Mediagazer: Wasserman named dean of Berkeley's j-school (Andrew Beaujon/Poynter)

11:40 AM ET, December 10, 2012

Top News:

Bloomberg Weighs Making Bid for The Financial Times — Not long ago, The Financial Times would have been the crown jewel of any media company, instantly conferring prestige and influence on its owner. Now, given the likely bidders, one of the world's most respected and distinctive financial newspapers …

Discussion: Media Decoder, FishbowlNY, paidContent, Poynter, USA Today, Tech Trader Daily, Business Insider, @dansabbagh, Reuters, Talking Biz News, The Daily Beast, Telegraph, New York Magazine, Quartz, @megan, @zhongnanhai, @mikiebarb and DealBook

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

Does Michael Bloomberg Really Need a Newspaper? — Michael Bloomberg's got a lot going on. He's the mayor of New York City, one of the most powerful cities on the planet. He owns 90 percent of the wickedly profitable media company that bears his name. He's number 10 on the Forbes 500 list.

Discussion: Quartz, Business Insider and Talking Biz News

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Owners of Australian prank call radio station accuse British media of ‘witch-hunt’ — Radio DJ's Michael Christian and Mel Greig during an interview on Australia's Channel Seven. Picture: Today Tonight/PA Wire — The owners of the Australian radio station behind a prank call …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Daily Beast and Guardian

Bloomberg:

Royal Phone-Hoax Death Prompts Cancellation of Sydney Radio Show — The Australian radio station that made a hoax call to a London hospital about the Duchess of Cambridge said it's canceling the show and will cooperate with authorities after a nurse who answered the phone was found dead.

Discussion: Mediaite, Sky News, Yahoo! News, The Age, The Independent, myfoxphilly.com, HeraldSun and New York Times

European Journalism Centre / Media News:

Royal phone scandal highlights new media risks — Back in 2007, as investigations were gathering strength into the UK phone hacking scandal involving journalists working under the umbrella of the Murdoch media empire, a comedy show based around prank telephone calls made a low-key debut in Britain.

Discussion: The Wrap and The Daily Beast

Press Association:

Tories dismiss Labour plans for Leveson law — Conservatives have dismissed Labour plans for a Leveson law published today as lacking in detail as they prepare to produce the Government's draft Bill on press reform. Shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman unveiled proposals that would put …

Discussion: Guardian

BBC: Labour reveals its Leveson plan

Meg Heckman / NetNewsCheck:

Inquirer, Daily News To Split From Philly.com — The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, after sharing Philly.com as their online home, are set to launch their own paywalled sites in the first quarter of 2013. “Each paper has a digital side, but it's all fed through Philly.com …

Discussion: Poynter and @chanders

David Carr / New York Times:

For Wall Street Journal, Leadership at a Crossroads — Betting against Rupert Murdoch hasn't gone very well for many people, including me. When he bought The Wall Street Journal in 2007 and brought in a trusted associate, Robert Thomson from The Times of London, I said that he might ruin …

Anna Heim / The Next Web:

Meet Matter, San Francisco's new accelerator for media startups [Interview] — If you think traditional media outlets are disconnected from the startup world, think again. While Europe has already welcomed initiatives such as BBC Worldwide's Labs and the Irish Times' Digital Challenge …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Wasserman named dean of Berkeley's j-school — Edward Wasserman has been named dean of the graduate school in journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, the university said in a press release Friday. Wasserman is a professor of ethics at Washington and Lee University in Lexington …

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

In “Seismic Shift,” New COO De Castro Planning to Move Yahoo Ad Sales to Category Model (Backed Up by “Marissa Halo") — In what will be a major shift in how the Silicon Valley Internet giant sells online advertising, Yahoo's new COO Henrique De Castro has briefed employees on a plan to move …

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Costa named National Review D.C. editor — National Review reporter and 2012 breakout star Robert Costa has been named Washington Editor for the magazine and website, editor Rich Lowry announced today. — Costa, who has been a reporter at the Review since 2010, will now direct reporting and manage the Capitol Hill bureau.