Mediagazer: ‘Leveson inquiry no threat to free press’

4:40 PM ET, October 20, 2011

Top News:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Times Company Reports a Profit — The New York Times Company continued to attract paying subscribers to its flagship Web site in the third quarter, bolstering a new revenue stream that has helped offset a decline in advertising revenue. — The company, which reported its earnings …

Discussion: AllThingsD, American Journalism Review, The New York Times Company, Future of Journalism, Forbes, Gannett Blog, Adweek, The Huffington Post, Mashable!, FishbowlNY, Guardian, New York Magazine, paidContent, On Media's Blog and Noted

David Kaplan / paidContent:

NYTCo's Robinson: Paywall Hasn't Dented Pageviews—Much — The weak economy and the About Group's declines have eaten away at revenue gains that the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) won with last year's ad recovery. But CEO Janet Robinson said that there hasn't been much negative impact …

Discussion: CJR, Future of Journalism and Media & Entertainment

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

‘Leveson inquiry no threat to free press’ - PM — Prime minister tells Newspaper Society annual lunch that inquiry will not be used as revenge for the expenses saga — David Cameron has said that he does not want the newspaper industry to view the Leveson inquiry as a “hideous threat” …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Big News Network.com and Media Matters for America

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks's payout - will News Corp investors be told about it?

Discussion: Birmingham Mail and Company Town

Ben Smith / The Politico:
New York funds to vote against Murdochs, over Bloomberg objections

Discussion: New York Magazine and Gawker

Bloomberg:
Rupert Murdoch's Critics Press for Changes They Can't Force at News Corp.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Moammar Gadhafi Killed, Injured or Captured: Broadcast and Cable Nets Scramble to Confirm and Cover — Update: CBS News has a great exclusive: video of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton learning of Gadhafi's alleged death via her Blackberry: — Update: A Libyan transitional government minister …

Discussion: CJR, Broadcasting & Cable, Future of Journalism, mediabistro.com, Multichannel, FishbowlDC, Forbes and Poynter

Bob Andelman / Poynter:

AFP, AP transmit graphic photos of dead Gadhafi — Graphic images of a reportedly-dead Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are being transmitted by the AP, AFP and possibly other wire services. … The AP images come from video screengrabs provided by Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, says Paul Colford, director of media relations.

Discussion: TVNewser

Neda Semnani / Roll Call:

Heard on the Hill: Breaking the Code of Ethics — One major commandment of journalism: If thou art a hack, thou mustn't flack. — So imagine our surprise when we realized the spokeswoman for October 2011, the group occupying Freedom Plaza, is Lisa Simeone, host of the radio program …

Discussion: Fox News, Adweek, On Media's Blog, Time, The Awl, The Daily Caller and DCist

Julie Moos / Poynter:

NPR host will remain with ‘Opera’ show after becoming spokesperson for ‘Occupy DC’ — Lisa Simeone, host of “World of Opera” since 2002, does not understand why NPR is raising questions about her involvement with the Washington, D.C., arm of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. She tells the Sun's David Zurawik:

Discussion: Editors Weblog, The Daily Caller, Baltimore Sun, War Is A Crime .org, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Gawker, Associated Press, Hot Air and Big Journalism

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Times and Sunday Times cut 150 editorial posts — Casual staff worst hit by News International announcement, and compulsory redundancies not ruled out at the Times — The Times and Sunday Times are to cut at least 150 editorial posts, out of their combined full- and part-time workforce …

Discussion: Globe and Mail and Journalism.co.uk

Mark Kleinman / Kleinman:

Exclusive: Kingdom Eyes Twitter Stake — The ultra-wealthy Saudi investor who owns stakes in Citigroup and News Corporation is examining a swoop on the internet industry that would involve acquiring hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of shares in Twitter, I have learned.

