Mediagazer: Sarah Palin slams Newsweek for giving ‘conspiracy kook writer’ Andrew Sullivan cover story (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo! News)

2:10 PM ET, January 18, 2012

Top News:

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Huffington Post Set to Launch Live Web TV ‘Network’ — Arianna Huffington has made no secret of her ambition to build a news organization that can rival The New York Times in reach and prestige. But right now, she has her sights set on a different target: CNN.

Discussion: 10,000 Words, TVNewser, mediabistro.com, FishbowlNY, The Jane Dough, The New York Observer and Beet.TV, Thanks:beet_tv

Eric Pfanner / New York Times:

Strauss-Kahn's Wife to Edit Huffington Post in France — PARIS — The Huffington Post has named Anne Sinclair, the wife of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, as editor of its French edition, which it is setting up in partnership with the newspaper Le Monde.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and New York Magazine

Max Colchester / Wall Street Journal:
Le Huffington Post to Launch in France

Discussion: Gawker

Julie Moos / Poynter:

What the SOPA blackout really looks like — Wikipedia and some other large websites are “blacking out” Wednesday to protest legislation that would limit online activities. (Learn more about that legislation in our guide to what journalists need to know about SOPA and PIPA.)

Discussion: New York Times, The Firewall, Street Fight, AllThingsD, Business Insider, The FJP, Media Decoder, @jayrosen_nyu and NYConvergence.com, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

The Story Behind Rupert Murdoch's Rants About Google and SOPA — Like most big entertainment companies, News Corp. supports SOPA and PIPA, the controversial bills aimed at curbing illegal content sharing. Like most big internet companies, Google opposes them.

Discussion: The Next Web and WebProNews

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

In Face Of Protests, Congressmen Begin To Abandon SOPA Ship — In case you haven't noticed, a lot of sites like Reddit and Wikipedia are blacked out today in protest. Google blacked out its logo and is running a huge advertising campaign (including on TechCrunch) to get Internet users to sign petitions and oppose the bills.

Discussion: nytm.org, Omaha World-Herald, The Politico and <a href="newsroom …, more at Techmeme »

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:
Wikipedia Is Dark, But Mobile Site/Apps Stay Bright In SOPA Protest

Discussion: Guardian and @fishbowlny, more at Techmeme »

David Beard / Washington Post:
Wikipedia Blackout: An #altwiki Band-Aid

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Forbes, newsfeed.time.com, GigaOM, The Huffington Post, Poynter, Innovation in College Media, PSFK, Daily Dot, Media Decoder, Digital Trends, Bits, VentureBeat, Guardian and Telegraph, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:
SOPA Rep Blasts Wikipedia Blackout, Says Law To Go Forward In Feb.

Reuters:

News Corp close to settling hacking cases — News International, the British arm of News Corp that includes the now-defunct News of the World, is close to settling many of the high-profile phone-hacking cases brought against it, lawyers for the victims told Reuters on Wednesday.

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Leveson inquiry hears regional newspaper editors face tough ad market

Discussion: Press Gazette

David Folkenflik / NPR: In Britain, Calls To Regulate A Freewheeling Press

Press Gazette:
Scotsman editor tells Leveson of ethical dilemma that ended in suicide

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Press Gazette and @hackinginquiry

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Editors warn of regulation's ‘chilling effect’

Discussion: Press Gazette and The Times

Laura Kusisto / Wall Street Journal:

Chinese Media Aiming High in City — Four major Chinese media companies are expanding their presence in New York City as they lay the groundwork to begin competing on a global stage. — Xinhua, one of the Chinese government's main news outlets and propaganda arms, last year moved …

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Anatomy of an Error: The Bain of CNBC's Existence — After poring over some government documents, CNBC's Eamon Javers reported that Bain & Company, Mitt Romney's former firm, was one of the consulting companies that took part in the auto bailout. Javers' CNBC.com report Thursday seemed …

Discussion: Inside Cable News and Talking Biz News

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

At Atlantic digital, a series of new hires — Bob Cohn, editorial director of Atlantic Digital, announced a handful of new hires this morning, including Jen Doll, who will leave her post at The Village Voice's Runnin' Scared blog to become a senior writer at The Atlantic Wire.

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

A GarageBand for ebooks: Simplifying publishing could mean a flood of new content — It's not just the platform — it's the tools. — That's the line that kept coming to mind this morning as I read this Ars Technica scoop on what Apple has in store for its press event in New York Thursday.

Discussion: paidContent, MediaShift, Forbes, Techland, GigaOM, TeleRead, Business Insider and The FJP, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily: Confessions of a Publisher: “We're in Amazon's Sights and They're Going to Kill Us”

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Half of ProPublica's revenue in 2011 came from sources other than Sandler Foundation — In its new annual report, ProPublica said it has expanded its revenue sources beyond the Sandler Foundation, which provided the initial funding to launch the nonprofit news site.

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Sources: Four More Board Members Will Be Following Yang Out the Door — According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo Co-founder Jerry Yang is just the first shoe to drop in what is shaping up to be what looks like a large exodus of board members from the Silicon Valley Internet company.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Jerry Yang Leaves Yahoo

Discussion: Forbes, CNET, Yahoo! Inc., @karaswisher, Pocket-lint, AdExchanger.com, PandoDaily, MediaNama, Business Insider, Bigmouthmedia Search …, USA Today, GigaOM, Adweek, Future of Journalism, TechCrunch and MediaPost

David Margolick / Vanity Fair:

National Public Rodeo — When most people hear “NPR,” they think Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, Robert Siegel, and for some on the far right, all that is wrong with the mainstream liberal media. But beneath the veneer of the “Minnesota nice,” a simmering battle has been waged …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Corsair

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

The Times Plans Social Sharing Upgrade, Real-Time iPad News — News International's The Times may shed its social media invisibility cloak by letting subscribers gift paywalled articles to friends. — It is also considering introducing micropayments and may add rolling news to mobile editions.

Discussion: News Stash and The Wall Blog