Mediagazer: Clear Channel to Invest in Company Run by TV's ‘Idol’ Host (Brian Stelter/New York Times)

1:00 PM ET, January 31, 2012

Top News:

Richard Huff / NY Daily News:

Fox News Channel set to make ratings milestone with 10 years atop the Nielsen charts — Shepard Smith says the station can stay No. 1 as long as it takes care of its product — Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith. — Amid the day-long coverage of the Florida primary vote Tuesday …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TVNewser, Inside Cable News and Media Buyer Planner

Nikhil Pahwa / MediaNama:

Amazon To Launch In India As Junglee.com — MediaNama has learned from multiple, reliable sources that Amazon is launching in India as Junglee.com. At the time of writing this report, Junglee.com doesn't load, but sources in at least two Amazon partners have confirmed the development.

Discussion: WebProNews

Kevin Lincoln / Business Insider:

One Of Demand Media's Founders Left With An Amusingly Slim Payout — On Monday afternoon, news got out that Demand Media was parting ways with three of its founders and EVPs at once — though the timing, they said, was “just coincidence.” — According to SEC filings by the company …

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:UK:
All Change At Content Farm Demand Media: Three Of The Founders Are Out

Discussion: The Wrap

Ben Fenton / Financial Times:

New Sunday newspaper on hold after Sun arrests — Plans for a new Sunday newspaper to replace the News of the World have been put on hold after the arrest of four senior journalists from its sister paper, The Sun, according to three senior insiders. The plans, known as Project X …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, @dansabbagh, @dansabbagh, @dansabbagh, Press Gazette and Guardian

Matthew Holehouse / Telegraph: Leveson Inquiry: state regulation of the press “offensive”, says Sir Christopher Meyer

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Clear Channel to Invest in Company Run by TV's ‘Idol’ Host — Ryan Seacrest, who already is a host, producer and spokesman for Clear Channel, will soon be an investment partner as well. — On Tuesday, the radio conglomerate is expected to announce its acquisition of a minority stake …

Discussion: TVWeek.com, Media Buyer Planner and Company Town

Meena Hart Duerson / NY Daily News:

Facebook Subscribe exposes journalists to spam, pornography, some users complain — Some women say they are overwhelmed by inappropriate content — Journalists have begun to voice complaints about Facebook's Subscribe feature. — When the Travel Channel's Nisha Chittal launched …

Jonathan Browning / Bloomberg:

BSkyB to Start Movie Service Rivaling Netflix — British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY) will start an Internet-television service to gain new customers outside its traditional satellite offering after winning fewer TV clients in the second quarter than estimated.

Discussion: Online Video News and paidContent, more at Techmeme »

Robert Andrews / paidContent:
As Sky Growth Slows, Can Internet Defend It From Downturn And New Rivals?

Discussion: Pocket-lint, Hollywood Reporter and Softpedia News

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Sorry Dick, but Twitter is definitely a media entity — At the Dive Into Media conference on Monday, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said that the company doesn't see itself as a media entity, although he admitted that it is in the media business. It's not surprising that Twitter wouldn't want to come right …

Discussion: Forbes and AllThingsD

Dara Kerr / CNET:
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo talks censorship

Discussion: AllThingsD, The Wall Blog and GigaOM

Barry Leibowitz / CBS News:

Backpage.com targeted by Wash. lawmakers over escort ads, child sex trade — (CBS/AP) OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington state lawmakers on Friday heard impassioned pleas to clamp down on classified-advertising companies that don't require ID, before allowing sex-related ads to be posted online.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

BuzzFeed Bulks Up Again, With a Tech Section Run by Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan — Do we need more Web sites writing about tech? Yes, yes we do. — Which is good, because here's another one: BuzzFeed, the online publishing start-up that's the toast of people who like to write …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Patriot-News submits Sara Ganim's Penn State sex abuse reporting for Pulitzer — Daily News columnist John Baer reports that The Patriot-News has submitted Sara Ganim's stories about the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse allegations for a Pulitzer Prize. (The deadline to enter was last week.)

Discussion: South Bend Tribune

Anita Singh / Telegraph:

Jonathan Franzen: e-books are damaging society — Jonathan Franzen has launched a passionate defence of the printed book, warning that our desire for the instant gratification of e-books is damaging for society. — Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom, is being hailed as one of America's greatest novelists

Discussion: Techland, The Book Bench, The Vook Blog, CNET, Guardian, Runnin' Scared, Slate, GalleyCat, The Daily Weekly, Jacket Copy and eBookNewser

Lance Ulanoff / Mashable!:
Jonathan Franzen Is Wrong: Ebooks Are Good for Everyone

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Sarah Maslin Nir / The Caucus:

Colbert's Super PAC Raises More Than $1 Million — Stephen Colbert's quasi-satirical presidential bid has raised serious cash — over $1 million, as of Tuesday morning, the comedian announced. — An announcement on the Web site of Mr. Colbert's political action committee said the “super PAC” …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The New York Observer, Media Decoder, KPLU News for Seattle …, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller, newsfeed.time.com and Guardian

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Is it good for journalism when sources go direct? — In a piece in the New York Times on the weekend, media writer David Carr took a look at News Corp. billionaire Rupert Murdoch's use of Twitter, and how the media mogul has used it as both a bully pulpit and a soapbox.

Discussion: blogs.forbes.com/peterhimler, Mixed Media, Erik Wemple, Future of Journalism, The Verge, Media Decoder and New York Times, Thanks:@ak2webd3

Guardian:

Julian Assange to appear on The Simpsons — The WikiLeaks founder will play himself in the show's 500th episode, which airs on 19 February — Julian Assange will be a guest character and voice on The Simpsons, playing a neighbour of the family after they move from their home in fictional Springfield.

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Google Set To Relaunch OnePass, Halting French Papers' Kiosk — paidContent understands Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is set to make some big first-anniversary upgrades to its OnePass paid content system in the next few weeks, designed to increase slow take-up among publishers.

Discussion: Future of Journalism