Mediagazer: Fox Kicks Off the Great Web Video Piracy Boom of 2011 (Peter Kafka/AllThingsD)

1:10 PM ET, July 27, 2011

Top News:

Fox TV Shows Get Pay Wall — Broadcaster to Delay Online Viewing for Eight Days Except for Subscribers — Fox Broadcasting plans to make its recently-aired TV episodes available on the Web only to paying subscribers, a new step as major broadcast TV networks consider reining in free Web offerings …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Fox Kicks Off the Great Web Video Piracy Boom of 2011 — It's perfectly logical for the TV networks to try to lock up their shows online. — Except for the part about it not working. — On Aug. 15, Fox will stop distributing its shows on Hulu and Fox.com a day after they air …

Discussion: Ars Technica, Home Media Magazine, The Business Insider, Betabeat, mediabistro.com and Multichannel

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes.com:

That Piers Morgan Smoking Gun? Not So Smoky. — Earlier, I reported the claim of British blogger Paul Staines, a/k/a Guido Fawkes, to be in possession of a recording that supposedly showed CNN host Piers Morgan was lying when he denied ever authorizing or countenancing illegal phone hacking as editor of the Daily Mirror.

Discussion: The New York Observer, Mediaite and Telegraph

Telegraph:

CNN's Piers Morgan ‘told interviewer stories were published based on phone tapping’ — Piers Morgan, the CNN broadcaster, has said that newspaper articles based on the findings of people paid to tap phones and rake through bins were published during his time as a tabloid newspaper editor, it can be disclosed.

Discussion: Gawker, Mediaite, National Review, Erik Wemple, The Huffington Post, msnbc.com, HyperVocal, The First Post, Liberal Conspiracy and Future of Journalism

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes.com:
Claim: Smoking Gun Recording Links Piers Morgan to Hacking

Discussion: On Media's Blog, The Daily Beast, TVNewser, Telegraph, The Wire, BBC, Mediaite, Adweek, Salon, http://www.Stinkyjournalism …, The Huffington Post and New York Times

J-Lab:

2011 Knight-Batten Award Winners — Storify Wins $10,000 Knight-Batten Award — Data, Open-Source, Social Media Projects Prevail — Washington, D.C. - Storify, the social media publishing platform that lets users create stories by dragging and dropping elements from such social networks as Twitter …

Discussion: Poynter and Lost Remote

Jane Martinson / Guardian:

James Murdoch likely to remain BSkyB head after winning key backer — Sky deputy chairman Nicholas Ferguson understood to have given his backing after ‘long conversation’ in private meeting — James Murdoch is likely to remain chairman of satellite company BSkyB after winning the support …

Discussion: Adweek, New York Times, The Wrap, Company Town, The Forum and Media News, Advertising …

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

If your news site isn't social, great design won't matter — There's been a lot of sound and fury in the media sphere recently, sparked by a blog post from web designer Andy Rutledge that tore apart the New York Times website for being ugly and cluttered. This caused a firestorm of sorts on Twitter …

Discussion: Poynter, 10,000 Words, PSFK, blogs.journalism.co.uk and Danny DeBelius, Thanks:mathewi

The Brads:
The Brads - This is Why Your Newspaper is Dying

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Designing a big news site is about more than beauty

Discussion: Cameron Moll, stdout.be, The Wall Blog, The Business Insider and currybetdotnet

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

The Remains of The Daily — One News Corp. property that has flown under the radar throughout company's recent melodramas is The Daily—the tablet newspaper launched to great fanfare in the basement of the Guggenheim in February. — Nobody thinks the staff at the iPad app is doing any phone-hacking.

Discussion: Poynter and Press Gazette

New York Post:

Afghan book by Rolling Stone's Hastings goes MIA — Little, Brown has apparently canceled a much-anticipated book about the war in Afghanistan by Michael Hastings, based on “The Runaway General,” last summer's explosive Rolling Stone article on Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Discussion: Mediaite, FishbowlNY, The New York Observer and New York Magazine

Sue Fondrie / bulwer-lytton.com:

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2011 Results — Cheryl's mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories. — Oshkosh, WI — The winner of the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is Sue Fondrie …

Discussion: Guardian, GalleyCat and Omnivoracious

Azi Paybarah / PolitickerNY:

Rupert's Post Game: His Royal Pie-ness Story on Page SShhh — LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 12: Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive officer of News Corp., is driven from his apartment on July 12, 2011 in London, England. Allegations emerged yesterday that private investigators working for The Sun …

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Comcast, NBCU Bring Dynamic Ads to VOD — Kraft, Chrysler are initial sponsors — In a bit of synergy between its cable business and its networks, Comcast and NBCUniversal say they are working together to use dynamic ad insertion in On Demand programming.

Discussion: Multichannel News, MediaPost, rbr.com and The Wrap, Thanks:beet_tv

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

NewsTrust dives into the fact-check business with expanded Truthsquad — Just in time for the 2012 elections, the cottage industry of media fact-checking is ramping up. That latest addition is Truthsquad, which began last year as a pilot project of NewsTrust.

Discussion: Future Journalism Project

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Who is investor Randall Smith and why is he buying up newspaper companies? — Even in the close-mouthed world of hedge fund investment, Randall Smith, the principal of Alden Global Capital, gives new meaning to the euphemism “low profile.” — Smith's Alden bought out fellow hedge funds earlier …

Stefanie Botelho / Folio:

NOOK for iPad To Offer More Than 175 Digital Magazines — Esquire, Maxim, Popular Science and Food Network are among the titles included. — In an attempt to be everywhere readers are, Barnes & Noble is updating its NOOK for iPad app to offer digital periodicals to consumers.

Discussion: Publishing Executive News and Business Wire