Mediagazer: National Public Rodeo (David Margolick/Vanity Fair)

12:45 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: TVNewser, mediabistro.com, Wall Street Journal, 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, New York Magazine and Gawker

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

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: The Firewall, The Official Google Blog, Street Fight, AllThingsD, Business Insider, The FJP, Media Decoder, NYConvergence.com and @jayrosen_nyu, more at Techmeme »

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

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

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

Discussion: Guardian and @fishbowlny

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.

Press Gazette:

Scotsman editor tells Leveson of ethical dilemma that ended in suicide — Scotsman editor John McLellan recalled an interesting anecdote in his written witness statement to the Leveson Inquiry that's certain to cause debate among journalists. — Asked for his thoughts on ethics within …

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

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

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

Discussion: Press Gazette and The Times

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.

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

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: MediaShift, Techland, paidContent, GigaOM, TeleRead, Business Insider, AllThingsD 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.

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Is Politico gaining much insight with Facebook data? — Based on data provided exclusively by Facebook through a new partnership, Politico reports that attacks on Mitt Romney's time with Bain Capital “may be affecting his standing, at least among Facebook users.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
What Politico's Beltway cash cow, its print edition, wants from New York (and what it doesn't)

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Politico, Adweek and Poynter

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:
Politico Comes to New York

Discussion: FishbowlDC, GalleyCat and 10,000 Words

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

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:

Sarah Palin slams Newsweek for giving ‘conspiracy kook writer’ Andrew Sullivan cover story — Like many conservatives, Sarah Palin is up in arms over this week's controversy-baiting Newsweek cover story by Andrew Sullivan, who asks, “Why Are Obama's Critics So Dumb?”

Discussion: The Hollywood Gossip