Mediagazer: In Face Of Protests, Congressmen Begin To Abandon SOPA Ship (Erick Schonfeld/TechCrunch)

8:25 PM ET, January 18, 2012

Top News:

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: MediaShift, nytm.org, Forbes, The Politico, Omaha World-Herald, GigaOM, Media & Entertainment, Home Media Magazine, Digital Trends, Facebook, Threat Level, VatorNews, Hillicon Valley, PandoDaily, CNET and Newsweek, 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: Media Matters for America, PSFK, Business Insider, The Next Web and Guardian, 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.)

TJ Raphael / Folio:
SOPA and Magazine Media

Discussion: White House.gov Blog, Bits and GigaOM, more at Techmeme »

Arianna Huffington / @ariannahuff: There's one Wikipedia page that isn't blacked out today: #SOPA http://t.co/8KYmwFA2

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

Discussion: INFOdocket, Guardian, @fishbowlny and paidContent

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: LA Observed, The Wrap, MediaPost, TVNewser, Tubefilter, NetNewsCheck Latest, mediabistro.com, WebProNews, The Jane Dough, FishbowlNY, 10,000 Words, 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

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: Multichannel, AdAge, Media Matters for America, Talking Biz News and Inside Cable News

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

How CNBC corrected its incorrect correction about Bain & Company — Last Thursday, CNBC Washington correspondent Eamon Javers published a report stating Bain & Company (of Mitt Romney fame) was consulted by Obama administration officials working on the auto bailout.

Discussion: TVNewser and CNBC

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 …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Leveson inquiry hears regional newspaper editors face tough ad market — Advertising in local papers has almost halved in five years, says editor of South Wales Evening Post — Advertising in regional newspapers has almost halved over the past five years, the editor of the South Wales Evening Post has told the Leveson inquiry.

Discussion: The Independent and Press Gazette

Reuters: News Corp close to settling hacking cases

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

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

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

Michael Hastings / Rolling Stone:

Julian Assange: The Rolling Stone Interview — Under house arrest in England, the WikiLeaks founder opens up about his battle with the ‘Times,’ his stint in solitary and the future of journalism — It's a few days before Christmas, and Julian Assange has just finished moving to a new hide-out deep in the English countryside.

Discussion: Poynter

Jack Shafer / Reuters: WikiLeaks' 16th minute

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.

Discussion: FishbowlDC

Megan Garber / The Atlantic Online:

When a Web Community Becomes a Book Publisher — Longreads crowdsources and curates its way to its first-ever ebook. — At the end of last year, Longreads, one of the curators of lengthy, magazine-y stories that has sprung up to help fans of long-form journalism find great stuff online …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

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.

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

On TV, Antipiracy Coverage May Include a Disclosure — As television networks have covered Internet companies' positions against antipiracy legislation before Congress this week, they have had to consider whether to disclose the positions of their parent companies — virtually all of which have campaigned in favor of it.

Discussion: TVNewser