FIRST CUTS: Phone-hacking fallout; ‘The Foxification of News’

Joe Pompeo
·Media Reporter

Our list of stories that should be on your morning media menu:

• Did Rupert Murdoch pull the plug on News of the World so he could get rid of criminal evidence against the paper pertaining to its phone-hacking scandal? (Reuters)

• Overall, observers of the British press are meeting Murdoch's decision to shutter the 168-year-old tabloid with suspicion. (New York Times)

• And not surprisingly, the tabloid's closure is also Topic A at the annual Sun Valley mogul bonanza. (The Wrap)

• Here's the story of News International chief Rebekah Brooks' rise to the top of Britain's laddish tabloid culture. (New York Times)

• "She'd given senior editors just a few minutes notice of the bombshell plan; the mood later ... was, by all accounts, febrile, and Brooks must have been glad of the minders who had accompanied her into the newsroom," writes Archie Bland. (CJR)

• Ravi Somaiya took the newsroom's temperature following Brooks' announcement that the paper was closing. (New York Times)

• Michael Calderone on the difference between James and Rupert Murdoch: "For all the traits the two Murdochs share, most notably a persona of renegade media executive fighting against the so-called elite, love of newspapers isn't one of them." (HuffPo)

• Joe Flint: "The circumstances surrounding the demise of News of the World will give Murdoch critics and his media empire even more ammunition to use against the mogul, who is often seen as having far too great an influence on politics and media." (Company Town)

• In other news: Michele Bachmann was the buzz of the blogs last week. (Project for Excellence in Journalism)

• Special report: "The Foxification of News. (The Economist)