Mediagazer: Obama campaign and Des Moines Register: A form of quote approval (Erik Wemple/Washington Post)

2:00 PM ET, October 24, 2012

Top News:

Independent: ‘Senior Mirror figure paid up to £175 for voicemail pin codes’ — The Independent reports today that it is holding evidence that a senior individual at Mirror Group Newspapers regularly paid a private investigator for mobile phone numbers and private pin access codes …

Discussion: The Independent, The Independent, Guardian and @psmith

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Piers Morgan, the ex-editor who once enjoyed talking about hacking — In the light of the civil claims against Trinity Mirror over alleged phone hacking, it is pertinent to revisit the various boasts made by the former Daily Mirror editor, Piers Morgan, about his knowledge of voicemail interceptions.

Cahal Milmo / The Independent:
CNN increasingly twitchy over Piers Morgan's tabloid past as phone hacking scandal spreads to Daily Mirror

Discussion: Business Insider, Reuters and CNN

New York Times:

Mark Thompson Says He Did Not Block BBC Savile Program — Mark Thompson, the former head of the British Broadcasting Corporation who has been drawn into the scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse against the former television personality Jimmy Savile, reiterated in an interview …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Media Decoder, FishbowlNY, Deadline.com, Poynter, Guardian and @rajunarisetti

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

NY Times public editor calls into question incoming CEO Thompson — (Reuters) - The New York Times public editor has questioned whether the newspaper's incoming chief executive, the former BBC head Mark Thompson, is fit to serve as the company's top official as a scandal shakes Britain's most prestigious broadcaster.

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:
Times Must Aggressively Cover Mark Thompson's Role in BBC's Troubles

Discussion: Guardian, @edmundlee, London News, @dansabbagh, @sdkstl, New York Magazine, Media Decoder, Deadline.com, GigaOM, Guardian, @mathewi, Business Insider and The Newspaper Guild

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Barry Diller: ‘Newsweek’ cuts to be as ‘spare’ as possible — Barry Diller and Tina Brown: all bold plunges and ‘mistakes.’ — On this morning's IAC third-quarter earnings call, company chairman Barry Diller addressed last week's bombshell news that Newsweek will eliminate its print edition starting in 2013.

Brent Lang / The Wrap:

IAC Quarterly Earnings Reveals Why Newsweek is Ending Print Run — IAC/InterActiveCorp, the media conglomerate behind web properties like Match.com and About.com, bested Wall Street's expectations Wednesday, as operating profits and revenue jumped during its most recent fiscal quarter.

Discussion: CJR, Forbes and Vanity Fair

Reuters:

Netflix shares drop after it cuts subscriber forecast — (Reuters) - Netflix Inc added fewer U.S. customers than Wall Street expected in the third quarter, forcing the company to roll back its year-end subscriber forecast and sending shares plunging 15 percent.

Erik Gruenwedel / Home Media Magazine:
The Mystery Surrounding Declining Hulu Viewership

Discussion: Radio & Television … and FierceOnlineVideo News

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Netflix Says Amazon Is Gaining and HBO Is Coming

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, Quartz, CNET, Media Decoder, TechCrunch, SeekingAlpha.com, Forbes, TechCrunch, WebProNews and GigaOM

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Rupert Murdoch Offers Twitter Support To WSJ Customer Who Didn't Get Paper Delivered … It's a cliche to say that Twitter allows the everyman to connect with the movers and shakers of the media and entertainment industries. But it's so true! Today's case in point: the humble Edward Barr …

Discussion: @nigelcameron, @yinkawrites and @antderosa

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Obama campaign and Des Moines Register: A form of quote approval — The media news burst of the morning springs from the Web site of the Des Moines Register. The Obama campaign, without comment, released a transcript of an extensive discussion that it held yesterday with Laura Hollingsworth …

Discussion: Politico and The Huffington Post

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
After editor blogs complaint, Obama releases transcript of off-the-record call with Des Moines Register

Discussion: USA Today, Des Moines Register, Gannett Blog and @davidfolkenflik

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Times’ union stages ‘informational’ picket as incoming C.E.O. comes under scrutiny — The fiery 20-month contract battle between unionized New York Times employees and company management appears to be getting hotter every day. — Following a staff walkout several weeks ago …

Discussion: Guardian and New York Times

Jim Romenesko: New York Times union members use Twitter to ‘engage the public’ in contract battle

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

GNM taps Rightster to launch Guardian Select Video, a syndication portal to monetize digital video — Guardian News & Media (GNM), the publisher behind Guardian.co.uk, Guardiannews.com and the Guardian and Observer newspapers, has now announced the launch of Guardian Select Video, in partnership with Rightster.

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph: Guardian moves towards compulsory job cuts

Reuters:

Ecuador concerned for health of Julian Assange — Ecuador is worried about the health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has asked Britain to guarantee him safe passage from its London embassy to hospital if he needs medical treatment, a senior Ecuadorean diplomat said in Moscow.

Discussion: Betabeat

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Exclusive: Fast and Furious whistleblower sues Time Inc. for libel — John Dodson, the special agent who blew the whistle on the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal, is suing Time for libel, POLITICO has learned. — The lawsuit comes in response to a Fortune magazine article published …

James Topham / Reuters:

Amazon joins crowded field with Japan Kindle release — (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc will make Japanese language Kindle e-readers and tablets available next month, as the U.S. online seller joins a slew of e-book makers in trying to win market share in the world's second-biggest publishing market.

Wall Street Journal:

Barnes & Noble Warns of Data Breach — Barnes & Noble Inc. said customers at 63 stores in nine states may have had their credit-card information stolen. — In a statement issued Tuesday evening, the nation's largest bookstore chain said that in September it detected a problem …

Discussion: Barnes & Noble, Inc., New York Times and Gizmodo