Mediagazer: ‘Scared’ governments pressured Al Jazeera, says former director (Rachel McAthy/Journalism.co.uk)

1:55 PM ET, November 29, 2011

Top News:

Paul McMullan defends Milly Dowler phone hacking — Former News of the World deputy features editor tells Leveson inquiry that hacking of missing teenager's voicemail was ‘honourable’ and done by ‘well-meaning journalists’ — Former News of the World deputy features editor Paul McMullan arrives at the Leveson inquiry today

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Tara Conlan / Guardian:

Jeremy Hunt hints at demise of Press Complaints Commission — Culture secretary says PCC is likely to be replaced by a body better able to enforce accuracy — Newspapers are to likely to come under the auspices of a new regulatory body that is “better at enforcing standards of accuracy” …

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:
Former Daily Star reporter: I was hacked after resigning

Discussion: Guardian and Journalism.co.uk

Guardian:
Police tell former Northern Ireland secretary he may have been targeted by investigators employed by News International

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Robert Dex / The Independent:
Jeremy Hunt: Police ended hack inquiry

Discussion: Press Association

Guardian: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are ‘scum of journalism’, Leveson told

BBC:
Leveson Inquiry: Journalist talks of culture of bullying

Discussion: Guy Fawkes' blog

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

How CNN Landed Herman Cain Interview On New Allegations — NEW YORK — When CNN producers booked Herman Cain on Sunday to appear on “The Situation Room” the following day, they couldnât have expected that the Republican presidential candidate would be on air denying allegations …

Discussion: Iowa Caucuses, TVWeek.com, The Caucus, blogs.thedailybeast.com, CNN, Business Insider and Capital New York

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Media inquiries pushed Ginger White to go forward with story of Cain affair — Aaron Gould Sheinin reports that Ginger White decided to reveal a 13-year affair with presidential candidate Herman Cain — which he denies — because TV and online journalists have been seeking her out.

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Spot.Us becomes part of Public Insight Network — American Public Media has acquired Spot.Us and will integrate it with its crowdsourcing platform Public Insight Network. The two operations “create a media that is more responsive and responsible to the public's needs,” writes Spot.Us founder David Cohn on his blog.

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

Fawkes removes Campbell evidence following order — Political blogger Paul Staines, who runs the Guido Fawkes blog, has taken down a draft of Alastair Campbell's written evidence to the inquiry following a section 19 order from Lord Leveson — Political blogger Paul Staines has removed …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, http://www.Stinkyjournalism … and Guy Fawkes' blog

Andy McSmith / The Independent: Blogger is not likely to reveal source

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Casey Anthony the most searched story of 2011 — Bing has released rankings of its most searched terms this year, and crime and terrorism top the list of news stories, followed by weather and celebrity. The top 10 list: — Casey Anthony Trial — Osama bin Laden Death — Hurricane Irene

Discussion: Journalism.org, FishbowlNY and TVNewser

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

James Murdoch suffers severe loss of support as BSkyB chairman — James Murdoch has suffered a massive loss of support as chairman of BSkyB, with the number of votes cast against him surging from 2pc in 2010 to nearly 19pc at its annual general meeting today.

The Sydney Morning Herald:
BSkyB chairman Murdoch re-elected with 19% opposition

Discussion: Company Town, paidContent:UK, Guardian and Wall Street Journal

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Google launches data journalism awards with GEN — Google announces the new awards programme at #news2011, the first news summit from the Global Editors Network — Google will partner with the Global Editors Network to offer a new data journalism contest aimed at both “established news organisations and newcomers”.

Discussion: Noted

Mattathias Schwartz / New Yorker:

Pre-Occupied: The origins and future of Occupy Wall Street. — Kalle Lasn spends most nights shuffling clippings into a binder of plastic sleeves, each of which represents one page of an issue of Adbusters, a bimonthly magazine that he founded and edits. It is a tactile process …

Discussion: The New York Observer, GalleyCat, The Huffington Post, Capital New York, Media Decoder and New York Times

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

‘Scared’ governments pressured Al Jazeera, says former director — Wadah Khanfar tells the Global Editors Network summit governments across the Arab world feared of ‘ramifications’ in their own countries after Egypt's uprising reached the media — Khanfar described the technical pressures faced …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Emma Barnett / Telegraph:

British Library newspaper archive puts 300 years of history online — Sixty-five million historic newspaper articles, covering the most significant events over the last 300 years, are now fully available online from today in a new archive created by the British Library.

Discussion: Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

FT journalists to ballot on industrial action over 2% pay rise — Journalists at the Financial Times have voted to ballot for industrial action after rejecting a 2 per cent pay rise. — The NUJ chapel is also opposing alleged threats to collective pay negotiation, and claimed the mood among …

Discussion: Guardian and Jon Slattery

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Analyst: Pay TV Industry to Lose 200,000 Subscribers in 2012 … NEW YORK - “It's About Cord-Avoiders and Cord-Nevers, Not Cord-Cutters.” — That's how Credit Suisse analyst Stefan Anninger summarized continuing weak pay TV subscriber trends in a Monday report that he compiled with several colleagues.

Discussion: Lost Remote

Nadia Damouni / Reuters:

Exclusive: THL eyes buyout of Yahoo's U.S. business — (Reuters) - Thomas H. Lee Partners is interested in buying the U.S. operations of Yahoo Inc, breaking away from other bidders that are for now eyeing either a minority stake or teaming up with the Internet giant's partners in Asia, sources familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: Online Video News, DealBook and CNET News