Mediagazer: ‘Rock Center’ Review: 'It's hard to be different. It's harder to be good' (Gail Shister/TVNewser)

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.

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

With Launch Of The Verge, SB Nation Parent Rebrands As Vox Media — As of Tuesday, SB Nation no longer stands alone. The sports site, which has grown from a federation of sports blogs to a prominent network and sports hub, will joined by The Verge, a personal tech site from Joshua Topolsky …

Discussion: AllThingsD, NetNewsCheck Latest, Talking Biz News and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

‘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: Nieman Journalism Lab and Business Insider

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 Associated Press

Discussion: New York Times, The Huffington Post, Jack Shafer, Poynter, St. Petersburg Times, Hot Air, Big Journalism, FiveThirtyEight, Mother Jones, The New Yorker Blog, Mediaite, Iowa Caucuses, Latest Open Salon Blog and Future of Journalism

Joe Flint / Company Town:

DirecTV and News Corp. reach new deal — News Corp. has struck a new deal that will keep its powerful cable and broadcast channels on satellite broadcaster DirecTV. — The two sides had been bickering over a new contract and DirecTV was set to drop more than two dozen News Corp.-owned Fox cable networks …

Discussion: TVNewser, TVWeek.com, rbr.com, Adweek and Broadcasting & Cable

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

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: Business Insider

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 …

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: Free Press, Softpedia News, The Digital Reader and ReadWriteWeb

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 NetNewsCheck Latest

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.

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Huffpo's Brand Is Worth Way More Than AOL's, Study Shows — After AOL acquired the Huffington Post in February, CEO Tim Armstrong had some tough decisions to make regarding which of his company's brands to keep and which to discard in favor of the Huffpo versions.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Future Journalism Project and Nieman Journalism Lab

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

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

HarperCollins' Acquisition Of Thomas Nelson Is An Investment In Digital — HarperCollins is acquiring Christian publisher Thomas Nelson—publisher of the mega-bestselling Heaven Is For Real—for an undisclosed sum in a deal that will be finalized by the end of the year.

Discussion: HarperCollins Publishers, Media Decoder and GalleyCat

Ed Stych / Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal:

Star Tribune expects $4M in extra revenue from paywall — Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal by Ed Stych, Web Producer … The Star Tribune is joining The New York Times and other newspapers by asking readers to start paying for online content. — That content has been free for years …

Discussion: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Gail Shister / TVNewser:

‘Rock Center’ Review: 'It's hard to be different. It's harder to be good' — It's been 20 years since the launch of a successful prime-time newsmagazine, and last night's debut of Brian Williams' “Rock Center” on NBC showed why. — It's hard to be different. It's harder to be good.

Discussion: Mediaite

Paul Tash / St. Petersburg Times:

St. Petersburg Times changing its name to Tampa Bay Times — Since I started here as a reporter in 1978, I have answered my phone with some version of “St. Pete Times.” I will need to learn a new habit. — Starting Jan. 1, this newspaper will become the Tampa Bay Times.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Poynter

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

‘Fast Company’ Launches Site on Innovation — Fast Company, the magazine that writes about entrepreneurs who are on the cutting edge, is putting that content through a “good” filter with a new website launching Nov. 1, at FastCoExist.com. Fast Company says the spinoff will highlight world …

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Biggest Advertiser on Kindle of Late? Amazon — Early Adopting Marketers Like the Results, but Haven't Made Device a Regular Buy — Yet — Almost six months after the first Kindle with Special Offers arrived bearing on-screen ads for national brands such as Buick, Olay and Visa …

Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:

Revealed: Why Techmeme links to them instead of you! — Over time, nearly every major tech news publisher has asked us a variant of “Why do you always post them and not us?” or “Why did you pick them over us for that story when we posted first?” So it's probably time to address this issue in a general way.

Discussion: SiliconFilter, TechCrunch and Trends in the Living Networks, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

New website builds dossiers on journalists, hopes transparency will lead to trust — Ira Stoll is 38. He has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. His phone number is (718) 499-2199 and his email is ira@futureofcapitalism.com. He went to college at Harvard, has worked at the Los Angeles Times …

Discussion: Future Journalism Project

Discussion: Center for Sustainable …, Future of Journalism and The Future of Capitalism