Mediagazer: James Murdoch quits the boards of Sun and Times (Gideon Spanier/London Evening Standard)

3:15 PM ET, November 23, 2011

Top News:

Gideon Spanier / London Evening Standard:

James Murdoch quits the boards of Sun and Times — James Murdoch has dramatically resigned as a director of the companies that publish The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun. — The surprise move, which has seen Rupert Murdoch's son quit a string of directorships at News International …

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Mediaite, The Wrap, Guardian, Telegraph, ShortFormBlog, Reuters, paidContent:UK, The Next Web, @chrisspyrou, The New York Observer, FishbowlNY, The Staggers, Gawker, Deadline.com, mediabistro.com, The Huffington Post and Business Insider

Nicholas Wapshott / The Daily Beast:

Why James Murdoch Might Never Take Over Rupert's Media Empire — Rupert Murdoch sees James as his last hope of keeping News Corp. under family control, but the younger man may not be able to withstand attacks from shareholders, investors, and members of Parliament, who accuse him of running a mafia racket.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, rbr.com, Press Gazette, Company Town, NetNewsCheck Latest, Telegraph, The Wrap, mnilive.com and BtoB Magazine

Dylan Welch / Sydney Morning Herald:

Investigation of political favours against News Ltd — FEDERAL police are investigating allegations that News Ltd offered a then-serving federal senator a “special relationship” involving favourable coverage if he crossed the floor on a vote of financial interest to the company.

Discussion: Guardian and Media Matters for America

Paul Maley / The Australian:

‘No improper offer’ by News Ltd

Enda Curran / Wall Street Journal: News Ltd. Denies Australian Senator's Claims

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

NI refutes lawyer's claim over ‘hacking lesson’ journalist — Lawyer's written statement removed from Leveson inquiry website after claim about News International executive challenged by the publisher — Evidence given by Mark Lewis, pictured arriving at the Leveson inquiry today …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Daily Mail publisher records operating profit drop of £13m — Results for the past year report that Associated Newspapers' operating profit fell from £89 million in 2010 to £76 million in 2011 — Operating profit for Associated Newspapers fell by £13 million in the past year …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Journalism.co.uk

Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Mail Online Readers Say They Will Pay, But They Won't Be Forced To

Discussion: Daily Mail

Robert Andrews / paidContent: Mail Online Won't Be Profitable Until 2013, As U.S. Investment Drags

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Penguin Restores Library Lending To Kindle, But Not For New E-Books — Penguin is once again making its e-books available to libraries through Kindle, OverDrive reports. New Penguin e-books, however, remain unavailable to libraries on any platform. — OverDrive's statement:

Discussion: The Digital Shift

CNN:

CNN's Stan Case dies in wreck — (CNN) — Stan Case, an anchor for CNN Radio, has died in a car crash in Birmingham, Alabama, a police spokesman said Wednesday. — “Stan was a news anchor for CNN Radio and a mainstay of the network since he joined CNN in 1985,” said Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide.

Discussion: TVNewser

Associated Press: Longtime CNN radio anchor Stan Case killed in car crash in Birmingham, Ala.

Los Angeles Times:

L.A. Times Media Group makes exec changes to focus on new media — Los Angeles Times Media Group tasks four executives with increasing advertising and other revenue from digital and emerging media. — Andrea Nunn, formerly of HBO, takes on the new position of vice president of media …

Discussion: Adweek

BBC:

Ex-NoW reporter Sean Hoare ‘died of natural causes’ — An inquest into the death of former News of the World showbusiness reporter Sean Hoare has found he died of natural causes. — Mr Hoare, 47, who claimed phone hacking was rife at the paper, was found dead at his home in Watford in July.

Chris Hewett / Watford Observer: Phone hacking whistleblower and former News of the World reporter Sean Hoare died of natural causes, inquest told

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Dear Dish Network: Your Spam Makes Me Sad. Please Stop. — I don't know how to say this any other way, so I'll be direct: Please stop with the spam. — I'm talking about crud like this, which you left in the comments of one of my stories: … Now, this pitch, written by “Andrew_K_Anderson …

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

YouTube now serving up 3.5 billion videos a day — YouTube continues to grow the number of videos its viewers watch, with now more than 3.5 billion served up every day. That number wasn't part of any formal release, but was part of a presentation given by YouTube VP of global sales Lucas Watson at the Monaco Media Forum.

Discussion: MediaFile, Online Video News and Editors Weblog, more at Techmeme »

David Bauder / Associated Press:

Brian Williams' newscast outdraws NBC prime time — Some weeks NBC must wish it could start prime time a couple of hours earlier.

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Lovefilm Gets Its Defence In Early: Buys Netflix's Ad Slots — Amazon's Lovefilm has bought up adverts under its rival's business name, as Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) prepares to launch on Lovefilm's home turf early next year. — Lovefilm has bought search keyword ads against searches for the keyword …