Mediagazer: Ashton Kutcher Could Face Questions About Disclosure (Nick Bilton/Bits)

10:15 AM ET, August 19, 2011

Top News:

Peter Lauria / Reuters:

News Corp executives mull chance James Murdoch may leave — (Reuters) - News Corp's senior management is starting to think about what the company might do if James Murdoch stepped aside, sources inside and close to the global media empire said. — With Rupert Murdoch's younger son under …

Discussion: The Awl, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, Gawker, SAI and On Media's Blog

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Glenn Mulcaire ordered to reveal who told him to hack phones — Steve Coogan leads battle to reveal whether News of the World ordered hacking of Elle MacPherson and five other public figures — Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Reuters:

News Corp reporter at centre of Pitt/Jolie lawsuit — (Reuters) - James Desborough, a News Corp reporter arrested on Thursday in a spreading phone hacking scandal, was no stranger to controversy when he led News of the World's Hollywood bureau. — Police said they had arrested a 38-year-old man …

Jack Shafer / Slate:

Will Rupert Murdoch's editorialists at the Wall Street Journal revisit the phone-hacking scandal? — Unless you're an ombudsman, it's dang difficult to write about the publication or the company that employees you. First, you've got to worry about getting fired if you write too critically about your boss …

Lindsay Fortado / Bloomberg:
Ex-Investigator Mulcaire Said to Sue News Corp. Over Legal Fees

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Sarah Lyall / New York Times:
Reporter Known for Scoops Is Held in Hacking Inquiry

Discussion: The Informer and paidContent

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

News sites using Facebook Comments see higher quality discussion, more referrals — News organizations that have turned to Facebook to power their website comments say they are seeing a higher quality of discussion and a significant increase in referral traffic.

Discussion: Adweek, NetNewsCheck Latest, GigaOM, Future of Journalism and Media Nation

Nick Bilton / Bits:

Ashton Kutcher Could Face Questions About Disclosure — Ashton Kutcher may not have much of a future in journalism. When he served as guest editor of an online-only version of Details magazine, he failed to fully disclose his investments in Internet companies profiled in the issue.

Discussion: Betabeat, FishbowlNY, Gawker, The First Post, digiday:DAILY, VatorNews, New York Magazine, FishbowlLA, Future of Journalism, Techland, Adweek and PSFK

Om Malik / GigaOM:

The truth about scoops — In the wake of Motorola-Google deal, Felix Salmon, one of the finest bloggers in New York, penned a piece, Whither the M&A Scoop? Felix points out that “scoops are the most basic currently of business journalism” and they are what helped folks like Andrew Ross Sorkin become media …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Bloomberg:

Guardian Loses Fight for Web Readers Even After Taking Out Murdoch Tabloid — The U.K.'s Guardian took down Britain's best-selling Sunday newspaper by exposing that the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid hacked a murder victim's voicemail. It may still lose an intensifying battle for British readers.

Steve Smith / MinOnline:

Kiplinger.com Fortunes Rise as Markets Decline — It used to be common to see traffic at financial news sites slump during rough market periods. Conventional wisdom among publishers held that people didn't like checking on their financial status and portfolios when values declined …

Kristen Daum / INFORUM:

Valley City editor uses newspaper to blast owners — Slips in scathing column about concerns before resigning — VALLEY CITY, N.D. - Concerned about corporate greed and a lack of journalism ethics, the top editor of the Valley City Times-Record opted for full disclosure with his readers before resigning this week.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Western Europe Sees Huge Shift Toward E-Books — Europe has lagged behind the U.S. in widespread adoption of e-books, but a new report suggests that they are finally taking off. The e-book market in Western Europe grew by 400 percent in 2010, a new report finds.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Reader's Digest Subscriptions Come To The iPad — As part of its ongoing efforts to adapt its 89-year-old flagship to the digital age, Reader's Digest subscriptions are now available through the magazine's iPad app, for $1.99 per month or $14.99 per year. — Print subscribers can read …

Discussion: GigaOM and Medacity

Steve Krakauer / Piers Morgan:

Christine O'Donnell walks off “Piers Morgan Tonight” during gay marriage questions — The former Senate candidate talks about the 2012 GOP field and her new book, and the Starbucks CEO on his plan to boycott campaign donations. — Set edition preference — READ about Piers Morgan's long career in journalism here.

Discussion: Speakeasy, Guardian, The New York Observer, Guardian, Adweek, CNN, NY Daily News and Broadcasting & Cable

Daniel D'Addario / The New York Observer:
Christine O'Donnell On Her Piers Morgan Walk-Out: ‘It was fun.’

Discussion: Reuters, Salon, Gothamist, Broadcasting & Cable, On Media's Blog and TPMDC

Tom Grubisich / Street Fight:

Denver Post Unveils ‘New’ YourHub. But Is It New Enough? — Whatever happened to YourHub? — Six years ago it was major media's first big foray into hyperlocal. Created by the Rocky Mountain News, the flagship of the E.W. Scripps newspaper chain, YourHub called itself the …

Discussion: Poynter and Common Sense Journalism

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

New York Press Is Dead, Long Live Our Town Downtown — As has been rumored for weeks, Manhattan Media is shutting down the New York Press and reviving Our Town Downtown, starting September 1. The weekly publication-a magazine/community newspaper hybrid, according to the press release-will focus on news …

Discussion: Poynter, On Media's Blog, Gothamist, FishbowlNY, bookforum.com and AAN

Verne G. Kopytoff / New York Times:

That Remake of AOL? It's Still Being Written — SAN FRANCISCO — AOL hit a hard bump on its road to becoming a digital media company. — Last week it reported another loss and told Wall Street analysts it was not going to get much better: operating income for the year could be down as much as 20 percent because of weaker ad sales.

Discussion: NYConvergence.com and Media Nation