Mediagazer: DirecTV Plans to Cut Back on Spending, Hiring to Prepare for Any Slowdown (Alex Sherman/Bloomberg)

5:00 AM ET, November 22, 2011

Top News:

Leveson inquiry: Steve Coogan gives evidence on phone hacking - live — Live coverage as the comedian joins Elle Macpherson's adviser, Mary-Ellen Field, and footballer Garry Flitcroft in giving evidence — 9.53am: Here are profiles of today's witnesses: — Steve Coogan

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

Mail titles hit back at Grant over ‘mendacious smears’ — Mail on Sunday denies claims by actor Hugh Grant that it hacked his phone in 2007, calling his allegations ‘mendacious smears driven by a hatred of the media’ — Hugh Grant arrives at the Leveson inquiry today alongside his lawyer David Sherbourne

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Company Town, Guardian, Gawker, The New Yorker Blog, Journalism.co.uk, Digital Spy and Big News Network.com

George Eaton / New Statesman:

Hugh Grant's 10 myths of tabloid journalism — How the actor rebutted the tabloids at the Leveson inquiry. — Hugh Grant was denied the opportunity to read out his full witness statement at the Leveson inquiry this afternoon. But towards the end of the session, he was given the chance …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, The Staggers, Future of Journalism, Erik Wemple, Media Decoder and ShortFormBlog

Mimi Turner / Hollywood Reporter:
Hugh Grant Accuses ‘The Mail on Sunday’ of Phone Hacking

Discussion: @jemima_khan, Future of Journalism, @joelmgunter, @mrnickclark and Guardian

James Robinson / Guardian:
Phone-hacking victims must not launch ‘witch-hunt’, says News International

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Daily Mail: News of the World journalists' computers were destroyed by ‘putting them through a grinder and smashing them up’

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Three Years Later, the Guardian Wants a Buyer for PaidContent — Three years after buying PaidContent, the Guardian Media Group has put the New York-based media news site and its parent company ContentNext on the block. — The British newspaper publisher has hired boutique bank Coady Diemar Partners to market the company.

Discussion: Jon Slattery, paidContent:UK, The Wall Blog, VentureBeat, @edmundlee and @rafat

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Times’ goes after young talent at Huffington Post — Over the past year and change, The Huffington Post has added a small collection of veteran editors and reporters from The New York Times to its masthead. — Lately, however, the Times has exhibited a tendency to pluck off some of HuffPost's younger staff.

Vanessa Grigoriadis / New York Magazine:

Maharishi Arianna — Atop AOL, hiring and borrowing freely from the old media, a new age news guru is building her grandest temple yet. — On a recent Sunday afternoon, Arianna Huffington, the 61-year-old editorial director of the newly merged AOL-Huffington Post …

Discussion: Mixed Media, The Daily Caller, LA Observed, Poynter, FishbowlNY, Business Insider and The New York Observer, more at Techmeme »

Steve Myers / Poynter:

NBC News announces changes to technology, social media staff — John Keegan, the new director of technology for NBC News, comes from Fox News. Bonnie Optekman becomes vice president for emerging technologies, overseeing delivery of NBC News television content on different platforms.

Discussion: Inside Cable News

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

iPad Magazine Readers to Publishers: More, Please — After an initial wave of excitement about iPad magazines, some publishers have dialed back their enthusiasm. But the readers who have actually downloaded them like them quite a bit. — So says a survey commissioned by a publishers' trade group …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Poynter, MediaPost, Epicenter, Electronista, paidContent, TUAW, mocoNews, Publishing Executive News, BtoB Magazine, Future of Journalism, Fast Company and FT Tech Hub

David Freedlander / PolitickerNY:

In Light of ‘Occupy’ Arrests, New Group ‘To Monitor NYPD/Press Relations’ — The New York Press Club announced on their website this afternoon that they were forming “The Coalition for the First Amendment,” along with other local media groups in order to monitor relations between the NYPD and the press.

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Capital New York

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

Alleged WikiLeaks Source Bradley Manning Has A Court Date: 569 Days After His Arrest — One year, six months, and three weeks after he was first jailed in a military brig in Kuwait, alleged WikiLeaks leaker Bradley Manning will have his day in court: According to a blog post Monday …

Discussion: The Law Office …, Media Decoder, VentureBeat, Bradley Manning Support …, Guardian, New York Magazine, Boing Boing and Gawker

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Luke Russert Makes MSNBC Anchoring Debut — Viewers of MSNBC's “Daily Rundown” this morning may have noticed a new face behind the anchor chair. — Correspondent Luke Russert, who typically wanders the halls of Congress for the network, made his anchoring debut this morning, in place of a vacationing Chuck Todd.

Discussion: TVWeek.com and FishbowlDC

Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:

Rupert Murdoch sells A shares, but still in control — News Corp Chief Executive and Chairman Rupert Murdoch sold off the bulk of his common shareholding according to a regulatory filing but, have no fear the 80 year-old mogul is still very much in charge both in terms of management and financial control.

Discussion: Media Decoder, FishbowlNY and New York Magazine

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

Sarah Palin Got Scolded by Roger Ailes for Not Announcing Her Non-Candidacy on Fox News — Sarah Palin's announcement that she wouldn't run for president disappointed her legions of admirers — but it infuriated Roger Ailes. The Fox News chief wasn't angry about the decision itself.

Discussion: Inside Cable News