Mediagazer: [So, to be demi-official: Rupert Murdoch will give evidence to the #Leveson Inquiry ] (Ben Fenton/@benfenton)

12:25 PM ET, December 20, 2011

Top News:

Ben Fenton / @benfenton:

[So, to be demi-official: Rupert Murdoch will give evidence to the #Leveson Inquiry ]

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:

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: Future of Journalism

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

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

Discussion: Capital New York

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: WebProNews and Guardian

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

Nadira Isayeva / Guardian: Khadzhimurad Kamalov: a death foreseen

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

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, Home Media Magazine, paidContent:UK, CNET News, Softpedia News, Guardian and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

PolitiFact ought to be ashamed of itself — The fact-checking website PolitiFact has announced its “Lie of the Year” for 2011. It made a poor, credibility-killing choice. … This is simply indefensible. Claims that are factually true shouldn't be eligible for a Lie of the Year designation.

Discussion: PolitiFact, Forbes, Forbes, Poynter, The New Republic, Paul Krugman and US Politics

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: Mixed Media

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:
New New York Times Plan: (Digital) World Domination

Discussion: GigaOM, Reuters, St. Petersburg Times, The Wrap, Deal Journal and Poynter

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:
Times Co. Negotiating to Sell Regional Newspapers

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: mediabistro.com, The Atlantic Online, TVNewser, 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

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: CNET News, GigaOM, NetNewsCheck Latest, TechCrunch, Softpedia News and eBookNewser, more at Techmeme »

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

PBS Nabs Roll Call's Bellantoni for Politics Editor — Christina Bellantoni, a Harvard fellow and Roll Call's Associate Politics Editor, is leaving the publication for PBS to be the new Politics Editor for NewsHour. She will continue writing an occasional column for Roll Call.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, TVSpy, UnBeige and SocialTimes.com

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.

Richard Sandomir / The Fifth Down:

NBC Will Stream Super Bowl — Updated NBC announced Tuesday that it will stream Super Bowl XLVI live on Feb. 5 from Indianapolis, as well as its two wild card playoff games on Jan. 7 and the Pro Bowl on Jan. 29. — This is the first time the Super Bowl has been streamed.

Discussion: New York Times

Financial Times:

Vevo sounds upbeat note on cable channel — The record industry is looking to create its own destination for music videos on television, 30 years after a generation said: “I want my MTV!” Vevo, the online music video venture of Sony Music, Vivendi's Universal Music and Abu Dhabi Media Company …

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

CNN Looks to Digital Acquisitions to Gain on Fox — Time Warner Inc. (TWX)'s CNN, the pioneer news network that's fallen behind newcomers Fox News and MSNBC, is looking to acquisitions as part of an effort to regain ground by pushing more programming to tablets and smartphones.

Thanks:beet_tv

Kim Zetter / Threat Level:

Jolt in WikiLeaks Case: Feds Found Manning-Assange Chat Logs on Laptop — A government digital forensic expert examing the computer of accused WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning retrieved communications between Manning and an online chat user identified on Manning's computer as “Julian Assange …

Discussion: PBS