Discussion: Forbes, Future of Journalism, The Wall Blog and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:

‘n+1’ starts $2,000 Kickstarter campaign to publish an Occupy Wall Street magazine of its own; raises it in an hour — A note went out to n+1 subscribers asking them to donate to help the literary-minded journal to publish “a quick history, analysis, and documentation” of the Occupy Wall Street protests about 45 minutes ago.

Discussion: Forbes, Gawker and The New York Observer

Michael Malone / B&C:
‘Occupy’ Needs the Media, and Vice Versa

Discussion: Speakeasy, Forbes, Splice Today, Gawker, The New York Observer, The New Yorker Blog, Media News, Gothamist, CJR, Future of Journalism, Broadcasting & Cable, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, ANIMAL and Guardian

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

The Economist Mistakenly Gave Away Free Digital Subscriptions — The Economist will next week revoke premium digital subscriptions from some users after realising it had been accidentally servicing them for free. — “Unfortunately, we have been providing you with full digital access in error …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, Canadian Magazines and paidContent:UK

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Two Daily Caller Reporters Fired, Managing Editor Quits, Employees Nervous — The last two weeks has put employees at The Daily Caller on edge. Two reporters were fired and the Managing Editor, Joe Kildea, has jumped ship. One reporter is gone because of a bad attitude; the other for being in a beat she wasn't qualified to cover.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, FishbowlLA and FishbowlNY

Deggans / St. Petersburg Times:

St. Petersburg Times reveals it has cut staff by 6 percent in recent weeks — Executives at the St. Petersburg Times have revealed the extent of the job reductions at the company, saying that the staff was reduced by about 6 percent in recent weeks. The bulk of reductions should be completed by now …

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

A Washington Post paywall? No time soon — Hurting financially but wary of acting precipitously, the Washington Post has planted a strategic stake in the ground when it comes to paywalls: Let the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, with their national distributions and elite readerships …

Discussion: Poynter and mediabistro.com

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Does Warner Bros. Really Have Exclusive Movie Rights to a Story Posted on Reddit? (Analysis) — Fledging author James Erwin sold Warner Bros. on movie rights to his short story posted on Reddit. But the user agreement for the news community website could raise some thorny intellectual property questions.

Discussion: Techdirt, Techland, SocialTimes.com and TeleRead

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Declining Ratings Could Put Judge Andrew Napolitano's Fox News Future In Jeopardy — Back in May, Judge Andrew Napolitano seemed almost a shoo-in to take over Fox News Channel's 5PM time, slot vacated by Glenn Beck. Beck himself stated, on air, that he'd like to hand over the reins …

Sean Connolly / Online News Association:

Herman, Keefe, Summers elected to 2012 Online News Association Board — Members of the Online News Association, the world's largest membership organization of digital journalists, elected three new members to its Board of Directors and reelected three incumbents to two-year terms.

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Phone hacking victims get access to critical evidence — (REUTERS) - Like all good tabloid tales, the News of the World saga is a scandal that keeps on giving. — British investigators have spent months sharing thousands of pages of seized evidence with hundreds of suspected targets …

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:

Village Voice Lays Off the Best of New York — The Village Voice has laid off Ward Harkavy, a senior editor, and Harry Siegel, a brand-new (but independently legendary) city hall columnist, Gawker reports. — The Voice is on the late end of a wave of layoffs affecting all New Times papers …

Discussion: Gizmodo, Gawker, Village Voice and Runnin' Scared

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Yahoo's Jerry Yang: “We Want to Be the Premier Digital Media Company” — When Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang last appeared on the D stage back in 2008, the Internet giant was in tumult. Tapped as successor to former CEO Terry Semel and the man who would finally turn Yahoo's fundamental strengths …

Discussion: AdAge, GigaOM, CNET News, AllThingsD and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Nielsen: Nearly Half Of Americans Are Watching Online Video — One of the reasons online video is the fastest growing ad segment is because nearly half of all Americans are watching some form of streaming, according to Nielsen's Cross-Platform report. But online video is still a long way off …

Discussion: Multichannel, rbr.com and MediaPost