Mediagazer: ‘Engadget’ Alumni Launch ‘The Verge’ (Dan Walker Smith/Adweek)

2:45 PM ET, November 1, 2011

Top News:

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Law firm documents add to heat on James Murdoch — (Reuters) - A law firm which represented Rupert Murdoch's London tabloids has turned over to the British parliament documents which could embarrass his son James when he returns to testify before a committee investigating a phone-hacking scandal.

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Phone hacking: QC warned of ‘culture of illegal information access’ at NoW — • QC told NI ‘there is a powerful case that there is ... a culture of illegal information access’ — • NoW lawyer warned editor of ‘damning email’ in 2008 — • Met had evidence that ‘at least three’ reporters involved

Discussion: Press Gazette and Future of Journalism

Press Association:

Blair aide's phone ‘hacked by NotW’ — A lifestyle consultant who worked with ex-Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie has said she was told by police that her mobile phone messages were hacked by a private investigator working for the News of the World.

Jason Deans / Guardian: NoW lawyer warned editor of ‘damning email’ in 2008

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times top latest circulation report — ABC has released circulation figures for the six-month period ending Sept. 30, 2011. This is the second reporting period in which ABC is counting circulation differently, so you can't compare current figures to previous periods.

Discussion: Future of Journalism and The Wrap

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Fas-Fax: Major Newspapers' Total Digital Editions Rise 63 Percent — Digital editions of the top 25 newspapers rose 63 percent to 2,169,843 for the six months ending in September, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations' Fas-Fax tally. For the most part, the numbers reflect newspapers …

Discussion: NewsBulletin Connection

Rick Edmonds / Poynter: The sideways numbers you'll see in today's newspaper circulation report

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
More Proof That Paywalls Work From...Newsday?

Discussion: Capital New York, On Media's Blog and The New York Observer

Mike Sauter / 24/7 Wall St.:

The Twenty-Five Most Valuable Blogs In America - 2011 — After years in the shadows of major media sites, blogs have come into their own. They now compete directly with the most well-funded online content sites, many of which are owned by the largest media companies.

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Business Insider

Steve Myers / Poynter: Gawker network three times more valuable than Drudge Report, according to survey

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Major Book Publisher Files Mass-BitTorrent Lawsuit — Since early 2010 more than 200,000 people have been sued in the U.S. for sharing copyrighted works via BitTorrent. Thus far these lawsuits have been the exclusive territory of independent and adult film studios, but today they are joined …

Discussion: TeleRead, Free Press, the Econsultancy blog, Softpedia News, The Digital Reader and ReadWriteWeb

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Our relationship with e-books: It's too complicated

Discussion: TeleRead and The Next Web

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

Ratings: ‘Rock Center’ Off to Bad Start as Halloween Cuts Into Ratings All Around — “Rock Center with Brian Williams” is off to a bad start, debuting 38 percent lower than the premiere of “The Playboy Club,” the now-canceled drama it replaced in the Mondays-at-10 timeslot.

Hollywood Reporter:

Brian Williams' ‘Rock Center’ Premiere: What the Viewers Are Saying — The new newsmagazine, which debuted Monday night, included a segment where the host riffed on the trick-or-treating habits of upper-class New Yorkers with Jon Stewart. — Brian Williams, left, and Harry Smith

Discussion: Washington Post and Chickaboomer

Dan Walker Smith / Adweek:

‘Engadget’ Alumni Launch ‘The Verge’ — Former Engadget editor Josh Topolsky has unveiled The Verge, a new site dedicated to tech. The site launched early on 1st November. — Topolsky says the new site will not just be “a stagnant, fixed entity, but an evolving, growing piece of technology.”

Discussion: The Verge, Nieman Journalism Lab, Nieman Journalism Lab, Business Insider and NYConvergence.com, more at Techmeme »

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:
With Launch Of The Verge, SB Nation Parent Rebrands As Vox Media

Discussion: AllThingsD, ShortFormBlog, NetNewsCheck Latest and Talking Biz News

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Politico's Ken Vogel Refuses To Confirm Or Deny Cain Story Came From Rival Camp — As the fallout continues from last night's scandalous Herman Cain exposé, many trying to parse Cain's response to accusations of having had to settle a sexual harassment claim as head …

Discussion: CJR, Erik Wemple and The Politico

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
Limbaugh Denounces Herman Cain Story

Discussion: Swampland, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post, Iowa Caucuses and The New Yorker Blog

Stephen Engelberg / ProPublica:
Raising Cain: When is a Scoop Ready to be Published?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, MediaFile, Forbes, Iowa Caucuses, New York Times, The Week, Benzinga, Jack Shafer, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, CNN, Big Journalism, The New Yorker Blog, Poynter and Future of Journalism

Dee Gill / paidContent:

Why Is Reed Hastings Selling So Much Netflix Stock? — As the bloodbath for Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) (NFLX) investors carries on, perhaps the CEO could boost a little confidence in the company if he would stop selling his own shares. — CEO Reed Hastings has exercised buy options …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

BBC set to expand Asian presence with new services in Thailand and Taiwan — The BBC is set to launch new channels across Taiwan, Indonesia and Taiwan continuing its expansion across Asia, according to a report from Media Newsline. — The corporation announced that it will introduce …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline.com:

CNN's ‘Piers Morgan Tonight’ Gets Beat In The Ratings By A 3 AM Fox News Show — CNN's 9 PM anchor Piers Morgan Tonight is regularly pummeled in the ratings by its Fox News primetime counterparts. But in October, it also got beat by Fox News' overnight program Red Eye, which airs at 3 AM.

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Twitter highlights impactful Tweets — BREAK THE NEWS! — Twitter is today announcing Twitter Stories, which is an online portfolio that Twitter will use to display stories about how single Tweets have affected its users. — Twitter explains the feature this way:

Discussion: TechCrunch and Twitter Blog

Bloomberg:

Tribune Judge Rejects JPMorgan, Aurelius Reorganization Plans — Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) — Competing reorganization plans for Tribune Co. were rejected by a judge who threatened to put the biggest U.S. media company in bankruptcy under a trustee unless it improved its strategy for ending the case.

Discussion: Guardian

Rip Empson / TechCrunch:

Aol's Patch Taps Ad Tech Startup PaperG To Boost Local Ad Sales In Over 100 Markets — Traditional publishers and fledgling digital publications alike are trying to find the best ways to monetize their content on the Web and take advantage of the benefits offered by hyperlocal content …

Discussion: Cision

David Kaplan / paidContent:

Adobe, Looking To Grab Rising Online Video Ad Dollars, Buys Auditude — Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) is continuing to build its advertising business through major acquisitions and this time, it's buying Auditude, which operates a platform for managing online video ads.

Discussion: Multichannel and Digits