Mediagazer: Exclusive: Met finds secret phone at centre of NI hacking (The Independent)

1:35 PM ET, October 26, 2011

Top News:

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 and Guardian

John Plunkett / Guardian:

Government under fire over alleged BBC licence fee talks with News Corp — John McDonnell MP calls for more details about ministerial meetings with News Corporation before licence fee settlement — The government has been urged to look again at the BBC's funding and reveal the extent …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Murdoch lawyer accused BBC of phone hacking vendetta — (Reuters) - A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers earlier this year accused the British Broadcasting Corporation of pursuing an investigation of alleged computer and phone hacking to “undermine” Murdoch's bid to acquire full ownership of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

BBC:
Phone-hacking scandal: Inquiry timetable revealed

Discussion: Guardian

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 …

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

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Mahalo Lays Off 25% 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 …

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

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 …

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

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 »

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!

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.

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: TVWeek.com, Chickaboomer and Inside Cable News

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

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Major media outlets say they won't pull out of Baghdad when Obama does

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Times and Gawker

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon's Acquisition Of The Book Depository Gets Official OK — Despite industry organizations' fears that Amazon's acquisition of UK online bookseller The Book Depository will create a de facto monopoly, the Office of Fair Trading is approving the merger. In the OFT's view …

Discussion: The Next Web

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Amazon Misses, Q3 Sales Up 44 Percent To $10.9B; Net Income Down 73 Percent To $63M

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.

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 …

more at Techmeme »

Joe Flint / LA Times:

Fox taps Wertheimer as head of digital — News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting has tapped Hollywood and Silicon Valley veteran David Wertheimer as its president of digital operations for the network. — Wertheimer will have oversight of Fox's strategy with regard to digital media platforms.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable