Mediagazer: News Corp., Gascoigne Close to Settling Phone-Hacking Lawsuit (Erik Larson/Bloomberg)

1:55 PM ET, December 20, 2011

Top News:

Piers Morgan ‘unaware of phone hacking’ — Former tabloid newspaper editor Piers Morgan today told an inquiry into press standards that he was unaware of any phone hacking when in charge at the Daily Mirror. And Mr Morgan said he had not been “directly involved” in the use of private investigators at the Daily Mirror.

The Sydney Morning Herald:

Piers Morgan quiet on McCartney voicemail — CNN star interviewer Piers Morgan has refused to disclose details about the most damning links between himself and Britain's phone hacking scandal - his acknowledgment that he once listened to a phone message left by Paul McCartney for his then-wife Heather Mills.

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Piers Morgan Attacks Critics, Calls Accuser Insane at Ethics Hearing — Piers Morgan is tired of people trying to tie him to the phone-hacking scandal consuming the U.K. journalism industry. On Tuesday, during live video testimony to the British government's Leveson Inquiry on press ethics …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Broadcasting & Cable

Guardian:

Bradley Manning hearing - live updates — • Pre-trial military hearing enters its fifth day in Maryland — • Prosecutors say evidence links Manning to Julian Assange — • At Forte Meade: Dominic Rushe (DR) and Matt Williams (MW) — • At the Guardian in New York: Adam Gabbatt

Kim Zetter / Threat Level:
Jolt in WikiLeaks Case: Feds Found Manning-Assange Chat Logs on Laptop

Discussion: PBS, Guardian and Threat Level

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Leveson inquiry: Rupert Murdoch could be called — News Corporation chairman and chief executive could give evidence before the inquiry early next year — Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, may be called to give evidence before the Leveson inquiry into ethics and standards in press.

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

News of the World publisher settles seven phone-hacking claims — Claims by Mark Oaten, Ulrika Jonsson, Abi Titmuss, Michelle Milburn, Paul Dadge, James Hewitt and Calum Best settled — News International said it had settled seven privacy claims against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the now-defunct News of the World.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Guardian and Journalism.co.uk

Erik Larson / Bloomberg: News Corp., Gascoigne Close to Settling Phone-Hacking Lawsuit

Ira Stoll / The Future of Capitalism:

The Times Shell Game — The New York Observer's Foster Kamer has a dispatch about how the New York Times has “bought out” several of its veteran employees, while retaining them as “contractors” to do the same jobs they were doing before. It quotes an email from Times staffer-turned-contractor Diana B. Henriques:

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: Katy Roberts, Jody Alesandro to leave ‘Times’ in buyout scheme

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:
More NYT Buyouts: Diana B. Henriques, Eric Dash, Bob Harris, and The Reporter Who Didn't Get One

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, New York Post, WWD and Future of Journalism

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:
Goodbye, Gray Lady: New York Times Legends Take Buyouts, Internal Tributes Follow in Suit

Discussion: mediabistro.com, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Capital New York

Brian Beutler / TPM:

Ryan's Plan Still Ends Medicare Even If Politifact Rates That As A Lie — Ryan's Plan Still Ends Medicare Even If PolitiFact Rates That As A Lie — Here's a long, sad story about how Democrats' basically true claim that House Republicans voted to end Medicare ended up “winning” …

Discussion: Slate, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Forbes, PolitiFact and Forbes

Joel Simon / Committee to Protect Journalists:

Journalists killed: Inside the numbers — CPJ today released its annual tally of the journalists killed around the world. This is always a somber occasion for us as we chronicle the grim toll, remember friends who have been lost, and recommit ourselves to justice.

Discussion: The Next Web, WebProNews and Guardian

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk: Record number of journalists killed on ‘dangerous assignments’

Nadira Isayeva / Guardian: Khadzhimurad Kamalov: a death foreseen

Paul Lamkin / Pocket-lint:

Netflix signs up BBC for UK launch — Auntie on board for streaming fun — Netflix has snapped up a digital licensing agreement with BBC Worldwide ahead of its arrival in the United Kingdom and Ireland, meaning access to the wealth of Beeb goodies. — The deal means shows such as Spooks …

Discussion: VentureBeat, The Wrap, Home Media Magazine, Forbes, paidContent, CNET News, Softpedia News, Guardian and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

Publishing Insider Tipped Law Firms About E-Book Price Fixing Conspiracy — The decision by major publishers to strike a pricing deal with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has been the source of speculation and several antitrust investigations. Now, a new court filing suggests someone inside the industry …

Discussion: TeleRead

Greg Jarboe / Search Engine Watch:

Hulu Grew Audience by 23% Year on Year — Late last week, comScore Video Metrix released its November 2011 U.S. Online Video Rankings. The data showed that 183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content that month for an average of 20.5 hours per viewer.

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

Millennial Media Says Kindle Fire Impressions Growing 19 Percent Each Day — We still don't have any exact figures from Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) for how many Kindle Fire tablets it has sold, but the latest figures out from mobile ad network Millennial Media are the latest to suggest that it is selling very well …

Discussion: Adweek, GigaOM, TechCrunch, CNET News, Softpedia News and eBookNewser, more at Techmeme »

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

On Word of Kim's Death, a Varied Response on Cable News — Rarely are the contrasts between CNN, the Fox News Channel and MSNBC as visible as they are on nights like Sunday, when the death of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il was reported. — CNN, which is best known for its news credentials …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, mediabistro.com, TVNewser, CJR, The Boston Globe, Poynter, New York Times and The Lede

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:
Newspapers in Europe cover death of Vaclav Havel, not Kim Jong-Il

Discussion: Inside

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Sale of New York Times regional newspapers a sign of increased dealmaking in industry — The New York Times Co.'s clutch of 16 midsized and small newspapers was a relic of the prosperous pre-digital days of the 1980s and 1990s. Back then, the very comfortable margins at these properties …

Discussion: St. Petersburg Times, rbr.com and WWD Media Headlines