Mediagazer: ‘Paisley family targeted for phone hacking’ (Henry McDonald/Guardian)

5:00 PM ET, November 30, 2011

Top News:

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Pulitzer Prizes change breaking news category to emphasize ‘real-time’ reporting — The Pulitzer Prizes are doing away with paper for next year's awards. All entries must be submitted digitally. The Pulitzer Board is also changing the local breaking news award to emphasize real-time reporting.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and The News About The News

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Could Pulitzer changes mean an award for live-tweeting? — Are we closing in on a Pulitzer Prize for tweets? — Today the Pulitzer Prize board announced changes to the awards competition, with the headline being: Pulitzers will now require entries to be submitted digitally …

Discussion: Columbia University …

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Warren Buffett buys his hometown paper, the Omaha World-Herald — Billionaire Warren Buffett warned investors two years ago that newspapers faced “the possibility of nearly unending losses” and not to buy them. Today, his company has purchased his hometown paper, the Omaha World-Herald.

Discussion: Forbes, Omaha World-Herald and Media Decoder

Omaha World-Herald:

Buffett to buy The World-Herald — The Berkshire Hathaway company has agreed to purchase The Omaha World-Herald Co. from its employee shareholders and the Peter Kiewit Foundation. The transaction is expected to close in late December, pending approval of The World-Herald's shareholders …

Discussion: Gawker, CNBC and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

How news orgs are reaching millions through Facebook's new apps — It has been over two months since Facebook announced a new class of social news applications — ones that automatically share links to everything a person reads. Now we are learning more about the readership …

Discussion: The News About The News, The Wall Blog, currybetdotnet and Facebook Developer Blog

Sarah Marshall / Journalism.co.uk:

Guardian's Facebook app delivering 1m extra hits a day — The Guardian's Facebook app is generating almost a million extra page impressions per day, according to figures released by the news outlet and by Facebook. — Two months on from its launch at Facebook's f8 conference in London …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, The Next Web, Guardian and Facebook Developer Blog

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Parenting Fills Facebook's Most Shared Articles of 2011 List

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, 10,000 Words, Editors Weblog, Lost Remote, New York Press, Future of Journalism, Yahoo! News and Gawker

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

Warner Said to Pick New Head of Time Inc. Magazine Unit — Time Warner Inc. has selected the head of a digital advertising firm to run its Time Inc. magazine unit, according to people with knowledge of the hiring. — The company is expected to announce later Wednesday that Laura Lang …

Discussion: AdAge, Publishing Executive …, Media & Entertainment and WWD Media Headlines

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Digitas CEO Laura Lang To Head Time Inc. — Nine months after he fired Jack Griffin, Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes has finally filled the most prominent empty chair at the media company, appointing Laura Lang, CEO of Digitas since 2008, as CEO of Time Inc. Once again …

Discussion: AdAge, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Adweek and The New York Observer

Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

Media Choreography and the Occupy LA Raid — During the Los Angeles Police Department's forcible removal of the Occupy LA protest last night, they chose 12 reporters and photographers to represent the media as a whole. * This is called a “media pool” — and it used to be a fairly time-honored …

Discussion: LAist, The Informer and The FJP

Simone Wilson / LA Weekly:
Occupy L.A. Eviction: Is LAPD Restricting Coverage With Last-Minute ‘Pool Media’?

Discussion: New York Times, The Informer, L.A. NOW, Runnin' Scared, BAGnewsNotes, LAist and The Huffington Post

Ruth Fowler / Huffington Post UK: LAPD Made Sure The Whole World Ain't Watching

Henry McDonald / Guardian:

‘Paisley family targeted for phone hacking’ — Northern Ireland MP says he met police from Operation Weeting who are investigating whether he and his father were hacked — One of Northern Ireland's best-known political families believes they were a victim of phone hacking …

Discussion: Guardian and Irish Independent News

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Alastair Campbell: phone hacking may have revealed Cherie Blair's pregnancy

Discussion: Guardian

Telegraph:
Leveson Inquiry: ‘News International tried to destroy my life,’ hacking lawyer claims

Discussion: Reuters and Press Association

Ben Fritz / LA Times:

Paramount Pictures sued by financing partner for fraud — This post has been updated. See note below for details. — Paramount Pictures withheld profit from such hit movies as “Mission: Impossible 3,” “Jackass 2” and the “Transformers” trilogy, according to a lawsuit filed …

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

BBC World News channel taken off air in Pakistan — The BBC has said that it is ‘deeply concerned’ by Pakistan's decision to block its World News channel — The BBC World News channel has been blocked across Pakistan after it broadcast a documentary deemed to be critical of the country.

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, BBC and Journalism.co.uk

Guardian:

Woman arrested in hacking investigation — Operation Weeting detectives have arrested a 31-year-old woman in connection with phone hacking at News International — Detectives investigating phone hacking at News International have arrested a 31-year-old woman.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Press Gazette and @skymartinbrunt

Martinbrunt / @skymartinbrunt: Bethany Usher, 31, now lectures in journalism at Teeside University. Worked at News of the World 2006 to 2007 in Manchester

Matt Rosoff / MattyDread:

On slideshows... I'm flattered MG Siegler would take the time to single out one of my slideshows for SAI as being interesting enough to read, but annoying when formatted as a slide show. — So. A few ideas to think about. — Bad slideshows are horrible, agreed.

Discussion: @erickschonfeld and parislemon

MG Siegler / parislemon:
ANNOYING: The Article As A Slideshow

Discussion: Business Insider and @mattrosoff

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Magazines Pull Back on Tablet Bells and Whistles — When the iPad launched, magazines rushed to shovel expensive rich-media features into their tablet editions. But now that they have to create editions for the new Kindle Fire and Nook Color and their ilk, some are downplaying the need for often-expensive enhancements.

Discussion: newsplexer, Editors Weblog, Garcia Media, Macworld, eMedia Vitals, magCulture.com/blog and FishbowlNY

Jim Romenesko:

USA Today begins search for editor-in-chief — USA Today editor John Hillkirk has been moved to senior editor for investigative journalism and national enterprise reporting. “We will begin a national search immediately for an Editor-in-Chief for USA TODAY,” says a memo.

Discussion: Poynter and Gannett Blog

Bloomberg:

Silver Lake Bids $16.60 a Share for Yahoo Stake — A group of investors led by private- equity firm Silver Lake offered to buy a minority stake in Yahoo! Inc (YHOO). for about $16.60 a share, according to people with knowledge of the matter. — That was lower than an offer …

Discussion: GeekWire, The Next Web, Wall Street Journal, CNET News, Deadline.com, Seattle Times, Forbes and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

New York Times overhauls comment system, grants privileges to trusted readers — The New York Times rolls out a new commenting system today that spotlights reader contributions and grants special privileges to some. — The Times will invite any reader whose comments are consistently approved …

Reuters:

ESPN's Skipper talks NBA, Penn State scandal — Sports fans will set aside their outrage over two college sex abuse scandals along with frustration over labor unrest in the NBA, and keep watching games, ESPN's incoming president told Reuters on Monday.