discussion: Washington Post

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

NYT's Nisenholtz: 'We're Not Naive About Google' — A revealing bit of conversation at the end of the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) earnings call between an analyst, digital head Martin Nisenholtz and CEO Janet Robinson about Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and the About.com response to the change in search algorithms that hit About, among others.

Discussion: paidContent and Future of Journalism

The New York Times Company:
The New York Times Company Reports 2011 Second-Quarter Results

Discussion: Mixed Media, Poynter, AllThingsD, TechFlash, Media Nation, CNET News, Betabeat, TechCrunch, Tech Trader Daily, The Awl, New York Times, Epicenter, Media & Entertainment, New York Magazine and FishbowlNY

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics: New York Times Digital Transition: Worth $34 million (annually) and counting

David Kaplan / paidContent:
NYTCo Swings To Loss; Digital Rises Double Digits, About Continues To Fall

Discussion: Guardian, MediaPost, NetNewsCheck Latest and paidContent:UK

Keach Hagey / On Media's Blog:

David Leonhardt next NYT Washington bureau chief? — The New York Times newsrooms in Washington and New York have been buzzing with the rumor that David Leonhardt will soon be named the paper's next Washington bureau chief. — Filling the slot is Executive Editor Jill Abramson's …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Media News

Lornet Turnbull / Seattle Times:

State DOL cancels driver's license of ex-reporter in country illegally — The state of Washington has canceled the driver's license of a journalist who, in a New York Times Magazine article last month, revealed that for 14 years he kept a secret from his U.S. employers: He is an illegal immigrant.

Discussion: Washington Post and On Media's Blog

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Demand Media's Lawyers Go After Critical Blog as Stock Sags — There's something perversely flattering about having an entire website devoted to your supposed terribleness. But Demand Media is evidently not enjoying the attention from Demand Studios Sucks, a blog maintained by refugees …

Discussion: Demand Studios Sucks

Michael Miner / News & Features, Chicago Reader:

The elusive definition of “journalist” — News used to be dispensed by an identifiable priesthood. Welcome to the reformation. — What the hell is a journalist anyway, and why should we need to define one? A journalist, says one of my daughters, making me swallow hard, is someone you can believe is trying to tell you the truth.

Lois Beckett / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Instapaper, Read It Later, Byliner: Platform founders on the pageview economics of time-shifted reading — When Byliner.com launched last month, there was plenty of enthusiasm about their new “Pandora of narrative non-fiction” from fans of long-form journalism.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

News orgs: Post to Facebook at noon for peak engagement — After analyzing the keys to engagement on journalists' Facebook pages, the social network has analyzed the number of comments and likes on sampled news organization pages to determine best practices for engaging with readers.

Discussion: Facebook

Maria Bustillos / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Marshall McLuhan, Superstar — Today would have been Marshall McLuhan's 100th birthday. Continuing our informal McLuhan Week at the Lab, we present this essay by Maria Bustillos on McLuhan's unique status as a media theorist who was also a media star. … The public intellectual was invented in the mid-20th century.

Discussion: Epicenter, CBC News, The New York Observer, Brain Pickings and Media Nation

Ian Sherr / Wall Street Journal:

Apple Explores Hulu Bid — Apple Inc. is in the early stages of examining Hulu LLC, a video-streaming pioneer that is being considered for sale by its owners. — Apple, which sits on $76.2 billion in cash and investments, is in the preliminary stages of looking at the site …

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Condé Nast And Adobe Try To Get A Handle On Digital Mag Metrics — While it may be exciting for advertisers to try out out an interactive ad in a digital magazine, at the end of the day, they just care about the numbers. With that in mind, Condé Nast and its digital magazine partner Adobe …

Discussion: Adweek, MediaPost, Folio, Future of Journalism and The New York Observer

Lucia Moses / Adweek: Hearst, Bonnier Cave on MediaVest Demand for Tablet Data

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is the internet making journalism better or worse? Yes — For the past several days, The Economist has been hosting a debate between journalism professor Jay Rosen and digital skeptic and author Nicholas Carr, as part of an ongoing series about the future of media.

Discussion: Economist, Guardian and Nieman Journalism Lab

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of U.S. media concentration — The rise and potential fall of Rupert Murdoch is a hell of a story. It is, though, closer to the Guardian's Simon Jenkins' description Tuesday, “not a Berlin Wall moment, just daft hysteria.” Facing only the meager competition of the slow …