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

3:25 AM ET, January 19, 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: nytm.org, Publishing Executive …, MediaShift, GigaOM, Forbes, The Politico, TorrentFreak, Digital Trends, Omaha World-Herald, Home Media Magazine, Facebook, Media & Entertainment, Threat Level, 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 and The Next Web

TJ Raphael / Folio:
SOPA and Magazine Media

Discussion: BBC, White House.gov Blog and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: paidContent:UK

Julie Moos / Poynter:
What the SOPA blackout really looks like

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

Discussion: INFOdocket, The Week, @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: paidContent, Tubefilter, MediaPost, mediabistro.com, WebProNews, 10,000 Words, TVNewser, The Jane Dough, FishbowlNY, 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

Discussion: FishbowlNY

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

Discussion: Gawker

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: AllThingsD and Poynter

Jack Shafer / Reuters:

WikiLeaks' 16th minute — This piece originally appeared in Reuters Magazine, a special edition publication ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. — In late October, a deflated Julian Assange called a press conference in London to announce he may have to mothball WikiLeaks.

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

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

The New York Times Bits Blog Gets a Billboard — Competition in the technoblogoverse just got a little fiercer! The New York Times Bits technology blog now has its very own billboard on Highway 101. — Specifically, the billboard is on 101 southbound in South San Francisco, just north of SFO.

Discussion: Forbes

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

No More New Penguin Digital Audiobooks For Libraries, Either — Hoping to skirt Penguin's library e-book restrictions by checking out a hot new title as a digital audiobook instead? Sorry, that strategy will no longer work as Penguin changed its library policies again today.

Discussion: The Digital Shift, TeleRead and INFOdocket

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

Discussion: CNBC and TVNewser

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: Jon Slattery, The Independent and Press Gazette

Reuters:
News Corp close to settling hacking cases

Discussion: NPR

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

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

paidContent:

Why Amazon's Plagiarism Problem Is More Than A Public Relations Issue — Plagiarized editions for sale in Amazon's Kindle store show how the company is still adapting to the world of original content creation. At the same time, the stolen books may also present a test of the retailer's ability …

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:
A GarageBand for ebooks: Simplifying publishing could mean a flood of new content

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, MediaShift, Techland, GigaOM, AllThingsD, TeleRead and PandoDaily

Maurice Chammah / The Huffington Post:

Journalism in Egypt: A Very Quick Guide — January 25th 2012, the first anniversary of the Egyptian uprisings that brought down Mubarak, is approaching quickly. When it comes, the news will arrive fast and fragmented from Tahrir, as it has every time big numbers return to the square.

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Drudge Throws Political World Into Chaos With Exclusive On Gingrich Ex Interview — Earlier this evening, the Drudge Report teased an exclusive with the single most vague headline in modern journalism history: “Network Holds Bombshell Campaign Interview.” Accompanied with the legendary …

Discussion: 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Drudge Report, Gawker, Associated Press, The Politico, TVNewser, The Wrap, Guardian and The Huffington Post

Felix Salmon:

Will fact-checking go the way of blogs? — Lucas Graves has by far the best and most sophisticated response to NYT ombudsman Arthur Brisbane's silly question about “truth vigilantes”. — Graves makes the important point that Brisbane's “objective and fair” formulation is itself problematic …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, Poynter, The Huffington Post and The Atlantic Online

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

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

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

‘The Week’ Snags 'Men's Journal' Publisher Michael Wolfe is leaving Wenner Media By Lucia Moses — There's been a change at the top for The Week, Felix Dennis' small but well-regarded news digest. Men's Journal publisher Michael Wolfe is leaving Wenner Media for the same position at The Week.