Mediagazer: Elizabeth Spiers and the reinvented New York Observer (Felix Salmon)

11:35 AM ET, February 7, 2012

Top News:

Times admits and apologises for NightJack email hacking — Editor James Harding says he was not told about how 2009 story revealing identity of police officer had been obtained — James Harding: reporting was highly intrusive — The Times has apologised for hacking into a police officer's email account …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Journalism.co.uk

Reuters:

U.S. authorities looking into Murdoch foreign payments — (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are stepping up investigations, including an FBI criminal inquiry, into possible violations by employees of Rupert Murdoch's media empire of a U.S. law banning corrupt payments to foreign officials such as police …

Discussion: Guardian

Henry Clarke Price / @henrycp: “The PCC has not received any formal proposals from these publishers to withdraw from the system in recent years.” (3/3) #leveson

Ross Hawkins / @rosschawkins:
Buscombe at #leveson : FT, Guardian and Mirror threatened to leave PCC because of adverse adjudications

Discussion: @benfenton, @arusbridger and @arusbridger

BBC: Leveson Inquiry: Press watchdog ‘made a scapegoat’

BBC:
Phone hacking: Met police failed to warn victims

Discussion: @byameliahill and @byameliahill

Gordon Rayner / Telegraph: Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre to be recalled to Leveson Inquiry

Lucy Battersby / Sydney Morning Herald:

Video easy: HBO takes a $10m investment in Quickflix — THE US television company HBO is investing $10 million in the Australian entertainment market, taking out a 16 per cent stake in the video subscription service Quickflix. HBO will receive 83.3 million preference shares at 12¢ …

Discussion: Crikey and Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal:

Disney's ABC, Univision Mull News-Channel Launch — Walt Disney Co. and Univision Communications Inc. are in talks to create a new 24-hour cable-news channel that will broadcast in English, in an effort to keep pace with changing demographics among U.S. Hispanics and reach a new audience of English speakers …

Discussion: TVNewser, Gawker, Company Town, Deadline.com, Media Decoder, Inside Cable News, Politico, New York Magazine and Chickaboomer

Dylan Byers / Politico:

The ABC News-Univision game change — The talks between Disney and Univision have set media tongues wagging in anticipation of a new 24-hour news network that would compete with CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, and would likely have major ramifications for the cable news industry and for the national political discourse.

Discussion: TVWeek.com and TVNewser

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:

McClatchy Beats Earnings Predictions, Touts Digital Investments — McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) Company's fourth quarter operating earnings beat analysts' predictions, while the newspaper chain also reported an overall boost from investments in online properties like Cars.com and Apartments.com.

Discussion: The McClatchy Company

Dale Kasler / Sacramento Bee: McClatchy reports higher quarterly profits as signs show revenue slump easing

Kevin Lincoln / Business Insider:

New York Observer Publisher Jared Kushner Might Buy The Dodgers — Jared Kushner — owner and publisher of the New York Observer, son-in-law of Donald Trump — is in the running to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Times reports. — If his bid went through, he would become the youngest owner in the MLB.

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

No Ads, No Madonna But NBC Calls Live Stream A Success — It had never been tried before: a live, legal Internet stream of television's biggest event, the Super Bowl. — Despite some complaints from users, NBC declared it to be a success on Monday and said it would report the total number of streams on Tuesday.

Discussion: Forbes, Fast Company, Streaming Media, Digital Spy, Washington Post, Media Week, mUmBRELLA and Media News

John Koblin / WWD:
Vogue Wins Big With Super Bowl Halftime Show

Discussion: Forbes, Broadcasting & Cable, Fast Company, Multichannel and rbr.com

Richard Deitsch / Sports Illustrated:
Super Bowl XLVI sets viewership records

Discussion: USA Today, Yahoo! News, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, SB Nation St. Louis, TVbytheNumbers and MediaPost

Erin Griffith / PandoDaily:

IAC Trying to Sell Vimeo, Seeking $300M Valuation — Barry Diller's IAC is testing the waters on a partial exit of Vimeo, according to two sources familiar with the situation. The company is hoping to raise a $50 million round of funding in conjunction with a spin off of the hipster online video business.

Discussion: Betabeat

Felix Salmon:

Elizabeth Spiers and the reinvented New York Observer — There are three main reasons that I like entering into bets with people. The first is, simply, that it's fun. The second is that I love to win bets. And the third is that I love to lose them. I don't ever trade the markets …

Discussion: @espiers, bookforum.com, The Corsair and Fimoculous.com

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Morning Brouhaha: Roland Responds — Late last night, CNN Analyst and Washington Watch Host Roland Martin issued a “Final Thoughts” statement on the Super Bowl controversy that has thrown a wet blanket over him for the past 48 hours. In it, he explains that the LGBT community has accused him of supporting violence against gays.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Roland Martin Reports and FishbowlNY

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
At CNN, is homophobia a ‘viewpoint’?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Erik Wemple, Show Tracker, Politico and GLAAD

Rebecca Shapiro / The Huffington Post:
CNN Pundit Under Fire From Gay Rights Groups

Discussion: mediabistro.com, Erik Wemple, Poynter and Politico

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

In latest report, circulation is up for ‘New York,’ ‘New Yorker’ — During a six month period in which the magazine industry continued to see decreases in subscriptions and newsstand sales, New York's hometown glossies still eked out small circulation gains.

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Debunking the “original sin” of online newspapers — Whenever newspaper executives get together to bemoan the fate of their industry, someone inevitably brings up the so-called “original sin” of the online news business — namely, a failure to charge for content when the web was new.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Thanks:@mathewi

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Bay Citizen appoints interim CEO while awaiting word on merger — Chief Technology Officer Brian C. Kelley takes over as CEO of the San Francisco-based nonprofit news site after the former CEO, interim editor-in-chief and founding editor-in-chief all resigned in the last five months.

Discussion: The Bay Citizen and @jayrosen_nyu