Mediagazer: The New York Times Bits Blog Gets a Billboard (Liz Gannes/AllThingsD)

9:50 AM ET, January 19, 2012

Top News:

News of the World publisher settles 19 phone-hacking claims — Actor Jude Law receives highest disclosed payout - £130,000 plus costs - with others including former deputy prime minister John Prescott and MP Chris Bryant receiving between £30,000 and £50,000

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk and @dansabbagh

@tomsymonds:

Jude Law statement read out: phone hacked repeatedly - including on US soil at JFK airport #phonehacking

Discussion: @tomsymonds

Reuters:

Victims say News Corp has admitted hacking coverup — The British newspaper arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has acknowledged to victims that executives covered up the scale of illegal activity by destroying evidence and lying to investigators, victims' lawyers said on Thursday.

Discussion: Guardian

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Phone hacking: News International settles with victims - live — News of the World publisher is close to settling many of the high-profile cases brought against it, say victims' lawyers — 12.00pm: A statement on behalf of Dennis MacShane MP is now being read before court.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Deadline.com and Poynter

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
Phone hacking settlements: full list of who got what

Discussion: Press Gazette and @michaelwolffnyc

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

HuffPo Partners With L'Espresso For 'L'Huffington Post Italy' — The Huffington Post Media Group (NYSE: AOL) is partnering with Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso for the launch this year of an Italian edition, paidContent has learned. The partnership, to be announced today …

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: The Huffington Post, eMedia Vitals, Tubefilter, MediaPost, mediabistro.com, 10,000 Words, WebProNews, FishbowlNY, The Jane Dough, New York Times and TVNewser, Thanks:beet_tv

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

Discussion: Gawker

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Drudge Gets Exclusive, But When Will ABC Air Interview With Marianne Gingrich? — 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: Washington Post, Drudge Report, Politico, Big Journalism, National Review, Gawker, Associated Press, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, The Politico, TVNewser, The Wrap, The Huffington Post, Mother Jones and Guardian

Al Tompkins / Poynter:
ABC to air interview tonight with Gingrich's ex-wife, but why?

Discussion: The Politico, Associated Press and Future of Journalism

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

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

TJ Raphael / Folio:

SOPA and Magazine Media — How will the new proposal affect the glossy magazine industry? — In an attempt to protect copyrighted material, the U.S. Congress has been mulling a proposal to curb access to websites, search engine results and domain names, among other things …

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

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

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

Discussion: paidContent:UK

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Atlantic Tries A Business Site Again; WSJ's Delaney Will Lead Editorial — Nearly two years after Atlantic Media Company suspended plans for a business site, the company is back at it with nothing less that what Justin Smith calls “our most important new launch since The Atlantic Monthly in 1857.”

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Talking Biz News

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

Steve Myers / Poynter:

About 7,300 reporters and editors are among the 1 percent — According to a Times graphic in Sunday's newspaper, 7,282 reporters and editors are in the rarefied circle of the 1 percent. (The interactive version doesn't appear to include this category.) To be included in the graphic …

Discussion: Guardian

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Why Boston.com got into the sports tickets business — When BostonGlobe.com was split off from Boston.com last fall, the most obvious new revenue source was the newspaper site's new paywall. BostonGlobe.com, the new, handsome, straight-laced sibling, got all the attention and the accolades …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

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.

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: Press Gazette, Jon Slattery, The Independent and Press Gazette