Mediagazer: WSJ, NYT Wikileaks Knockoffs Stuck in Neutral (Jeff Bercovici/Mixed Media)

2:50 PM ET, October 26, 2011

Top News:

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

The Shady Marketing Scheme That's Buying Off Your Favorite Bloggers — One basic characteristic of journalism is this: its content is not bought and paid for and directed by an advertiser. It might be vapid. It might be poorly written. It might be damn near worthless. But it's not an advertisement.

Discussion: Poynter

The Independent:

Exclusive: Met finds secret phone at centre of NI hacking — Device nicknamed ‘The Hub’ hidden in offices of ‘News of the World’ — Specialist detectives from the Metropolitan Police have discovered the existence of a secret mobile phone within News International's east London headquarters …

Discussion: Poynter, Editors Weblog, The First Post, Guardian and BBC

Mark Hosenball / Reuters: Murdoch lawyer accused BBC of phone hacking vendetta

John Plunkett / Guardian:
Government under fire over alleged BBC licence fee talks with News Corp

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

William Neuman / New York Times:

Daniel B. Burke Dies at 82; Helped Engineer Capital Cities-ABC Deal — Daniel B. Burke, who helped engineer the acquisition of the American Broadcasting Company by Capital Cities, one of the boldest corporate takeovers of the 1980s, and went on to become chief executive of the merged company …

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

WSJ, NYT Wikileaks Knockoffs Stuck in Neutral — “Harder than it looks, isn't it, Mr. Keller?” Image by AFP/Getty Images via @daylife — The news that Wikileaks is suspending operations for lack of funds ought to represent a big opportunity for The new York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Discussion: Poynter

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

CBS Sued for Airing Unlicensed Photos of John Edwards' Mistress — CBS has been sued by a celebrity photographer who claims the network's The Insider and The Early Show featured without license his images of Reille Hunter, the mistress of former presidential candidate John Edwards, and her child.

Discussion: TVWeek.com

Luke Harding / Guardian:

Saddam Hussein ordered execution of journalist Farzad Bazoft, records reveal — Former Iraqi leader argued against clemency and grumbled over length of time it would take to have Bazoft hanged — Saddam Hussein personally ordered the execution of the Observer journalist Farzad Bazoft …

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Watchdogs take aim at MSNBC, Buchanan — Both Media Matters for America and Color of Change are petitioning MSNBC this week to either fire or sanction former GOP presidential candidate and MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan for what the two organizations characterize as the use of his platform to espouse bigotry and white supremacy.

Discussion: Mediaite, Gawker, JAMES EDWARDS and Media Matters for America

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

Amanpour back to CNN? — “This Week” anchor Christiane Amanpour isn't getting along with the bosses at ABC News, and has reached out to the honchos at CNN to return to the network where she started her career. Sources tell us award-winning Amanpour has been “miserable” …

Discussion: Chickaboomer, Inside Cable News and TVWeek.com

Christina Boyle / NY Daily News:

Andy Rooney hospitalized over complications from surgery: 60 Minutes curmudgeon in stable condition — Andy Rooney, the veteran television commentator who delivered his final essay on CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” this month, was hospitalized Tuesday. — The 92-year-old developed serious complications …

Discussion: Associated Press

Barton Eckert / Washington Business Journal:

Gannett board elects new director — Washington Business Journal by Barton Eckert — Inc. announced that Susan Ness, a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission and the head of Susan Ness Strategies, has been elected to the board of directors, effective immediately.

Jon Bershad / Mediaite:

Hilarious Video Shows How The NY Times, Fox News, And The Huffington Post Write Their OWS Headlines — Guys, incredible news! Somehow, someone snuck cameras into the headquarters of a bunch of major American news outlets to see how they're biases inform their reporting on the Occupy protests!

Electronista:

Condé Nast digital subs soar 268% after iPad gets Newsstand — Conde Nast credits iOS 5 to surge in reading — Condé Nast suggested on Tuesday that tablet magazines might have turned a corner with the launch of iOS 5. Since the iPad received access to Newsstand …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, VentureBeat, Between the Lines Blog and Pocket-lint, more at Techmeme »

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Mahalo Lays Off 25 Percent for Shift to Apps From Video — Mahalo, the often-pivoted company run by well-known entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, laid off a quarter of its staff earlier this month. — Mahalo President Jason Rapp downplayed the move in a phone interview with AllThingsD …

Karlee Weinmann / Business Insider:

Barnes & Noble's Latest Strategy To Compete With Amazon: Selling Rugs — If you need a new rug or night-vision goggles, there's a surprising new place to find it online. — Last week, Barnes & Noble took a step toward Amazon when it began selling an array of non-book products, including these, on its website, reports TIME.

more at Techmeme »

Daniel Roberts / Fortune:

With The Verge, SB Nation looks beyond just gadgets — A flock of former AOL staffers are about to launch a new gadget blog, The Verge. Their publishing model could end up looking a lot like their former employer's. — By Daniel Roberts, reporter — FORTUNE — AOL hasn't had much luck keeping its top editorial talent.

Robert Feder / Time Out Chicago:

Gloom and doom: Clear Channel's dark future begins today — When the largest radio company in America assembles its major market general managers in Chicago today, it won't be to tell them what a swell job they're doing. — Instead, if knowledgeable industry reports are correct …

Josh Halliday / paidContent:

Former MySpace CEO: News Corp's Marketing Miscues Killed The Social Network — The former chief executive of MySpace has spoken for the first time about the demise of the once-dominant social network, admitting that News Corporation should have relaunched the site as “an entirely new brand”.

Discussion: Guardian and GigaOM, more at Techmeme »

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BT ordered to block Newzbin2 filesharing site within 14 days — High court ruling at request of Hollywood studios could set precedent for widespread blocking of illegal filesharing websites — BT has been given 14 days to block access to a website accused of promoting illegal filesharing …

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

BBC Trust launches impartiality review of Arab spring coverage — Broadcaster's fourth impartiality review will examine coverage of events in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria and Yemen since December 2010 — BBC correspondent John Simpson reports from Ras Lanuf, Libya in March this year

Discussion: Guardian and Editors Weblog