Mediagazer: Mirror hacking probe names six reporters (Margareta Pagano/The Independent)

12:30 PM ET, October 29, 2012

Top News:

Charlie Osborne / CNET:

New York Times, Wall Street Journal shed paywalls for Hurricane Sandy — As people go online to get more information on Hurricane Sandy, news outlets are responding by making their content free. — Two major publications have stripped away their paywalls to give consumers unfettered access …

Discussion: TVNewser, Poynter, Speakeasy, Mediaite, New York Post, The Huffington Post, Journalism.co.uk, Forbes, Yahoo! News, The Wrap, MediaShift, Gawker, Betabeat, PC Magazine and VentureBeat

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Hurricane Sandy Media Coverage Competes With Final Week Of 2012 Election — NEW YORK — On Monday, CNN plans to kick off its end-of-the-election series, “The Final Battlegrounds,” with over two-dozen correspondents dispatched across eight pivotal states for the 2012 campaign's eight remaining days.

Discussion: Capital New York, Broadcasting & Cable, mediabistro.com, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM, SocialTimes, Mashable! and TVSpy

Media Decoder:

Times Reaches Tentative Deal With Newspaper Guild — The New York Times said Sunday night that it had reached a tentative agreement with the Newspaper Guild, setting the stage for a new labor contract after more than 18 months of negotiations. — In a message to the staff, the executive editor …

Discussion: nyguild.org, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, mediabistro.com, Poynter, New York Magazine and Politico

Jim Romenesko:

New York Times and union reach ‘conceptual agreement’ on 5-year contract — Newspaper Guild of New York president Bill O'Meara sends this email: The Guild and The Times have reached conceptual agreement on a new five-year contract. The tentative compromise reached late today with the aid …

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Penguin revenues declined in 2012, says Pearson — Pearson's confirmation that it is offloading Penguin comes as it revealed that the book publisher's revenues declined 2% in the first nine months of 2012, despite healthy growth in its ebook business. The company confirmed on Monday …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Forbes and PublishersWeekly.com

Jessica Hodgson / Wall Street Journal:

Penguin, Random House Ink Deal — LONDON—Pearson PLC and Bertelsmann A.G., two of the world's biggest media groups, agreed Monday on a plan to combine their book-publishing operations, Random House and Penguin. — German media giant Bertelsmann said Monday that it plans to create …

The Week:
Murdoch snubbed as Penguin Random House deal is struck

Discussion: CNNMoney.com

Sky News:

Jimmy Savile: Thompson's Office ‘Was Warned’ — The Jimmy Savile child abuse allegations were flagged up to the office of former BBC boss Mark Thompson at least twice, according to new claims. — The then director-general's office was formally alerted by journalist Miles Goslett …

Discussion: Poynter, Forbes, The Wrap and The Huffington Post

Nicholas Kulish / New York Times:
Arrest of '70s Rock Star Widens Sexual Abuse Case Tied to BBC

Discussion: BBC, Daily Mail, Telegraph, New York Magazine, BBC and Wall Street Journal

Alex Diaz / Press Association: Investigation into BBC's ‘culture’ during Jimmy Savile era to start

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

FT digital subs pass 300,000, growing readership and revenue — Most Financial Times readers are now digital subscribers, after another spurt in online subs pushed the publisher to 313,000 digital subscribers this September. — The 17 percent annual subs jump means FT Group has a combined print …

Discussion: Pearson, Journalism.co.uk and Talking Biz News

Paul Krugman:

The War on Objectivity — Brad DeLong points me to this National Review attack on Nate Silver, which I think of as illustrating an important aspect of what's really happening in America. — For those new to this, Nate is a sports statistician turned political statistician …

Discussion: Princeton Election Consortium, The Daily Caller, @carr2n and @dangillmor

Todd Cunningham / The Wrap:

NBC Sports Acquires U.S. Rights to Premier League Soccer — NBCUniversal, via the NBC Sports Group, has acquired the exclusive U.S. media rights to the Premier League — the world's top soccer league — through a multi-year agreement that begins with the 2013-14 season, both parties announced Sunday.

Discussion: Deadline.com

Michael Northcott / Management Today:

Phone-hacking hacking scandal spreads to business — If you thought that the phone-hacking scandal was all about papers trying to get details of the sordid antics of celebrities, then think again. Over the weekend it emerged that top executives at financial PR firm Citigate Dewe Rogerson …

Discussion: Daily Mail and The Independent