Rupert Murdoch Scandal

News Corp. Considering Splitting into Two Separate Companies

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is considering splitting into two to separate its publishing assets from its more lucrative entertainment business. The Murdoch family is not expected to lose its effective control of any of the businesses involved if the plan goes ahead.

Kate Holton, Reuters

News Corp.'s Murdoch Said to Consider Splitting Company

Rupert Murdoch is considering splitting his News Corp. media company into two, one unit focusing on publishing and the other on entertainment. According to reports, shareholders have been asking to separate the U.K. newspaper assets to keep clear of any negative exposure.

Anthony Palazzo and Amy Thomson, Bloomberg

News Corp. Closer to Spinning Off Newspaper Division

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is considering splitting into two companies. Such a split, which could be announced this week, would separate News Corp.'s low-flying publishing assets, including its scandal-riddled British papers, from its profitable TV and film divisions. There have been rumors of massive layoffs are coming to News Corp.'s Australian newspapers since rival Fairfax Media announced large cuts earlier this week.

Andrew Beaujon, Poynter

Media Policy at the FCC

Coalition to FCC: Take a Look at Black Radio

A few weeks ago, one the most popular radio stations in New York City -- 98.7 KISS-FM -- abruptly shifted gears. Without warning, it abandoned its urban programming and became a sports talk station. What happened? Disney took over programming for the station. And now coalition of African American, media justice and public interest groups as well as black media professionals and scholars are calling on the Federal Communication Commission to study the state of black radio and the devastating impact of media consolidation.

Joseph Torres, Free Press

FCC Eyes Easier NCE Fundraising for Third Parties

The FCC is asking whether noncommercial educational radio and TV stations should be routinely permitted to interrupt their regular programming for fundraising activities for the benefit of any nonprofit entity other than the station itself. Historically, NCE stations have been prohibited from breaking into their regular programming for extended third-party fundraising even when the entity to be benefited was itself nonprofit.

Peter Tannenwald, CommonLawBlog

FCC Backs Off Special Access Vote

The FCC yesterday did not vote on a special access reform proposal, in turn granting by default petitions by AT&T to deregulate special access service in San Francisco, San Antonio and Oakland, Calif.

Andrew Berg, WirelessWeek

Verizon/Cable Deal

T-Mobile, Verizon Agree on Spectrum Deal

Once a fierce opponent, T-Mobile is now backing the controversial spectrum transaction between Verizon Wireless and SpectrumCo after cutting a deal for a share of the bounty. Public interest groups, which have just lost a key ally in fighting the deal, remain concerned about SpectrumCo's potential anti-competitive effects.

Eliza Krigman, Politico

Verizon, T-Mobile Deal Not a Fix, say Opponents

Challengers to Verizon Wireless' purchase of nationwide AWS spectrum say the operator's agreement to swap spectrum with T-Mobile USA won't fix the competitive harms of the transaction.

Maisie Ramsay, WirelessWeek

Verizon-Cable Deal Gains Steam

By agreeing to a spectrum swap with T-Mobile, Verizon won over one of the leading critics of its proposed deal with a group of cable companies. T-Mobile had warned that the cable deal would allow Verizon to dominate the wireless market, but the company pulled its opposition after striking the deal.

Brendan Sasso, Hillicon Valley

Journalism and Beyond

Hearst Fires Reporter for Serial Fabrication in at Least 25 Stories

Paresh Jha, an award-winning reporter for Hearst Newspapers' New Canaan News in Connecticut, has been fired for fabricating sources and quotes in at least 25 stories over the nearly two years he worked at the weekly.

Craig Silverman, Poynter

Is the Guardian Planning to Ditch Print for Digital Future Sooner Rather than Later?

There are rumours that the Guardian is planning widespread redundancies and possibly even closing all or some of its print editions in a radical move to turn itself into an entirely digital operation in 2013. It's possible that the paper could be forced into making compulsory redundancies to stem heavy weekly losses.

Gordon Macmillan, The Wall

White House Warned Not to Delete 'Leak' Emails

As the leak investigation into the unauthorized disclosures of classified information enters into its third week, White House staffers have been warned not to delete any emails or destroy other information that could be pertinent to investigators.

Michael Hastings, BuzzFeed